81 FR 44839 - Final Damage Assessment and Restoration Plan and Environmental Assessment for the T/B DBL 152 Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Federal Register Volume 81, Issue 132 (July 11, 2016)

NOAA, the Natural Resource Trustee for this project (identified below) has prepared a Final Damage Assessment and Restoration Plan and Environmental Assessment (Final DARP/EA) that addresses natural resource injuries and resource service losses resulting from the November 11, 2005 T/B DBL 152 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. This Final DARP/EA presents NOAA's assessment of the injuries to natural resources and services and NOAA's final plan to compensate the public for those losses. NOAA's selected restoration alternative is an estuarine shoreline protection and salt marsh restoration project at the Texas Chenier Plain National Wildlife Refuge Complex. NOAA previously provided the public an opportunity to comment on the Draft DARP/EA. The Draft DARP/EA was released on March 18, 2013 and was announced in a press release on NOAA's Web site and in the Federal Register (March 18, 2013; 78 FR 16655). NOAA received several comments on the Draft DARP/EA and prepared a response to these comments, described in further detail in the Supplementary Information section below. The full text of the public comments received is provided in Appendix C to the Final DARP/EA, and the response to the comments prepared by NOAA, which includes a summary of changes made to the Draft DARP/EA in response to the comments, is provided in Appendix B of the Final DARP/EA. The purpose of this notice, which is issued under the authority of the Oil Pollution Act (OPA) and the National Environmental Policy Act, is to inform the public of the availability of the Final DARP/EA and of the selected restoration alternative.

[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 132 (Monday, July 11, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 44839-44840]
From the Federal Register Online  [www.thefederalregister.org]
[FR Doc No: 2016-16357]


=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE


Final Damage Assessment and Restoration Plan and Environmental 
Assessment for the T/B DBL 152 Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico

AGENCY: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 
Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of Availability of a Final Damage Assessment and 
Restoration Plan and Environmental Assessment for the T/B DBL 152 Oil 
Spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: NOAA, the Natural Resource Trustee for this project 
(identified below) has prepared a Final Damage Assessment and 
Restoration Plan and Environmental Assessment (Final DARP/EA) that 
addresses natural resource injuries and resource service losses 
resulting from the November 11, 2005 T/B DBL 152 oil spill in the Gulf 
of Mexico. This Final DARP/EA presents NOAA's assessment of the 
injuries to natural resources and services and NOAA's final plan to 
compensate the public for those losses. NOAA's selected restoration 
alternative is an estuarine shoreline protection and salt marsh 
restoration project at the Texas Chenier Plain National Wildlife Refuge 
Complex. NOAA previously provided the public an opportunity to comment 
on the Draft DARP/EA. The Draft DARP/EA was released on March 18, 2013 
and was announced in a press release on NOAA's Web site and in the 
Federal Register (March 18, 2013; 78 FR 16655). NOAA received several 
comments on the Draft DARP/EA and prepared a response to these 
comments, described in further detail in the Supplementary Information 
section below. The full text of the public comments received is 
provided in Appendix C to the Final DARP/EA, and the response to the 
comments prepared by NOAA, which includes a summary of changes made to 
the Draft DARP/EA in response to the comments, is provided in Appendix 
B of the Final DARP/EA. The purpose of this notice, which is issued 
under the authority of the Oil Pollution Act (OPA) and the National 
Environmental Policy Act, is to inform the public of the availability 
of the Final DARP/EA and of the selected restoration alternative.

ADDRESSES: Requests for copies of the Final DARP/EA should be directed 
to Kris Benson of NOAA, 4700 Avenue U, Building 307, Galveston, TX 
77551, email: [email protected]. The Final DARP/EA and the 
Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) are available at: https://casedocuments.darrp.noaa.gov/southeast/dbl152/admin.html.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kris Benson of NOAA, 4700 Avenue U, 
Building 307, Galveston, TX 77551, email: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Incident and Response

    On November 11, 2005, while en route from Houston, Texas, to Tampa, 
Florida, the integrated tug-barge unit comprised of the tugboat 
``Rebel'' and the double-hull Tank Barge (T/B) DBL 152 struck the 
submerged remains of a pipeline service platform in the Gulf of Mexico 
that collapsed during Hurricane Rita. An estimated 45,846 barrels of 
oil (1,925,532 gallons) were discharged into federal waters of the Gulf 
of Mexico as a result of this incident, most of which sank to the ocean 
floor. Of this volume, an estimated 2,355 barrels (98,910 gallons) were 
recovered by divers. In total, an estimated 43,491 barrels (1,826,622 
gallons) of oil remained unrecovered at the time submerged oil cleanup 
operations were discontinued in January 2006.
    Government agencies responded to the incident to supervise and 
assist in clean-up and begin assessing the impact of the spill on 
natural resources. Under the federal Oil Pollution Act (OPA), 33 U.S.C. 
2701-2761, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 
of the Department of Commerce, is responsible for restoring

