[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 14 (Friday, January 22, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 3709-3711]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-1117]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Notice of Intent To Conduct Restoration Planning (Pursuant to 15
CFR 990.44)--Discharge of Oil From the MIV CASCO BUSAN Into San
Francisco Bay, November 7, 2007
AGENCY: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),
Commerce.
ACTION: Notice of Intent to conduct restoration planning (pursuant to
15 CFR 990.44)--Discharge of Oil from the MIV CASCO BUSAN into San
Francisco Bay, November 7, 2007.
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SUMMARY: On or about November 7, 2007, the privately owned cargo
carrier MlV CASCO BUSAN struck a portion of the fendering system for
the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge's Delta Tower. This ruptured one
or more of the vessel's fuel tanks, allowing a portion of the vessel's
bunker oil to be discharged into the San Francisco Bay. The estimated
discharge amounted to approximately 53,000 gallons of IFO 380, a heavy
fuel oil used primarily to propel ships. This discharge affected
natural resources in the area. All of the foregoing is referred to as
the ``Incident.''
Pursuant to section 1006 of the Oil Pollution Act (``OPA''), 33
U.S.C. 2701, et seq., federal and state trustees for natural resources
are authorized to: (1) Assess natural resource injuries resulting from
a discharge of oil or the substantial threat of a discharge and
response activities, and (2) Develop and implement a plan for
restoration of such injured resources. The federal trustees are
designated pursuant to the National Contingency Plan, 40 CFR Section
300.600 and Executive Order 12777. State trustees for California are
designated pursuant to the National Contingency Plan, 40 CFR Section
300.605 and the Governor's Designation of State Natural Resource
Trustees under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation
and Liability Act of 1980, the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, and
California Health and Safety Code section 25352(c), dated October 5,
2007. The natural resources trustees (``Trustees'') under OPA for this
Incident are the United States Department of Commerce, acting through
the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (``NOAA''); the
United States Department of the Interior (``DOl''), acting through the
National Park Service (``NPS''), the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
(``FWS''), and the Bureau of Land Management
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(``BLM''); and the California Department of Fish and Game (``CDFG'').
The California State Lands Commission (``CSLC'') is participating as a
Trustee for this Incident pursuant to its jurisdiction under California
state law over all state sovereign lands, including ungranted tidelands
and submerged lands.
The Responsible Parties (``RPs'') for this Incident are Regal Stone
Limited and Fleet Management Limited. The United States and the People
of the State of California ex reI. CDFG et al., currently have filed
lawsuits against the RPs pursuant to OPA and other federal and state
environmental statutes. The Trustees have coordinated with
representatives of the RPs on Natural Resource Damage Assessment
(``NRDA'') activities.
The Trustees began the Preassessment Phase of the NRDA in
accordance with 15 CFR 990.40, to determine if they had jurisdiction to
pursue restoration under OPA, and, if so, whether it was appropriate to
do so. During the Preassessment Phase, the Trustees collected and
analyzed the following: (1) Data reasonably expected to be necessary to
make a determination of jurisdiction or a determination to conduct
restoration planning, (2) Ephemeral data, and/or (3) Information needed
to design or implement anticipated emergency restoration and/or
assessment as part of the Restoration Planning Phase.
The NRDA Regulations under OPA, 15 CFR part 990 (``NRDA
regulations''), provide that the Trustees are to prepare a Notice of
Intent to Conduct Restoration Planning (Notice) if they determine
certain conditions have been met, and if they decide to quantify the
injuries to natural resources and to develop a restoration plan.
This Notice is to announce, pursuant to 15 CFR 990.44, that the
Trustees, having collected and analyzed data, intend to proceed with
restoration planning actions to address injuries to natural resources
resulting from the Incident. The purpose of this restoration planning
effort is to further evaluate injuries to natural resources and
services and to use that information to determine the need for, type
of, and scale of restoration actions.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information contact one or
more of the following Trustee representatives: Steve Hampton (CDFG) at
[email protected]; Greg Baker (NOAA): [email protected]; or
Janet Whitlock (FWS): [email protected].
Opportunity to Comment: Pursuant to 15 CFR 990.14(d), the Trustees
seek public involvement in restoration planning for this Incident
through public review of, and comment on, documents contained in the
Record. The Trustees also intend to seek public comment on a draft
Damage Assessment and Restoration Plan after it has been prepared.
Comments should be sent to one or more of the Trustee representatives
listed above.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Determination of Jurisdiction
The Trustees have made the following findings pursuant to 15 CFR
990.41:
1. The impact of the MIV CASCO BUSAN with the Bay Bridge on
November 7, 2007, resulted in a discharge of oil into and upon
navigable waters of the United States, including the San Francisco Bay
and Pacific Ocean, as well as adjoining shorelines. Such occurrence
constitutes an ``Incident'' within the meaning of 15 CFR 930.30.
2. The Incident was not permitted pursuant to Federal, State, or
local law; was not from a public vessel; and was not from an onshore
facility subject to the Trans-Alaska Pipeline Authority Act, 43 U.S.C.
1651 et seq.
