[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 200 (Tuesday, October 18, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 63086-63087]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-22575]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

[FWS-R4-ES-2022-N052; FVHC98220410150-XXX-FF04H00000]


Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Natural Resource Damage Assessment, 
Alabama Trustee Implementation Group: Final Bon Secour National 
Wildlife Refuge Recreation Enhancements: Supplemental Restoration Plan

AGENCY: Department of the Interior.

ACTION: Notice of availability.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA), the 
National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA), the Final 
Programmatic Damage Assessment Restoration Plan and Final Programmatic 
Environmental Impact Statement (Final PDARP/PEIS), and the Deepwater 
Horizon (DWH) Consent Decree, the Federal and State natural resource 
trustee agencies for the Alabama Trustee Implementation Group (Alabama 
TIG) have prepared the Final Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge 
Recreation Enhancements: Supplemental Restoration Plan (SRP). The 
Alabama TIG selects their preferred alternative of adding approximately 
$2 million to the Mobile Street Boardwalk project budget to facilitate 
full implementation of the project as originally planned. This would 
continue the process of restoring lost recreational use in the Alabama 
Restoration Area that resulted from the DWH oil spill of 2010.

ADDRESSES: Obtaining Documents: You may download the Final SRP from the 
following websites:

 http://www.gulfspillrestoration.noaa.gov/restoration-areas/alabama
 http://www.doi.gov/deepwaterhorizon

Alternatively, you may request a CD (compact disc) of the Final SRP 
(see FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Nanciann Regalado, via email at 
[email protected] or via telephone at 678-296-6805. Individuals 
in the United States who are deaf, deafblind, hard of hearing, or have 
a speech disability may dial 711 (TTY, TDD, or TeleBraille) to access 
telecommunications relay services. Individuals outside the United 
States should use the relay services offered within their country to 
make international calls to the point-of-contact in the United States.

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 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.
    State and Federal trustees conducted the natural resource damage 
assessment (NRDA) for the DWH oil spill under the Oil Pollution Act 
1990 (OPA; 33 U.S.C. 2701 et seq.). Pursuant to the 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. The 
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 completion of restoration 
to baseline (the resource quality and conditions that would exist if 
the spill had not occurred).
    The DWH Trustees are:
     U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI), as represented by 
the National Park Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), 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 
Alabama Restoration Area are now chosen and managed by the Alabama TIG. 
The Alabama TIG is composed of the following six Trustees: Alabama 
Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Geological Survey of 
Alabama, DOI, NOAA, EPA, and USDA.

Background

    The Alabama TIG Restoration Plan III/Environmental Assessment (RP 
III/EA) selected seven projects for implementation, allocating funds 
from two restoration types identified in the DWH Consent Decree: 
``Provide and Enhance Recreational Opportunities'' and ``Birds.'' The 
Alabama TIG RP III addendum subsequently approved funding for the two 
projects conditionally approved in the RP III/EA, one of which was the 
Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge Recreation Enhancement--Mobile 
Street Boardwalk (Mobile Street Boardwalk) Project. Since then, the 
project cost estimate has been revised because of increased costs in 
materials and construction. The cost increases were incurred, in part, 
due to economic fluctuations accompanying the COVID-19 pandemic, as 
well as Hurricane Sally which made landfall in September 2020. Given 
the substantial increase in project cost, the Alabama TIG prepared a 
Supplemental Restoration Plan to evaluate increasing project funding 
under the OPA.

[[Page 63087]]

    A Notice of Availability of the Draft SRP was published in the 
Federal Register on July 19, 2022 (87 FR 43049). The public was 
provided with a period to review and comment on the Draft SRP from July 
19, 2022, through August 18, 2022. One public comment, which generally 
supported selection of the AL TIG's preferred alternative, was 
received.

Overview of the Alabama TIG Final SRP

    The Final SRP is being released in accordance with OPA, including 
criteria set forth in the associated Natural Resource Damage Assessment 
regulations found in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) at 15 CFR 
part 990, NEPA and its implementing regulations found at 40 CFR parts 
1500-1508, and the Final PDARP/PEIS and Consent Decree. The Final SRP 
provides supplemental OPA NRDA analysis for two Bon Secour National 
Wildlife Refuge (BSNWR) recreation enhancement projects considered in 
the RP III/EA: the Mobile Street Boardwalk and Centennial Trail 
Boardwalk projects. In the Final SRP the AL TIG selects implementation 
of its preferred alternative: adding $2,037,313 in funding to the 
Mobile Street Boardwalk project. Fully funding this project will 
continue the process of restoring natural resources and services 
injured or lost as a result of the DWH oil spill.

Administrative Record

    The documents comprising the administrative record for the SRP can 
be viewed electronically at https://www.doi.gov/deepwaterhorizon/adminrecord.

Authority

    The authority of this action is the OPA (33 U.S.C. 2701 et seq.), 
its implementing NRDA regulations found at 15 CFR part 990, and NEPA 
(42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) and its implementing regulations found at 40 
CFR parts 1500-1508.

Mary Josie Blanchard,
Department of the Interior, Director of Gulf of Mexico Restoration.
[FR Doc. 2022-22575 Filed 10-17-22; 8:45 am]
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