[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 180 (Wednesday, September 17, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Pages 54429-54430]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-23697]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE


Notice of availability of a draft regional restoration plan

AGENCY: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 
Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of Availability of a Draft Regional Restoration Plan: 
Region 2, for the Louisiana Regional Restoration Planning Program.

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SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given that a document entitled, ``Draft 
Louisiana Regional Restoration Plan: Region 2'' is available for public 
review and comment. This document has been prepared by the state and 
federal natural resource trustee agencies (National Oceanic and 
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA); U.S. Department of the Interior 
(DOI); Louisiana Oil Spill Coordinator's Office (LOSCO); and Louisiana 
Departments of Environmental Quality (LDEQ); Natural Resources (LDNR); 
and Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF)) to address natural resource injuries 
resulting from discharges of oil in Region 2 of the State of Louisiana.
    The draft Region 2 Restoration Plan (RRP-2) is the first of nine 
regional plans being prepared under the statewide Louisiana Regional 
Restoration Planning Program (RRP Program) developed by NOAA, DOI and 
the State of Louisiana. The purposes of the RRP Program include 
expediting restoration of natural resources injured by oil spills and 
reducing the cost of

[[Page 54430]]

natural resource damage assessments (NRDA)--the process by which 
trustee agencies assess and restore resources injured by oil spills.
    The trustees are seeking public comment on the draft RRP-2. Public 
comments on the Plan will be accepted during the thirty (30) day public 
comment. Opportunities for public comment on the statewide program are 
provided through public review and comment on documents contained in 
the Administrative Record maintained at the locations listed at the end 
of this Notice.

DATES: Comments on the ``Draft Louisiana Regional Restoration Plan: 
Region 2'' must be submitted in writing by October 23, 2003.

ADDRESSES: Requests for copies of the ``Draft Louisiana Regional 
Restoration Plan: Region 2'', as well as written comments, should be 
sent to William Conner, Chief, NOAA/Damage Assessment Center, 1305 
East-West Highway, SSMC 4, 10th floor, Silver Spring, MD 
20910; fax number 301/713-4389; e-mail address: 
[email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information, contact 
William Conner at 301/713-3038 ext. 190, or at [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Louisiana's economy is based, in part, on 
the state's vast natural resources. Both renewable (hunting, fishing, 
forest products) and nonrenewable (cultural, oil, natural gas) 
resources are important, and the industries associated with each have 
coexisted for years. Although Louisiana's oil and gas industry tries to 
avoid adverse impacts on renewable natural resources, injuries do occur 
as a result of oil spill incidents. The impact of these incidents on 
fish, wildlife and the environment can be significant and adversely 
affect the industries and communities depending on natural resources 
for commerce and recreation.
    Federal and state natural resource trustees have developed the 
first statewide comprehensive Regional Restoration Planning Program to 
assist the natural resource trustees in carrying out their 
responsibilities to restore the natural resources that have been 
injured by oil spills. The goal of this planning effort was to 
establish a statewide program that would: expedite and reduce the cost 
of the NRDA process; increase predictability by describing in detail 
the NRDA process; and increase restoration of lost natural resources 
and services by expediting resolution of claims. The statewide Program 
describes a number of additional case settlement alternatives that will 
assist the trustees and Responsible Parties in negotiations to resolve 
Responsible Party liabilities for incidents. These settlement 
alternatives generally represent different ways of resolving liability 
from an incident under one or the other (or both) of the two usual 
options: Responsible Party implemented restoration, or Responsible 
Party cash settlement and trustee implemented restoration.
    The Louisiana Regional Restoration Planning Program divides the 
state into nine regions. For each region, a Regional Restoration Plan 
will be developed that identifies: resources which could potentially be 
injured by incidents; appropriate restoration types to restore those 
resources; and available restoration projects for each of the 
restoration types.
    The draft RRP-2 covers an area of southwest Louisiana, including 
all or part of the following parishes: Ascension, Assumption, 
Jefferson, Lafourche, Orleans, Plaquemines, St. Bernard, St. Charles, 
St. James, and St. John the Baptist. The predominant habitats in this 
region are coastal herbaceous wetlands, oyster reefs, and coastal 
forested wetlands. One of the key features of the draft RRP-2 is the 
unit restoration costs determined for these habitats. The unit costs, 
developed to facilitate cash settlements, include all costs to conduct 
the project planning, engineering and design, land rights, permitting, 
implementation, monitoring, operations and maintenance, contingencies, 
and trustee oversight. To keep the costs as accurate as possible, it is 
anticipated that they will be periodically reviewed and updated as new 
data become available. Any changes made to the estimates will be made 
available for public review and comment.
    The natural resource trustees (NOAA, DOI, LOSCO, LDEQ, LDNR, LDWF) 
are designated pursuant to 33 U.S.C. 2706(c), Executive Order 12777, 
and the National Contingency Plan, 40 CFR 300.600 and 300.605. Pursuant 
to La. Rev. Stat. 30:2460, the State of Louisiana Oil Spill Contingency 
Plan (September 1995) describes the state trust resources to include 
the following: vegetated wetlands, surface waters, ground waters, air, 
soil, wildlife, aquatic life, and the appropriate habitats on which 
they depend. DOI has been designated as trustee for the natural 
resources that it manages or controls. Examples of those resources are 
described in the National Contingency Plan, 40 CFR 300.600(b)(2) and 
(3), include the following and their supporting ecosystems: migratory 
birds, anadromous fish, endangered species and marine mammals, 
federally owned minerals, certain federally managed water resources, 
and natural resources located on, over, or under land administered by 
DOI. NOAA's trust resources include, but are not limited to: commercial 
and recreational fish species, anadromous and catadromous fish species, 
marshes and other coastal habitats, marine mammals, and endangered and 
threatened marine species.
    Pursuant to 15 CFR 990.56, the natural resource trustees are 
authorized to develop regional restoration plans as part of Oil 
Pollution Act's mandate for the trustees to restore, rehabilitate, 
replace, or acquire the equivalent of natural resources and services 
injured by oil spill incidents and to compensate for interim losses of 
such resources and services.
    The Administrative Record for the statewide program and RRP-2 is 
being maintained at: (1) NOAA Damage Assessment Center, SSMC 
4, 1305 East-West Highway, Silver Spring, Maryland 20910-3281; 
(2) Louisiana Oil Spill Coordinator's Office, Suite 405, 150 Third 
Street, Baton Rouge, LA, 7081; and (3) http://www.darp.noaa.gov/seregion/larrpar.htm.
    The Record includes documents that the trustees relied upon during 
the development of the Draft Louisiana Regional Restoration Plan: 
Region 2. Pursuant to 15 CFR 990.23 & 990.56, the trustees sought 
public involvement in developing the Draft Louisiana Regional 
Restoration Plan: Region 2, through public review and comment of the 
documents contained in the Record, as well as through publication of 
the ``Louisiana Regional Restoration Planning Program/Draft 
Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement''. Further, opportunity for 
public review will become available when the Louisiana Regional 
Restoration Planning Program/Final Environmental Impact Statement is 
prepared.

    Dated: September 11, 2003.
Richard W. Spinrad,
Assistant Administrator for Ocean Services and Coastal Zone Management, 
National Ocean Service.
[FR Doc. 03-23697 Filed 9-16-03; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-JE-P