3. Natural resources under the trusteeship of the Trustees have
been injured as a result of the Incident. The bunker oil discharged
from the MIV CASCO BUSAN is harmful to certain aquatic organisms,
birds, wildlife, and vegetation that were exposed to the oil.
Accordingly, the discharged oil and the response activities to address
the discharge have had an adverse effect on the natural resources of
San Francisco Bay, the Pacific Ocean, and their adjoining shorelines,
and impaired the services which those resources provide. Documents in
the Administrative Record contain more information regarding the
specific studies, observations, etc., by which the Trustees reached
this determination. As a result of the foregoing determinations, the
Trustees have jurisdiction to pursue restoration under the OPA.
Determination To Conduct Restoration Planning
The Trustees have determined, pursuant to 15 CFR 990.42(a), that:
1. Observations and data collected pursuant to 15 CFR 990.43
(including dead and live oiled birds, information regarding marshes,
beaches, eelgrass beds, and other oiled habitats) demonstrate that
injuries to natural resources have resulted from the Incident; however,
the extent of such injuries has not been fully determined at this time.
Immediately following the Incident, the Trustees, in cooperation with
the RPs, identified several categories of impacted and potentially
impacted resources, including birds, shoreline habitats, marine
mammals, fish, and eelgrass, as well as effects to human use resulting
from the impacts on the resources. They then began conducting
activities, in cooperation with the RPs, to evaluate injuries and
potential injuries within these categories. More information on these
resource categories is available in the Administrative Record,
including information gathered during the pre-assessment. The full
nature and extent of injuries will be determined during the injury
assessment phase of restoration 4 planning.
2. The response actions did not address all injuries resulting from
the Incident to the extent that restoration would not be necessary.
Although response actions were initiated soon after the spill, the
nature and location of the discharge prevented recovery of all of the
oil and precluded prevention of injuries to some natural resources. In
addition, certain response efforts, such as scrubbing of oiled rocks
and rip rap and the removal of wrack from beaches, caused additional
injuries to natural resources. It is anticipated that injured natural
resources will eventually return to baseline levels (the condition they
would have been in had it not been for the Incident), but interim
losses have occurred or have likely occurred and will continue until a
return to baseline is achieved. In addition, there were lost and
diminished human uses of the resources resulting from the impacts to
the natural resources and from the response actions themselves.
3. Feasible primary and compensatory restoration actions exist to
address injuries and lost human uses resulting from the Incident. In
preparation for restoration planning, the Trustees have begun to
compile a list of restoration projects that could potentially be
implemented to compensate for interim losses resulting from the
incident. The Trustees have also sought suggestions from the public on
potential restoration projects to compensate for the services and
functions provided by natural resources. In addition, assessment
procedures such as Habitat Equivalency Analysis and Resource
Equivalency Analysis are available to scale the appropriate amount of
compensatory restoration required to offset ecological service losses
resulting from this Incident. To quantify lost human uses resulting
from the Incident, the Trustees, partially in cooperation with the RPs,
have gathered data regarding visitor use of impacted sites and
associated activities. To value those lost
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uses the Trustees are using a Travel Cost Model and are employing the
Benefits Transfer Method. To compensate for the lost and diminished
human uses arising from the Incident, the Trustees intend to solicit
project ideas from local, regional, State, and Federal managers of
parks and other recreational areas, as well as from the general public.
The Trustees will then select restoration actions using a value to cost
approach, by which the cost of the restoration actions are scaled to
the monetary value of lost and diminished human uses.
During the restoration planning phase, the Trustees will evaluate
potential projects, determine the scale of restoration actions needed
to make the environment and the public whole, and release a draft
Damage Assessment and Restoration Plan for public review and comment.
Based upon information in the Administrative Record and the foregoing
determinations, the Trustees intend to proceed with restoration
planning for this Incident.
Administrative Record
The Trustees have opened an Administrative Record (``Record'') in
compliance with 15 CFR 990.45. The Record will include documents
considered by the Trustees during the preassessment, assessment, and
restoration planning phases of the NRDA performed in connection with
the Incident. The Record will be augmented with additional information
over the course of the NRDA process. The Record is available at the
following locations:
San Francisco Main Library, 100 Larkin Street (at Grove Street),
Civic Center, San Francisco, CA 94102, (415) 557-4400.
The Library is open seven days a week. Please check its Web site
for hours and directions: http://sfpl.org/librarylocations/mainimain.htm.
and at:
Water Resources Center Archives, 410 O'Brien Hall, University of
California, Berkeley, CA 94720-1718, (510) 642-2666.
The Center is generally open Monday through Friday. However, please
check its Web site for hours that may be different during academic
vacations and for directions: http://www.lib.berkeley.edulWRCNinfo.htm1#hours.
The Index of the Administrative Record and selected documents may
also be viewed at the following Web site(s): http://www.dfg.ca.gov/osprispilllnrda/nrda_cosco-busan.html; http://www.darrp.noaa.gov/southwest/coscolindex.html; and http://www.fws.gov/contaminants/Issues/OiISpill.cfm.
Dated: January 11, 2010.
David G. Westerholm,
Director, Office of Response and Restoration, National Ocean Service,
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
[FR Doc. 2010-1117 Filed 1-21-10; 8:45 am]
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