[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

[[Page 3711]]

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]
BILLING CODE 3S10-JE-P