[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 83 (Friday, April 30, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 22737-22738]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-10106]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration


Final Damage Assessment and Restoration Plan for the Bayou 
Verdine and Calcasieu River

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

ACTION: Notice of availability.

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SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given that a document entitled, ``Final 
Damage Assessment and Restoration Plan and Environmental Assessment for 
the Bayou Verdine Site, Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana'' (Final DARP/EA), 
has been approved by the State and Federal natural resource trustee 
agencies (the Trustees). The National Oceanic and Atmospheric 
Administration is the lead agency publishing this notice in the Federal 
Register on behalf of the United States Fish & Wildlife Service, acting 
on behalf of the U.S. Department of the Interior (USFWS/DOI); Louisiana 
Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ), and Louisiana Department of 
Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF). The Final DARRP/EA is now available to 
the public. The document describes the Trustees' assessment of natural 
resource injuries and resource services losses in the upper Calcasieu 
Estuary due to past releases of hazardous substances from two 
facilities situated in the upper

[[Page 22738]]

Calcasieu Estuary, in Calcasieu Parish, LA, that are presently owned 
and operated by ConocoPhillips Company and Sasol North America Inc. 
(collectively, the ``potentially responsible parties'' or PRPs). The 
Final DARP/EA identifies the restoration project that the Trustees have 
chosen for use to restore resources and services to compensate the 
public for assessed losses. The project selected by the Trustees--the 
Sabine Unit 99 Restoration Project--will create over 14 new acres of 
marsh, enhance the ecological functioning of approximately 247 acres of 
existing marsh, and increase the expected functional lifespan of these 
marshes. The restoration site is within the Sabine National Wildlife 
Refuge, within the Calcasieu Estuary.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information contact Jean 
Cowan, at (225) 578-7924 or e-mail: [email protected]. The Final 
DARP/EA is available for downloading at http://www.darrp.noaa.gov (by 
clicking on the document title in the Bayou Verdine announcement on 
that page). A copy may also be requested by sending a written request 
to Jean Cowan of NOAA by e-mail: [email protected] or by mail to: 
Jean Cowan, LSU Sea Grant Building, Room 124C, Baton Rouge, LA 70803.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Bayou Verdine is a shallow, sinuous bayou in 
the upper Calcasieu Estuary, southwest of the City of Westlake and 
slightly northwest of the City of Lake Charles, in Calcasieu Parish, 
LA. It originates in an agricultural area immediately north and 
northwest of petroleum facilities owned and operated by ConocoPhillips 
Company and Sasol North America Inc., and flows in a south-southeast 
direction through this industrialized segment before entering the 
Calcasieu River at Coon Island Loop. Historical operations at these two 
facilities have resulted in releases of hazardous substances, such as 
polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), heavy metals, and other 
hazardous compounds, into Bayou Verdine and Coon Island Loop, within 
the Estuary.
    The upper Calcasieu Estuary has been the focus of a number of past 
investigations related to contaminant releases and is the subject of 
several on-going response or corrective action planning processes under 
the direction or oversight of the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency 
(USEPA) and/or LDEQ. The most extensive effort to identify the nature 
and extent of hazardous substances present in the Estuary to date is 
the federal-lead Remedial Investigation (RI) of contaminants in 
sediments, surface water, and biota in the Calcasieu Estuary undertaken 
by the USEPA in 1999. Results from this investigation, combined with 
other relevant data and information, prompted the Trustees to pursue a 
natural resource damage assessment (NRDA) to determine and quantify 
resource injuries and losses in the Estuary attributable to hazardous 
substances from the PRPs' facilities, and to develop a restoration plan 
that would be sufficient to compensate for those losses.
    The Trustees' decision to proceed with this NRDA was identified in 
a ``Notice Of Intent To Perform Damage Assessment & Develop Restoration 
Plan for Natural Resources Injured by Hazardous Substances in Bayou 
Verdine & Coon Island Loop in Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana'' published 
September 26, 2004, in the American Press, a newspaper of general 
circulation in Calcasieu Parish, LA. That notice also invited public 
input regarding potential restoration opportunities in the watershed 
that the Trustees could consider in developing an appropriate 
restoration plan. The public was also afforded an opportunity to review 
and comment on the Trustees' assessment and restoration plan when the 
plan was released as a Draft DARP/EA on March 27, 2009. 74 FR 13193 
(March 26, 2009); American Press, March 27. 2009. The Trustees received 
no comments on the Draft DARP/EA during its 60-day public comment 
period. The PRPs were cooperatively involved in the NRDA process as 
well, consistent with 43 CFR 11.32.
    The selected restoration project is expected to be implemented by 
the PRPs, under the Trustees' oversight, in accordance with the terms 
of a Consent Decree that will resolve the liability of these PRPs for 
natural resource damages due to past releases of hazardous substances 
attributable to these facilities.
    In undertaking this NRDA and in releasing this Final DARP/EA, the 
Trustees are acting in accordance with their designation and 
authorities under Section 107(f) of the Comprehensive Environmental 
Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), 42 U.S.C. 9607(f), 
Section 311 of the Federal Water Pollution and Control Act (FWPCA), 33 
U.S.C. 1321, Subpart G of the National Oil and Hazardous Substances 
Pollution Contingency Plan (NCP), 40 CFR 300.600-300.615, and 
regulations at 43 CFR part 11 which are applicable to natural resource 
damage assessments under CERCLA. The Trustees 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.

    Dated: April 21, 2010.
David G. Westerholm,
Director, Office of Response and Restoration, National Ocean Service, 
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
[FR Doc. 2010-10106 Filed 4-29-10; 8:45 am]
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