[Federal Register Volume 59, Number 211 (Wednesday, November 2, 1994)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Page 0]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 94-27225]


[[Page Unknown]]

[Federal Register: November 2, 1994]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Office of the Secretary

43 CFR Part 11

RIN 1090-AA21

 

Natural Resource Damage Assessments: Type A Procedure for Great 
Lakes Environments

AGENCY: Office of the Secretary, Interior.

ACTION: Proposed rule; extension of comment period.

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SUMMARY: On August 8, 1994, the Department of the Interior issued a 
notice of proposed rulemaking (59 FR 40319) to revise the natural 
resource damage assessment regulations. The natural resource damage 
assessment regulations establish procedures for assessing damages for 
injury to natural resources resulting from a discharge of oil into 
navigable waters under the Clean Water Act, or a release of a hazardous 
substance under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, 
and Liability Act. The August 8, 1994 proposed rule describes a 
procedure for simplified assessments for relatively minor discharges or 
releases in Great Lakes environments. The Department is extending the 
period for comment on the proposed rule and soliciting comment on an 
additional aspect of the type A procedure.

DATES: Comments will be accepted through February 6, 1995.

ADDRESSES: Comments should be sent in duplicate to the Office of 
Environmental Policy and Compliance, Attn: NRDA Rule--GLE, Room 2340, 
Department of the Interior, 1849 C Street, NW, Washington, DC 20240 
(regular business hours 7:45 a.m. to 4:15 p.m., Monday through Friday).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Stephen F. Specht at (202) 208-3301, 
or [email protected] on Internet.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The natural resource damage assessment 
regulations establish procedures that Federal, State, and Tribal 
natural resource trustees may use to obtain compensation from liable 
parties for natural resource injuries under the Comprehensive 
Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, as amended (42 
U.S.C. 9601 et seq.) and the Clean Water Act, as amended (33 U.S.C. 
1251 et seq.). The regulations provide an administrative process for 
conducting assessments as well as two types of technical procedures for 
the actual determination of injuries and damages. ``Type A'' procedures 
are standard procedures for simplified assessments requiring minimal 
field observation in cases of minor discharges or releases in certain 
environments. ``Type B'' procedures are site-specific procedures for 
detailed assessments in other cases.
    On August 8, 1994, the Department of the Interior published a 
proposed rule to amend the regulations to include an additional type A 
procedure for assessing natural resource damages in Great Lakes 
environments. The proposed procedure incorporates a computer model 
called the Natural Resource Damage Assessment Model for Great Lakes 
Environments Version 1.31 (NRDAM/GLE).
    The comment period on the August 8, 1994, proposed rule was 
originally set to close on November 7, 1994. The Department has 
received numerous requests for additional time to comment on the 
proposed rule. The requesters have emphasized the large volume of 
technical documentation accompanying the NRDAM/GLE, all of which is 
subject to public review and comment. Some requesters are assembling 
multidisciplinary teams to assist in the review of the model and 
associated databases. The Department appreciates the level of technical 
review that is underway and is therefore extending the comment period 
by 90 days.
    The Department also solicits comment on an additional aspect of the 
proposed type A procedure for Great Lakes environments. The proposed 
NRDAM/GLE is supported by a geographic information system (GIS) that 
supplies geographically distributed information to the submodels. The 
submodels divide the Great Lakes into a series of rectangular grids. 
The proposed NRDAM/GLE assigns a habitat type to each cell within the 
grids. Under the August 8, 1994 proposed rule, trustee officials would 
not be allowed to modify the habitat designations in the final version 
of the model if they wished to obtain a rebuttable presumption for 
their assessments. The Department specifically requested commenters to 
review the habitat designations and provide information about possible 
revisions that should be made in the final version of the model. 59 FR 
40330.
    The Department remains committed to ensuring that the final version 
of the NRDAM/GLE reflects the most accurate habitat information 
available. However, the Department is now soliciting comment on whether 
to revise the rule to allow trustee officials to modify the habitat 
designations in the final version of the NRDAM/GLE and still obtain a 
rebuttable presumption. Allowing trustee officials to modify the 
habitat designations might enable fine-tuning of the model to better 
reflect reality. On the other hand, type A procedures are designed to 
simplify assessments, reduce fieldwork, and narrow the potential areas 
of dispute. Providing an option to modify the habitat designations 
could undermine these goals. Therefore, the Department solicits comment 
on whether the final rule should allow trustee officials to modify the 
habitat designations and, if so, under what conditions.

    Dated: October 28, 1994.
Theresa Trujeque,
Acting Assistant Secretary--Policy, Management, and Budget.
[FR Doc. 94-27225 Filed 11-1-94; 8:45 am]
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