[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 55 (Thursday, March 21, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 10527-10528]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-05378]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

[FWS-R4-ES-2019-N027; FVHC98220410150-XXX-FF04H00000]


Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Final Phase 2 Restoration Plan/
Environmental Assessment #1.1: Queen Bess Island Restoration and 
Finding of No Significant Impact; Louisiana Trustee Implementation 
Group

AGENCY: Department of the Interior.

ACTION: Notice of availability.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Oil Pollution Act (OPA), the National 
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Final 
Programmatic Damage Assessment and Restoration Plan and Final 
Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PDARP/PEIS), Record of 
Decision, and the Consent Decree, the Federal and State natural 
resource trustee agencies for the Louisiana Trustee Implementation 
Group (Louisiana TIG) have prepared a Final Phase 2 Restoration Plan/
Environmental Assessment #1.1: Restoration of Queen Bess Island (Phase 
2 RP/EA #1.1) and Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI). The Phase 2 
RP/EA #1.1 describes the restoration project design alternatives 
considered by the Louisiana TIG to continue the process of restoring 
natural resources and services injured or lost as a result of the 
Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The purpose of this notice is to inform 
the public of the availability of the final Phase 2 RP/EA #1.1 and 
FONSI.

ADDRESSES: Obtaining Documents: You may download the Phase 2 RP/EA #1.1 
and FONSI from any of the following websites:

 http://www.gulfspillrestoration.noaa.gov
 https://www.doi.gov/deepwaterhorizon/adminrecord
 http://www.la-dwh.com

    Alternatively, you may request a CD of the Phase 2 RP/EA #1.1 and 
FONSI (see FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Nanciann Regalado, via email at 
[email protected], via telephone at 678-296-6805, or via the 
Federal Relay Service at 800-877-8339.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Introduction

    On 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), experienced a significant explosion, fire, and subsequent 
sinking 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 off shore oil 
spill in U.S. history, discharging millions of barrels of oil over a 
period of 87 days. In addition, well over 1 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 into the environment as a result of the spill.
    The Trustees conducted the natural resource damage assessment 
(NRDA) for the Deepwater Horizon oil spill under the Oil Pollution Act 
(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 of restoration to baseline (the resource

[[Page 10528]]

quality and conditions that would exist if the spill had not occurred) 
is complete.
    The Deepwater Horizon 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. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA);
     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
     State of Texas: Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, Texas 
General Land Office, and Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.
    The Trustees reached and finalized a settlement of their natural 
resource damage claims with BP in an April 4, 2016, Consent Decree 
approved by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of 
Louisiana. Pursuant to that Consent Decree, restoration projects in the 
Louisiana Restoration Area are now selected and implemented by the 
Louisiana Trustee Implementation Group (TIG). The Louisiana TIG is 
composed of the following Trustees:
     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. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA); and
     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.

Background

    The Final Programmatic Damage Assessment Restoration Plan and Final 
Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (Final PDARP/PEIS) provides 
for TIGs to propose phasing restoration projects across multiple 
restoration plans. A TIG may propose funding a planning phase (e.g., 
initial engineering, design, and compliance) in one plan for a 
conceptual project. This would allow the TIG to develop information 
needed to fully consider a subsequent implementation phase of that 
project in a future restoration plan. In 2016, the Louisiana TIG 
included the Queen Bess Island Restoration Project as a preferred 
alternative to fund for engineering and design (E&D) in a restoration 
plan entitled Louisiana Trustee Implementation Group Draft Restoration 
Plan #1: Restoration of Wetlands, Coastal, and Nearshore Habitats; 
Habitat Projects on Federally Managed Lands; and Birds (Phase 1 RP #1). 
After approval, the Queen Bess Island Restoration Project began E&D. 
The Louisiana TIG then evaluated several design alternatives and 
prepared a draft Phase 2 RP/EA #1.1.
    Notice of availability of the draft Phase 2 RP/EA #1.1 was 
published on the Louisiana TIG website on December 7, 2018, and in the 
Federal Register and Louisiana State Register on December 20, 2018 (83 
FR 65360, Louisiana Register Volume 44, No. 7). The draft Phase 2 RP/EA 
#1.1 provided the Louisiana TIG's analysis of design alternatives that 
would meet the Trustees' goal to replenish and protect living coastal 
and marine resources under OPA and NEPA, and identified one design 
alternative that was proposed as preferred for implementation. The 
Louisiana TIG provided the public a comment period from December 7, 
2018, through January 22, 2019. The Louisiana TIG also hosted a public 
meeting on January 3, 2019, in Baton Rouge to facilitate public review 
and comment. The Louisiana TIG considered the public comments received, 
which informed their analysis and decision making, and finalized the 
Phase 2 RP/EA #1.1. A summary of the public comments received and the 
Louisiana TIG's responses to those comments are addressed in Section 7 
of the Phase 2 RP/EA #1.1.

Overview of the LA TIG Final RP/EA #1.1

    The Phase 2 RP/EA #1.1 is being released in accordance with OPA, 
NRDA regulations found in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) at 15 
CFR part 990, NEPA, the Consent Decree, and the Final PDARP/PEIS and 
Record of Decision.
    In the Phase 2 RP/EA #1.1 and FONSI, the Louisiana TIG selects one 
restoration alternative, Design Alternative 2B, for final design and 
construction for Queen Bess Island restoration, to be funded under the 
Birds restoration type allocation.
    The Louisiana TIG also analyzed one additional design alternative, 
as well as a no action alternative in the Phase 2 RP/EA #1.1. In 
accordance with NEPA, as part of the Phase 2 RP/EA #1.1, the Trustees 
issued a FONSI. The FONSI is available in Appendix E of the Phase 2 RP/
EA #1.1.
    The Louisiana TIG determined that the restoration project selected 
for final design and funding will continue the process of restoring the 
natural resources injured or lost as a result of the Deepwater Horizon 
oil spill. The total estimated project cost for the selected 
restoration project is $18,710,000. Additional restoration planning for 
the Louisiana Restoration Area will continue.

Administrative Record

    The documents comprising the Administrative Record for the Phase 2 
RP/EA #1.1 can be viewed electronically at http://www.doi.gov/deepwaterhorizon/adminrecord.

Authority

    The authority of this action is the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (33 
U.S.C. 2701 et seq.) and its implementing Natural Resource Damage 
Assessment regulations found at 15 CFR part 990 and the National 
Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.).

Mary Josie Blanchard,
Director of Gulf of Mexico Restoration, Department of the Interior.
[FR Doc. 2019-05378 Filed 3-20-19; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4333-15-P