[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 218 (Friday, November 9, 2001)]
[Notices]
[Pages 56649-56650]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-28095]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration


Alcoa Point Comfort/Lavaca Bay NPL Site, Point Comfort, Texas; 
Notice of Availability

AGENCY: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Commerce.

ACTION: Alcoa Point Comfort/Lavaca Bay NPL Site, Point Comfort, Texas: 
Notice of availability of the final damage assessment and restoration 
plan/environmental assessment for ecological injuries and service 
losses.

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SUMMARY: Under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation 
and Liability Act regulations (CERCLA, 43 CFR sections 11.32 and 11.81-
11.82), natural resource trustees are providing notice to the public on 
the availability of a document entitled, ``Final Damage Assessment and 
Restoration Plan and Environmental Assessment for the Point Comfort/
Lavaca Bay NPL Site Ecological Injuries and Service Losses'' (Final 
DARP/EA). This document has been approved by the state and federal 
natural resource trustee agencies to address natural resource injuries 
and resource services losses of an ecological nature attributable to 
releases of hazardous substances from the Alcoa Point Comfort/Lavaca 
Bay NPL Site (Site). This DARP/EA finalizes the trustees' assessment of 
these natural resource injuries and service losses attributable to the 
Site, and the plan for restoring ecological resources and services to 
compensate for those injuries and losses. This Final DARP/EA also 
contains the trustees' evaluation of ecological losses after 1999 and 
all terrestrial resource injuries, and their corresponding restoration 
requirements, based on an anticipated final remedy. If the announced 
final remedy is consistent with this evaluation, this document will 
also constitute the final assessment and restoration plan for these 
remaining ecological losses.
    The development of this Final DARP/EA included release of a Draft 
of this DARP/EA for public review and comment on July 14, 2000 (65 Fed. 
Reg. 43739, July 14, 2000; 25 Tex. Reg. 6843, July 14, 2000; Port 
Lavaca Wave, July 22 and 26, 2000; Victoria Advocate, July 25 and 27, 
2000). The Draft DARP/EA described the trustees' assessment of the 
ecological injuries and services losses attributable to hazardous 
substances at the Site (including the evaluation of ecological losses 
after 1999 and terrestrial resource injuries based on the anticipated 
final remedy), evaluated a reasonable range of restoration actions with 
the potential to restore, replace or acquire similar resource services, 
and identified the restoration actions that were preferred for use to 
compensate for the resource injuries and losses being assessed. The 
period for public review and comment on the Draft DARP/EA, that ended 
on August 14, 2000, included a public meeting in Port Lavaca, Texas, on 
July 27, 2000. During the public review period, no written public 
comments on the document were received and all verbal comments at the 
public meeting were supportive of the actions proposed in the Draft 
DARP/EA. The Final DARP/EA has not been changed due to public review 
and input.

ADDRESSES: Requests for copies of this Final DARP/EA should be sent to 
Richard Seiler of the Texas Natural Resources and Conservation 
Commission (TNRCC), MC142, P.O. Box 13087, Austin, TX 78711-3087 or 
John Kern of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 
(NOAA), 9721 Executive Center Drive North, Suite 134, St. Petersburg, 
FL 33702. A copy of this Final DARP/EA is also available for 
downloading at http://www.darp.noaa.gov/publicat.htm.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Richard Selier at (512) 239-2523, e-
mail: [email protected], or John Kern at (727) 570-5391, ext 
158, e-mail: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Alcoa Point Comfort/Lavaca Bay NPL Site 
is located in Point Comfort, Calhoun County, Texas and encompasses 
releases of hazardous substances from Alcoa's Point Comfort Operations 
facility. Between 1948 and the present, Alcoa has constructed and 
operated several types of manufacturing processes at this facility, 
including aluminum smelting, carbon paste and briquette manufacturing, 
gas processing, chlor-alkali processing, and alumina refining. Past 
operations at the facility have resulted in the release of hazardous 
substances into the environment, including through the discharge of 
mercury-containing wastewater into Lavaca Bay from 1966 to 1970 and 
releases of mercury into the bay through a groundwater pathway. In 
April 1988, the Texas Department of Health (TDH) issued a ``closure'' 
order prohibiting the taking of finfish and crabs for consumption from 
a specified area of Lavaca Bay near the facility due to elevated 
mercury concentrations found in these species.
    The Alcoa Point Comfort/Lavaca Bay Site was added to the National 
Priorities List (NPL), under section 105 of CERCLA, 42 U.S.C. 9601 et 
seq., on March 25, 1994 (59 FR 8724; February 23, 1994). The Site was 
listed primarily due to the presence of mercury in several species of 
finfish and crabs in Lavaca Bay, the fishing closure imposed by TDH, 
and the presence of mercury and other hazardous substances in bay 
sediments adjacent to the facility. Alcoa, the State of Texas and the 
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) signed an Administrative 
Order on Consent (AOC) under CERCLA in March 1994 for the conduct of a 
remedial investigation and feasibility study (RI/FS) for the Site.
    The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA, acting 
on behalf of the Department of Commerce), the United States Department 
of the Interior (DOI), the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD), 
the Texas General Land Office (TGLO), and the Texas Natural Resources 
and Conservation Commission (TNRCC) are designated natural resource 
trustees under section 107(f) of CERCLA, section 311 of the Federal 
Water Pollution and Control Act (FWPCA), 33 U.S.C. section 1321, and 
other applicable federal or state laws, including subpart G of the 
National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan (NCP), 
40 CFR sections 300.600-300.615. As trustees, these agencies are 
authorized to act on behalf of the public under these authorities to 
protect and restore natural resources injured or lost as a result of 
discharges or releases of hazardous substances.
    Paralleling the RI/FS process for the Site, the trustees have 
undertaken an assessment of the natural resource injuries and service 
losses attributable to hazardous substances at the Site. The assessment 
for this Site has been aided and supported by Alcoa's cooperation under 
a Memorandum of Agreement

[[Page 56650]]

between Alcoa and the Trustees, effective January 14, 1997. The Final 
DARP/EA released today has been developed under the cooperative 
assessment framework outlined in the MOA.
    The Final DARP/EA released today is focused on natural resource 
injuries or services losses of an ecological nature caused by the 
hazardous substances at the Site. It completes the second stage of the 
assessment and restoration planning process for the Site. The first 
stage of the assessment process focused on recreational fishing service 
losses resulting from the fishing closure. The Final DARP/EA covering 
the recreational fishing service losses is also being released today 
and is the subject of a separate notice.
    This Final DARP/EA finalizes the information and methods used to 
assess these ecological injuries and losses, including the scale of 
restoration actions, and the actions selected to restore, replace or 
acquire resources or services equivalent to those lost. The document's 
principal focus is on ecological losses due to known Site contamination 
and response actions initiated at the Site prior to the end of 1999. 
However, the document also includes the trustees' evaluation of 
ecological losses after 1999 and all terrestrial resource injuries, and 
their corresponding restoration requirements, based on an anticipated 
final remedy. If the announced final remedy is consistent with the 
remedy anticipated, this document will also constitute the final 
assessment and restoration plan for these ecological losses. If not, 
then additional assessment analyses may be necessary and a third and 
final stage DARP/EA may be required.

    Dated: October 25, 2001.
Jamison S. Hawkins,
Deputy Assistant Administrator for Ocean Services and Coastal Zone 
Management.
[FR Doc. 01-28095 Filed 11-8-01; 8:45 am]
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