[[Page 44840]]

natural resources injured by the DBL 152 oil spill with funding from 
the responsible party (RP) or, where an RP does not exist or exceeds 
its limit of liability, the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund (OSLTF) 
administered by the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG). The measure of damages to 
natural resources is the cost of restoring, rehabilitating, replacing 
or acquiring the equivalent of the injured natural resources, 
compensation for the diminution in value of those natural resources 
pending restoration, and the reasonable costs of assessing such 
damages. 33 U.S.C. 2702(b)(2)(A), 2706(d)(1). All recoveries for the 
first two elements are to be spent implementing a restoration plan 
developed by the trustees. 33 U.S.C. 2706(f).

Natural Resource Damage Assessment and Restoration Planning

    NOAA, acting as Trustee on the public's behalf, has conducted a 
natural resource damage assessment (NRDA) to determine the nature and 
extent of natural resource losses resulting from this incident and the 
restoration actions needed to restore these losses. The NRDA was 
conducted using the OPA NRDA regulations found at 15 CFR part 990. On 
the basis of data provided by the NRDA, NOAA prepared this Final Damage 
Assessment and Restoration Plan/Environmental Assessment (Final DARP/
EA) to consider restoration alternatives and identify a selected 
alternative.
    An injury assessment conducted by NOAA determined that the primary 
injury resulting from this incident was to offshore benthic habitat. 
This conclusion is described in greater detail in the Final DARP/EA.
    NOAA considered various restoration alternatives to compensate the 
public for spill-related injuries and to restore comparable natural 
resource services to those that were provided by the resources injured 
by the spill. The selected restoration alternative identified by NOAA 
is an estuarine shoreline protection and salt marsh restoration project 
at the Texas Chenier Plain National Wildlife Refuge Complex. The 
project area is located in Galveston Bay, Texas. The project is 
designed to protect shoreline with a protective structure consisting of 
rip-rap habitat. The project will be designed so that salt marsh 
habitat will be created behind the breakwater. Prior to implementation, 
the project will undergo pre-project engineering to design the 
shoreline protection structure and the marsh.
    The U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) has determined that the RP has exceeded 
its limit of liability under OPA. Therefore, the Final DARP/EA will be 
submitted to the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund (OSLTF) as part of a 
claim for funds to implement the selected restoration project. The 
OSLTF is administered by the USCG and is maintained through fees paid 
by industry.

Public Comments and NOAA's Response

    NOAA prepared the Final DARP/EA after consideration of the public's 
response to the Draft DARP/EA. One of the comments received was 
supportive of the restoration project alternatives. Other comments 
received asked for clarity on various points in the Draft DARP/EA and 
the NRDA process, questioned various aspects of the NRDA for this site, 
questioned the appropriateness of the selected project to the specific 
injury, or requested additional evaluation or monitoring by NOAA. The 
full text of the public comments received is provided in Appendix C to 
the Final DARP/EA, and NOAA's full response to the comments received, 
along with a discussion of changes made to the DARP/EA in response to 
the comments, is provided in Appendix B to the Final DARP/EA.
    A brief summary of the changes made to the DARP/EA in response to 
the comments is as follows:
     A paragraph on overlapping impacts of the DBL 152 oil 
spill and the 2010 Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill was revised in Section 4 
of the Final DARP/EA.
     A discussion was added to Section 6 of the Final DARP/EA 
regarding a candidate project proposed by the Louisiana Oil Spill 
Coordinator's Office (LOSCO) on behalf of the Louisiana Oil Spill 
Natural Resource Trustees.
     Clarifying language was added to Section 3 of the Final 
DARP/EA regarding potential injuries to water column species.

Administrative Record

    Pursuant to the OPA NRDA regulations, NOAA has developed an 
Administrative Record to support its restoration planning decisions and 
inform the public of the basis of their decisions. Information and 
documents, including public comments received on the Draft DARP/EA, the 
Final DARP/EA, and other related restoration planning documents, are 
also part of the Administrative Record. The documents comprising the 
public record (Administrative Record) can be viewed at https://casedocuments.darrp.noaa.gov/southeast/dbl152/admin.html.

    Dated: June 3, 2016.
David Westerholm,
Director, Office of Response and Restoration.
[FR Doc. 2016-16357 Filed 7-8-16; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-JE-P