[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 3 (Friday, January 5, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Page 543]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-22484]



[[Page 543]]

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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration


Notice of Availability of a Final Regional Restoration Plan for 
Region 2, for the Louisiana Regional Restoration Program

    Summary: Notice is hereby given that a document entitled ``Final 
Regional Restoration Plan for Region 2'' is available to the public. 
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 Final Regional Restoration Plan for Region 2 is the first of 
nine regional plans being prepared under the statewide Louisiana 
Regional Restoration Planning Program developed by NOAA, DOI, and the 
State of Louisiana.
    For Further Information Contact: Requests for copies of the ``Final 
Regional Restoration Plan for Region 2'' or for further information, 
request or contact Tony Penn, Southeast Branch Chief, NOAA/Assessment 
and Restoration Division, 1305 East-West Highway, SSMC 4, 10th 
floor, Silver Spring, MD 20910; phone number 301-713-3038 x197; fax 
number 301-713-4387; e-mail address: [email protected]. Or contact 
Charles Armbruster, RRP Program Manager, Louisiana Oil Spill 
Coordinator's Office, 150 Third Street, Suite 405, Baton Rouge, LA 
70801; phone number 225-219-5800; fax number 225-219-5802; e-mail 
address: [email protected]. When submitting a 
request, please indicate whether you would like the document on compact 
disk, a hardcopy, or the Internet address to download an electronic 
copy.
    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 Louisiana natural resource trustees have developed a 
statewide Louisiana Regional Restoration Planning Program (RRP Program) 
to assist them in carrying out their Natural Resource Damage Assessment 
(NRDA) responsibilities for discharges or substantial threats of 
discharges of oil. Goals of the statewide Louisiana RRP Program are to: 
(1) Expedite and reduce the cost of the NRDA process; (2) Provide for 
consistency and predictability by describing in detail the NRDA 
process, thereby increasing understanding of the process by the public 
and industry; and (3) Increase restoration of lost trust resources and 
services injured by oil spills. The Louisiana RRP Program identifies 
the statewide program structure, decision-making process, and criteria 
that are used to select the restoration project(s) that may be 
implemented to restore the trust resources and services injured by an 
oil spill.
    The Louisiana RRP Program divides the state into nine regions. For 
each region, a Regional Restoration Plan (RRP) will be developed that 
identifies: the affected environment and resources; potentially injured 
trust resources and services; appropriate restoration types for each of 
the potentially injured resources and services; and available 
restoration projects that have been identified to date. The Final RRP 
for Region 2 covers an area of southeast 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 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), and 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 the 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 (AR) for the statewide RRP Program and 
RRP for Region 2 is being maintained at: (1) NOAA Assessment and 
Restoration Division, 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 70801; and (3) 
http://www.losco.state.la.us/admin/RRP/RRPprogram_view.asp. The AR 
includes documents that the trustees relied upon during the development 
of the Final RRP for Region 2. Pursuant to 15 CFR 990.23 & 990.56, the 
trustees sought public involvement in developing the Final RRP for 
Region 2, through public review and comment of the documents contained 
in the AR, as well as through publication of the ``Louisiana Regional 
Restoration Planning Program Final Programmatic Environmental Impact 
Statement (FPEIS)''.

    Dated: December 11, 2006.
Ken Barton,
Director, Office of Response and Restoration, National Ocean Service, 
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
[FR Doc. E6-22484 Filed 1-4-07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-JE-P