[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 107 (Tuesday, June 4, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 33431-33432]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-13249]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

[FWS-R4-FHC-2013-N108; FVHC98130406900-XXX-FF04G01000]


Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill; Notice of Intent To Prepare a 
Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement for a Phase III Early 
Restoration Plan and Early Restoration Project Types, and To Conduct 
Scoping Meetings

AGENCY: Department of the Interior.

ACTION: Notice of Intent to conduct scoping.

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SUMMARY: The federal and state natural resource trustees for the 
Deepwater Horizon oil spill (Trustees) intend to prepare a PEIS under 
the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) to evaluate the 
environmental consequences of early restoration project types, as well 
as the early restoration projects that the Trustees intend to propose 
in an upcoming Phase III Draft Early Restoration Plan (DERP). The 
Trustees intend to evaluate early restoration project types 
programmatically in the PEIS in order to allow the Trustees to better 
analyze cumulative effects of early restoration, and to tier NEPA 
analyses for future early restoration plans to the PEIS, where 
appropriate.

DATES: Public comments must be received by August 2, 2013. Public 
scoping meetings will be held as listed below. The Trustees will 
announce specific meeting locations and addresses to the public prior 
to the meetings, and will post the information on the web at 
www.gulfspillrestoration.noaa.gov.

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                 Date                               Location
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June 24, 2013.........................  Galveston, Texas.
June 27, 2013.........................  Mobile, Alabama.
July 16, 2013.........................  Long Beach, Mississippi.
July 18, 2013.........................  Houma, Louisiana.
July 23, 2013.........................  Washington, DC.
July 25, 2013.........................  Pensacola, Florida.
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ADDRESSES: Submitting Comments: You may submit scoping comments on the 
PEIS by any of the following methods:
     Via the Web: http://www.gulfspillrestoration.noaa.gov.
     For electronic submission of comments containing 
attachments, email to: [email protected]
     U.S. Mail: c/o U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, P.O, Box 
2099, Fairhope, Alabama 36533. All written scoping comments must be 
received by the close of the scoping period to be considered.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Nanciann Regalado at [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Introduction

    On or about April 20, 2010, the mobile offshore drilling unit 
Deepwater Horizon, which was being used to drill a well for BP 
Exploration and Production Inc. (BP), in the Macondo prospect 
(Mississippi Canyon 252-MC252), exploded, caught fire and subsequently 
sank in the Gulf of Mexico, resulting in an unprecedented volume of oil 
and other discharges from the rig and from the wellhead on the seabed. 
The Deepwater Horizon oil spill is the largest oil spill in U.S. 
history, discharging millions of barrels of oil over a period of 87 
days. In addition, well over one million gallons of dispersants were 
applied to the waters of the spill area in an attempt to disperse the 
spilled oil. An undetermined amount of natural gas was also released to 
the environment as a result of the spill.
    The state and federal natural resource trustees (Trustees) are 
conducting the natural resource damage assessment (NRDA) for the 
Deepwater Horizon oil spill under the Oil Pollution Act 1990 (OPA; 33 
U.S.C. 2701 et seq.). Pursuant to OPA, federal and state agencies act 
as trustees on behalf of the public to assess natural resource injuries 
and losses and to determine the actions required to compensate the 
public for those injuries and losses. OPA further instructs the 
designated trustees to develop and implement a plan for the 
restoration, rehabilitation, replacement, or acquisition of the 
equivalent of the injured natural resources under their trusteeship, 
including the loss of use and services from those resources from the 
time of injury until the time restoration to baseline (the resource 
quality and conditions that would exist if the spill had not occurred) 
is complete. Pursuant to the process articulated in the Framework 
Agreement for Early Restoration Addressing Injuries Resulting from the 
Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill (Framework Agreement), the Trustees have 
previously selected, and BP has agreed to fund, a total of ten early 
restoration projects, expected to cost a total of approximately $71 
million, through the Phase I Early Restoration Plan/Environmental 
Assessment (Phase I ERP) and Phase II Early Restoration Plan/
Environmental Review (Phase II ERP). These plans are available at: 
http://www.gulfspillrestoration.noaa.gov/restoration/early-restoration/.
    The Trustees are:
     U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI), as represented by 
the National Park Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and Bureau 
of Land Management;
     National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), on 
behalf of the U.S. Department of Commerce;
     U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA);
     U.S. Department of Defense (DOD); \1\
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    \1\ Although a trustee under OPA by virtue of the proximity of 
its facilities to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, DOD is not a 
member of the Trustee Council and does not participate in Trustee 
decision-making.
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     U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA);
     State of Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration 
Authority, Oil Spill Coordinator's Office, Department of Environmental 
Quality, Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, and Department of 
Natural Resources;
     State of Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality;
     State of Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural 
Resources and Geological Survey of Alabama;
     State of Florida Department of Environmental Protection 
and Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission; and
     For the State of Texas, Texas Parks and Wildlife 
Department, Texas General Land Office, and Texas Commission on 
Environmental Quality.

