[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 158 (Wednesday, August 17, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 50609-50610]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-17719]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

[RTID 0648-XC109]


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

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

ACTION: Notice of availability.

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SUMMARY: This Alabama Trustee Implementation Group (TIG) Alabama Swift 
Tract Living Shoreline Project: Final Supplemental Environmental 
Assessment (Final Supplemental EA) describes, and in conjunction with 
the associated Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI), selects the 
preferred restoration alternative, which consists of the removal of 
rocks from the Bon Secour Bay bottom near the original Swift Tract 
Living Shoreline Project's 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 Swift Tract 
Living Shoreline Project, which was identified and evaluated in the 
Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Programmatic and Phase III Early 
Restoration Plan and Early Restoration Programmatic Environmental 
Impact Statement (Phase III ERP/PEIS). The proposed action is also 
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. The Federal Trustees of the Alabama TIG have 
determined that the implementation of the Final Supplemental EA is not 
a major Federal action significantly affecting the quality of the human 
environment within the context of the National Environmental Policy Act 
(NEPA). Therefore, they have concluded a FONSI is appropriate, and, 
therefore, an Environmental Impact Statement will not be prepared.

ADDRESSES: 
    Obtaining Documents: You may access the Final 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 Final Supplemental EA (see 
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT below).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: National Oceanic and Atmospheric 
Administration--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 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 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 Deepwater Horizon Federal and State natural resource trustees 
(Trustees) conducted the natural resource damage assessment (NRDA) for 
the Deepwater Horizon oil spill under OPA (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 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;

[[Page 50610]]

     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 (CPRA), Oil Spill Coordinator's Office (LOSCO), Department of 
Environmental Quality (LDEQ), Department of Wildlife and Fisheries 
(LDWF), and Department of Natural Resources (LDNR);
     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 selected and implemented by the 
Alabama TIG.

Background

    Notice of Availability of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Alabama 
Trustee Implementation Group Draft Living Shoreline Supplemental 
Environmental Assessment (Draft Supplemental EA) was published in the 
Federal Register at 87 FR 10339 on February 24, 2022. The public 
comment period for the Draft Supplemental EA closed on March 28, 2022. 
One public comment was received during the comment period. It was 
reviewed and taken into consideration in the preparation of the Final 
Supplemental EA. All correspondence received is provided in the DWH 
Administrative Record.

Overview of the Alabama TIG Final Supplemental EA

    As described in Section III of this Final 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 Living Shorelines 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 
Living Shorelines Project 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 Final Supplemental EA evaluates the proposed removal of rocks 
from the bay bottom near the Swift Tract Living Shoreline Project 
action area and the placement of the removed rocks on a nearby The 
Nature Conservancy (TNC) 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.
    In the Supplemental EA, the Alabama TIG concludes that 
implementation of the proposed action would not significantly impact 
the quality of the human environment and, therefore, that an 
environmental impact statement for this action is not necessary. The 
Alabama TIG thus proposes implementation of the preferred corrective 
action, removal of the rock material from the bay bottom near the 
living shoreline constructed during the original Swift Tract Living 
Shoreline Project and placement of that rock material on the nearby TNC 
breakwater.

Administrative Record

    The documents comprising the Administrative Record for the 
Supplemental EA 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 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: August 12, 2022.
Carrie Dianne Robinson,
Director, Office of Habitat Conservation, National Marine Fisheries 
Service.
[FR Doc. 2022-17719 Filed 8-16-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P