[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 37 (Thursday, February 24, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 10339-10341]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-03887]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

[RTID 0648-XB804]


Notice of Availability of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Alabama 
Trustee Implementation Group Draft Swift Tract Living Shoreline 
Supplemental Environmental Assessment

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of availability; request for comments.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA), the 
National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), and a Consent Decree with BP 
Exploration & Production Inc. (BP), the Deepwater Horizon (DWH) Federal 
natural resource trustee agencies for the Alabama Trustee 
Implementation Group (Alabama TIG) have prepared a Draft Swift Tract 
Living Shoreline Supplemental Environmental Assessment (Draft 
Supplemental EA). This Draft Supplemental EA evaluates the proposed 
removal of rocks from the bay bottom near the Swift Tract project 
action area and the placement of the removed rocks on a nearby 
breakwater. The proposed action falls within the general scope of the 
purpose and need for the original project, Swift Tract Living 
Shoreline, identified in the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Programmatic 
and Phase III Early Restoration Plan and Early Restoration Programmatic 
Environmental Impact Statement (Phase III ERP/PEIS) and is consistent 
with the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Final Programmatic Damage 
Assessment and Restoration Plan and Final Programmatic Environmental 
Impact Statement (PDARP/PEIS), as it focuses on the restoration of 
injuries to Alabama's natural resources and services--in particular to 
Restoration Type: ``Wetlands, Coastal, and Nearshore Habitats,'' using 
funds made available in early restoration and through the DWH Consent 
Decree (see Final PDARP/PEIS [DWH Trustees 2016: Chapter 10]). The 
Alabama TIG evaluated the environmental consequences of the 
alternatives in accordance with NEPA. The purpose of this notice is to 
inform the public of the availability of the Draft Supplemental EA and 
to seek public comments on the document.

DATES: The Alabama TIG will consider public comments received on or 
before March 28, 2022.

ADDRESSES: Obtaining Documents: You may access the Draft Supplemental 
EA from the ``News'' section of the Alabama TIG website at: http://www.gulfspillrestoration.noaa.gov/restoration-areas/alabama. 
Alternatively, you may request a CD of the Draft Supplemental EA (see 
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT below).
    Submitting Comments: You may submit comments on the Draft 
Supplemental EA by one of the following methods:
     Via the Web: http://www.gulfspillrestoration.noaa.gov/restoration-areas/alabama;
     Via U.S. Mail: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, P.O. Box 
29649, Atlanta, GA 30345. Please note that mailed comments must be 
postmarked on or before the comment deadline given in DATES.
    Before including your address, phone number, email address, or 
other personal identifying information in your comment, you should be 
aware that your entire comment--including your personal identifying 
information--may be made publicly available at any time. While you can 
ask us in your comment to withhold your personal identifying 
information from public review, we cannot guarantee that we will be 
able to do so.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Stella Wilson, NOAA Restoration 
Center, 850-332-4169, [email protected].

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 DWH 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 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 
into the environment as a result of the spill.
    The DWH Federal and State natural resource trustees (DWH Trustees) 
conducted the natural resource damage assessment for the DWH oil spill 
under OPA (OPA; 33 U.S.C. 2701 et seq.).

[[Page 10340]]

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 quality and conditions that would 
exist if the spill had not occurred) is complete.
    The DWH 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 United States District Court for the Eastern District 
of Louisiana. Pursuant to that Consent Decree, restoration projects in 
the Alabama Restoration Area are now selected and implemented by the 
Alabama TIG.