Background on Early Restoration

    On April 20, 2011, BP agreed to provide up to $1 billion to fund 
early

[[Page 33432]]

restoration projects in the Gulf of Mexico to begin addressing injuries 
to natural resources caused by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The 
Framework Agreement represents a preliminary step toward the 
restoration of injured natural resources and replacement of the lost 
use of those resources and their services. The Framework Agreement is 
intended to expedite the start of restoration in the Gulf in advance of 
the completion of the injury assessment process. The Framework 
Agreement provides a mechanism through which the Trustees and BP can 
work together ``to commence implementation of early restoration 
projects that will provide meaningful benefits to accelerate 
restoration in the Gulf as quickly as practicable'' prior to the 
resolution of the Trustees' natural resource damages claim. Early 
restoration is not intended to, and does not fully address all injuries 
caused by the Spill. Restoration beyond early restoration projects will 
be required to fully compensate the public for natural resource losses 
from the Spill.
    The Trustees' key objective in pursuing early restoration is to 
secure tangible recovery of natural resources and natural resource 
services for the public's benefit while the longer-term process of 
fully assessing injury and damages is underway. As the first step in 
this accelerated process, the Trustees released, after public review of 
a draft, a Phase I ERP in April 2012. In December 2012, after public 
review of a draft, the Trustees released a Phase II ERP. Collectively, 
the Phase I and Phase II ERPs include a total of ten projects that were 
selected by the Trustees and, after negotiations in accordance with the 
terms of the Framework Agreement, agreed to by BP. Those restoration 
actions include nine separate projects that are ready for 
implementation, and one project that the Trustees have selected for 
completion for project design and final NEPA review. The Trustees have 
begun implementing many of the projects selected in the Phase I and 
Phase II ERPs.

Phase III Early Restoration

    On May 6, 2013, NOAA issued a public notice in the Federal Register 
on behalf of the Trustees. The public notice announced the Trustees' 
intent to propose additional future early restoration projects for the 
purpose of continuing the process of using early restoration funding to 
restore natural resources, ecological services, and human use services 
injured or lost as a result of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill 
disaster. The Trustees expect to propose those early restoration 
projects, and potentially additional early restoration projects, to the 
public in a Phase III DERP, which will evaluate restoration 
alternatives under OPA, the Framework Agreement, and all applicable 
legal requirements. The Trustees intend to consider both ecological and 
human use restoration projects to restore injuries caused by the 
Deepwater Horizon oil spill, addressing the physical and biological 
environment as well as the relationship people have with the 
environment.
    As noted above, the Trustees intend to prepare a PEIS in accordance 
with NEPA to evaluate the environmental consequences of restoration 
projects that the Trustees intend to propose in a Phase III DERP. In 
addition, the Trustees intend to evaluate early restoration project 
types in the PEIS in order to allow the Trustees to tier NEPA analyses 
for future early restoration projects to the PEIS, where appropriate. 
Examples of the early restoration project types the Trustees intend to 
evaluate in the PEIS could include: Create and improve wetlands; 
protect shorelines and reduce erosion; restore barrier islands and 
beaches; restore submerged aquatic vegetation; restore oysters; restore 
and protect finfish and shellfish; restore and protect birds; restore 
and protect sea turtles; enhance public access to natural resources for 
recreational use; enhance recreational experiences; promote 
environmental and cultural stewardship, education, and outreach; 
enhance management of recreational uses; and, remove and reduce land-
based and marine debris.
    Throughout the early restoration process, the Trustees have 
actively solicited public input on restoration project ideas through a 
variety of mechanisms, including public meetings, electronic 
communication, and creation of a Trustee-wide public Web site and 
database to share information and receive public project submissions. 
The Trustees received extensive comments and restoration project ideas 
during the scoping process for a comprehensive Gulf Spill Restoration 
PEIS prepared by NOAA on behalf of the Trustees in 2011 (76 FR 9327-
9328). NOAA's preparation of a draft comprehensive Gulf Spill 
Restoration PEIS on behalf of the Trustees is intended to apply to all 
natural resource restoration following the completion of the NRDA, 
which is still underway. The PEIS that is the subject of this Notice of 
Intent is specifically and more narrowly focused on early restoration.
    The purpose of the scoping process is to identify the concerns of 
the affected public and federal agencies, states, and Indian tribes, 
involve the public in the decision making process, facilitate efficient 
early restoration planning and environmental review, define the issues 
and alternatives that will be examined in detail, and save time by 
ensuring that draft documents adequately address relevant issues. The 
scoping process reduces paperwork and delay by ensuring that important 
issues are considered early in the decision making process. Following 
the scoping process, the Trustees will prepare a draft PEIS and Phase 
III DERP, at which time the public will be encouraged to comment on the 
document(s). Similar to the scoping process, public comment meetings 
will be held at that time to gather public input on the document(s).

Invitation To Comment

    The Trustees seek public involvement in the scoping process and 
development of the PEIS. The Trustees invite public comment during the 
60-day public comment period regarding the scope, content, and any 
significant issues the Trustees should consider in the PEIS.

Next Steps

    Following scoping, the Trustees intend to release the draft PEIS 
and Phase III DERP by late 2013 or early 2014. At that time, the 
Trustees will invite public review and comment on the document(s).

Administrative Record

    The documents comprising the Administrative Record can be viewed 
electronically at the following location: http://www.doi.gov/deepwaterhorizon.

Authority

    The authority of this action is the National Environmental Policy 
Act (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (33 U.S.C. 
2701 et seq.), and the implementing Natural Resource Damage Assessment 
regulations found at 15 CFR part 990.

Kevin D Reynolds,
Acting DOI Authorized Official.
[FR Doc. 2013-13249 Filed 5-31-13; 11:15 am]
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