[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 113 (Friday, June 12, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 33540-33541]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-14410]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Fish and Wildlife Service

[FWS-R3-ES-2013-N194; FXHC11300300000-156-FF03E00000]


Notice of Availability of the Draft Damage Assessment and 
Restoration Plan and Environmental Assessment for Enbridge Line 6B Oil 
Discharges Near Marshall, MI

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of availability; request for public comments.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI), acting through the 
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS); the Nottawaseppi Huron Band of 
the Potawatomi Tribe; and the Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of the 
Pottawatomi Indians have written a Draft Damage Assessment and 
Restoration Plan and Environmental Assessment (Draft Plan), which 
describes proposed alternatives for restoring injured natural resources 
and compensating for losses resulting from the discharges of oil from 
Enbridge's Line 6B oil pipeline near Marshall, Michigan, in July 2010. 
The Draft Plan was prepared in accordance with the Oil Pollution Act of 
1990 (OPA) and the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The 
purpose of this notice is to inform the public of the availability of 
the Draft Plan and to seek written comments.

DATES: Written comments must be postmarked no later than July 27, 2015.

ADDRESSES: Obtaining Documents: You may obtain copies of the documents 
by any of the following methods:
     Online: http://www.fws.gov/midwest/es/ec/nrda/MichiganEnbridge/index.html.
     Email: Lisa L. Williams, at [email protected]. Do not 
use any special characters or forms of encryption in your email.
     In-person: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 2651 Coolidge 
Road, Suite 101, East Lansing, MI 48848.
     U.S. mail: Lisa L. Williams, Contaminants Specialist, at 
the Coolidge Road address above.
    Submitting Comments: You may submit comments to Lisa L. Williams at 
the Coolidge Road address above or via email at [email protected] 
with ``Enbridge NRDA Comment'' in the subject line

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Technical Information: Lisa Williams, 
(517) 351-8324.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: DOI, acting through FWS; the Nottawaseppi 
Huron Band of the Potawatomi Tribe; and the Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish 
Band of the Pottawatomi Indians have written a Draft Damage Assessment 
and Restoration Plan and Environmental Assessment (Draft Plan), which 
describes proposed alternatives for restoring injured natural resources 
and compensating for losses resulting from the discharges of oil from 
Enbridge's Line 6B oil pipeline near Marshall, Michigan, which occurred 
July 25-26, 2010. The Draft Plan was prepared in accordance with the 
Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA) and the National Environmental Policy 
Act (NEPA). DOI and the two tribes prepared this Draft Plan in 
cooperation with our co-Trustees: The Department of Commerce (DOC), 
acting through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 
(NOAA), and the State of Michigan, acting through the Michigan 
Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ), the Michigan Department of 
Natural Resources (MDNR), and the Michigan Department of Attorney 
General (MDAG). The purpose of this notice is to inform the public of 
the availability of the Draft Plan and to seek written comments. This 
notice is provided pursuant to Natural Resource Damage Assessment and 
Restoration (NRDAR) regulations

[[Page 33541]]

(15 CFR 990.23 and 990.55(c)) and NEPA regulations (40 CFR 1506.6).
    The DOI (represented by the FWS), the DOC (represented by the 
NOAA), the Nottawaseppi Huron Band of the Potawatomi Tribe, the Match-
E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of the Pottawatomi Indians, and the State of 
Michigan (the latter acting through MDEQ, MDNR, and MDAG) are Trustees 
for natural resources considered in this Draft Plan, pursuant to 
subpart G of the National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution 
Contingency Plan (40 CFR 300.600, 300.605, and 300.610) and Executive 
Order 12580. The Trustees followed the NRDAR regulations found at 15 
CFR part 990 and the NEPA regulations found at 40 CFR parts 1500-1508 
for the development of the Draft Plan. The Trustees will consider all 
public comments received during the public comment as we proceed to 
finalize the Draft Plan. The Draft Plan will be finalized prior to 
implementation of restoration. Any significant additions or 
modifications to the Final Plan that become necessary as restoration 
actions proceed will be made available for public review before any 
changes in restoration actions are undertaken.

Background

    The goal of NRDAR under the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (33 U.S.C. 
2701 et seq.; OPA) is to make the environment and public whole for 
injuries to natural resources and natural resource services resulting 
from incidents involving discharge or substantial threat of discharge 
of oil. This goal is achieved through returning injured natural 
resources and services to baseline and compensating for interim losses 
of such natural resources and services through the restoration, 
rehabilitation, replacement, or acquisition of equivalent natural 
resources and/or services.

Process

    In this case, the Trustees worked together in a cooperative process 
to identify appropriate restoration activities to address natural 
resource injuries caused by discharges of oil from Enbridge's Line 6B 
pipeline near Marshall, Michigan. The results of this administrative 
process are contained in the Draft Plan, which is a planning and 
decision document being published for public review under OPA and NEPA. 
The Draft Plan describes the injuries that occurred as a result of the 
discharges of oil, how the Trustees estimated damages, how those 
damages will be addressed through proposed restoration alternatives, 
and what the expected environmental impacts of the proposed projects 
would be. By law, natural resource damages received must be used to 
restore, rehabilitate, replace, and/or acquire the equivalent of those 
injured natural resources.

Public Involvement

    Interested members of the public are invited to review and comment 
on the Plan. Copies can be requested from the address and Web site 
listed above. Comments on the Draft Plan should be sent to the U.S. 
Fish and Wildlife Service (see ADDRESSES). The U.S. Fish and Wildlife 
Service will provide copies of all comments to the other Trustees. All 
comments received from individuals become part of the official public 
record. Requests for such comments will be handled in accordance with 
the Freedom of Information Act and the Council on Environmental 
Quality's NEPA regulations (40 CFR 1506.6(f)).

Availability of Public Comments

    The Trustees' practice is to make comments, including names and 
home addresses of respondents, available for public review during 
regular business hours. Before including your address, phone number, 
email address, or other personal identifying information in your 
comment, you should be aware that the entire comment, including your 
personal identifying information, may be available at any time. While 
individual respondents may request that the Fish and Wildlife Service 
withhold their personal identifying information from public review, we 
cannot guarantee we will be able to do so.

Authority

    This notice is provided pursuant to NRDAR regulations (15 CFR 
990.23 and 990.55(c)) and NEPA regulations (40 CFR 1506.6).

    Dated: April 3, 2015.
Charles Wooley,
Acting Regional Director, Midwest Region, U.S. Fish and Wildlife 
Service.
[FR Doc. 2015-14410 Filed 6-11-15; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4310-55-P