[Federal Register Volume 59, Number 217 (Thursday, November 10, 1994)]
[Unknown Section]
[Page 0]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 94-27904]


[[Page Unknown]]

[Federal Register: November 10, 1994]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Forest Service

 

Notice of Availability of the Record of Decision for the ``Exxon 
Valdez'' Oil Spill Restoration Plan

AGENCIES: Department of Agriculture and the Department of the Interior. 
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of 
Commerce is a cooperating agency.

ACTION: Notice of availability of the record of decision for the Exxon 
Valdez restoration plan.

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SUMMARY: On behalf of the Exxon Valdez Trustee Council, the Department 
of Agriculture, Forest Service and the Department of the Interior 
announce the availability of the Record of Decision (ROD) for the Exxon 
Valdez Oil Spill Restoration Plan. The responsible officials for the 
ROD are the Secretaries of the Departments of Agriculture and of the 
Interior, and the Administrator for the National Oceanic and 
Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce. The 
Restoration Plan will establish management direction and guide all 
natural resource restoration activities covered by the civil settlement 
following the Exxon Valdez oil spill.

DATE: The decision was made on the Restoration Program by the 
responsible officials on October 31, 1994.

ADDRESSES: Copies of the ROD are available on request from the Oil 
Spill Public Information Office, 645 G. Street, Anchorage, Alaska 
99501. Phone number (907) 278-8008 or within Alaska (800) 478-7745, 
outside Alaska (800) 283-7745. Copies also will be sent to public 
libraries in Anchorage, Juneau, Fairbanks, Valdez, Cordova, Kodiak, 
Homer, and Seward, Alaska.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

A. Introduction

    On October 8, 1991, a federal court approved settlement between the 
State and Federal governments and Exxon under which Exxon will pay $1 
billion in criminal restitution and civil damages to the governments. 
The State and Federal Trustees will receive $900 million in civil 
damages from Exxon over the 10 years. The funds are to be used to 
restore the natural resources and the services they provide, injured by 
the Exxon Valdez oil spill. This includes the restoration of any 
natural resources injured, lost or destroyed and the services provided 
by that resource or which replaces or substitutes for the injured, lost 
or destroyed resource and affected services. Restoration includes all 
phases of injury assessment, restoration, replacement, and enhancement 
of natural resources, and acquisition of equivalent resources and 
services.
    Under the applicable court decrees, all decisions about restoration 
and use of the civil settlement funds are made by six natural resources 
Trustees, three Federal and three State. The three Federal Trustees 
are: The Administrator for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 
Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, and the Secretaries of the 
Departments of Agriculture and of the Interior. The three State 
Trustees are: The Commissioners of Fish and Game, and Environmental 
Conservation, and the Alaska Attorney General. A Trustee Council, 
located in Alaska, composed of the three State Trustees and designees 
of the three Federal Trustees, has been assigned responsibility for 
decisions relating to the assessment of injuries, use of the civil 
settlement funds, and all restoration activities including the 
preparation of a Restoration Plan.
    On April 10, 1992 (57 FR 12473-12475) on behalf of the Exxon Valdez 
Oil Spill Trustee Council, the Forest Service published a Notice of 
Intent to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) on the 
Restoration Plan. This was later revised on January 14, 1994 (59 FR 
2352-2353).
    The Trustee Council released a Draft Restoration Plan in November 
1993, which was the proposed action for the analysis conducted in the 
EIS. The Draft EIS was released for public comment on June 17, 1994 (59 
FR 31191) followed by a 45-day comment period ending on August 1, 1994. 
This was followed by the release of the Final EIS on September 30, 1994 
(59 FR 49925).

B. The Decision

    The proposed action (Draft Restoration Plan) consisted of policy 
statements, a discussion of categories of restoration actions and broad 
objectives for injured resources and services. The policies for 
identifying and conducting restoration actions have been revised and 
reorganized into policy groups in response to public comments received 
on the Draft EIS. People commented that some of the policies needed 
clarification. This was done in the Final EIS.
    Based on the analysis contained in the EIS and the recommendation 
of the Trustee Council, it is the decision of the Federal Trustees to 
adopt Alternative 5 and its policies as identified in the Final EIS. 
This includes the establishment of a restoration reserve.
    Copies of the ROD may be requested from the Oil Spill Public 
Information Office, 645 G. Street, Anchorage, Alaska 99501. Phone 
number 907 278-8008 or within Alaska 800 478-7745, outside Alaska 800 
283-7745.

    Dated: November 3, 1994.
Deborah L. Williams,
Special Assistant to the Secretary for Alaska, Department of the 
Interior.
Phil Janik,
Regional Forester, Alaska Region, Forest Service, Department of 
Agriculture.
[FR Doc. 94-27904 Filed 11-9-94; 8:45 am]
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