Background

    The Alabama Swift Tract Living Shoreline project (hereafter ``the 
project'') was selected in the Final Programmatic and Phase III Early 
Restoration Plan and Early Restoration Programmatic Environmental 
Impact Statement (Phase III ERP/PEIS). NOAA is the lead implementing 
Trustee for the project. The original Swift Tract project is located in 
the eastern portion of Bon Secour Bay (part of Mobile Bay) 
approximately 6 miles northwest of Gulf Shores in Baldwin County, 
Alabama. Construction was completed in February 2017 and 7 years of 
post-construction performance monitoring is ongoing. The project 
created approximately 1.75 miles (2.8 kilometers) of breakwaters in Bon 
Secour Bay to dampen wave energy and reduce shoreline erosion, while 
also providing habitat and increasing benthic secondary productivity. 
The project is adjacent to the Weeks Bay National Estuarine Research 
Reserve (NERR) and within the NERR buffer area.
    Following construction completion, NOAA project team members were 
notified that there may be rocks located in Bon Secour Bay the project 
site, but outside the footprint of the breakwater. Thus, in March 2018, 
NOAA, through its contractor, collected sidescan sonar acoustic 
imaging, magnetometer, and single beam bathymetry surveys of the water 
bottom adjacent to the breakwaters to determine the location of any 
potential rock piles near the breakwater construction area. The results 
indicate that there are several hard surface contacts, likely rock 
piles, within the survey area. Recommendations from a corrective action 
report include either removing the material or leaving the material in-
place as reef habitat. Both alternatives are evaluated in this Draft 
Supplemental EA.

Overview of the Alabama TIG Draft Supplemental EA

    As described in Section III of this Draft Supplemental EA (the 
``OPA Summary''), the Alabama TIG has determined that the proposed 
corrective action does not alter its original conclusions for the Swift 
Tract project under OPA and its implementing regulations. Thus, the 
Alabama TIG concludes that implementation of the corrective action 
proposed in this Supplemental EA does not require further OPA 
evaluation, and this Supplemental EA focuses its analysis on the 
potential environmental impacts of the proposed corrective action under 
NEPA.
    This Supplemental EA provides NEPA analysis for the Swift Tract 
proposed corrective action by supplementing the NEPA analysis for the 
Phase III ERP/PEIS. The supplemental NEPA analysis provided in this 
Swift Tract Supplemental EA augments and incorporates by reference the 
applicable sections (Chapter 11, Affected Environment, Environmental 
Consequences for the Swift Tract Restoration Project) of the Phase III 
ERP/PEIS. This supplemental analysis considers any additional 
environmental impacts that would result from implementation of the 
corrective action that are not described and analyzed in the Phase III 
ERP/PEIS.
    The Draft Supplemental EA evaluates the proposed removal of rocks 
from the bay bottom near the Swift Tract project action area and the 
placement of the removed rocks on a nearby breakwater.
    The proposed rock removal and breakwater placement locations are 
adjacent to, but outside of, the project action area identified in the 
Final Phase III ERP/PEIS. Due to the close proximity of the new removal 
and placement areas to the existing Swift Tract breakwater, the 
Affected Environment for the proposed removal and placement areas would 
be the same as that evaluated for the Swift Tract breakwater in the 
Phase III ERP/PEIS. The environmental consequences of the proposed 
corrective action are also anticipated to fall generally within the 
scope of the environmental consequences evaluated for the original 
project. Therefore, the Environmental Consequences reviewed in the 
Swift Tract project evaluation, in Chapter 11, Section 11.4 of the 
Final Phase III ERP/PEIS, are reviewed in the Supplemental EA to 
evaluate the likely environmental consequences of the proposed 
corrective action and the ``No Action'' alternatives to determine 
whether implementation of the proposed corrective action may alter the 
conclusions made in the Final Phase III ERP/PEIS. Under the ``No 
Action'' alternative, the rocks currently located on the water bottom 
would not be removed from the water bottom and would instead be left in 
place.

Next Steps

    The public is encouraged to review and comment on the Draft 
Supplemental EA. After the public comment period ends, the Alabama TIG 
will consider and address comments received before issuing a Final 
Supplemental EA. A summary of comments received and the Alabama TIG's 
responses and any revisions to the document, as appropriate, will be 
included in the final document.

Administrative Record

    The documents comprising the Administrative Record for the Draft 
Supplemental EA can be viewed electronically at http://www.doi.gov/deepwaterhorizon/adminrecord.

[[Page 10341]]

Authority

    The authority of this action is the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (33 
U.S.C. 2701 et seq.) and its implementing Oil Pollution Act 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.).

    Dated: February 17, 2022.
Carrie Diane Robinson,
Director, Office of Habitat Conservation, National Marine Fisheries 
Service.
[FR Doc. 2022-03887 Filed 2-23-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P