[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 13 (Friday, January 19, 1996)] [Notices] [Pages 1357-1358] From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov] [FR Doc No: 96-455] ----------------------------------------------------------------------- DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration August 1993 Tampa Bay Oil Spill: Notice of Availability and Request for Comments on a Draft Damage Assessment and Restoration Plan AGENCIES: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce, United States Department of the Interior (DOI), and Department of Environmental Protection, State of Florida.
Action
Notice of availability of a draft damage assessment and restoration plan and of a 45-day period for public comment on the plan.
Summary
Notice is given that the draft document entitled ``Draft Damage Assessment and Restoration Plan for the 1993 Tampa Bay Oil Spill, Volume I--Ecological Injuries'' is available for public review and comment. The document represents the first part (Volume I) of the draft damage assessment and restoration plan (Draft DARP) being developed by the State and Federal natural resource trustees to assess natural resource damages for the injury, loss, destruction and lost use of natural resources that resulted from the oil spill in Tampa Bay, Florida, following the August 10, 1993 collision of certain vessels in Tampa Bay. Volume I presents the methods proposed for use to restore and compensate for natural resources injuries and losses of an ecological nature. Volume I of the Draft DARP is consistent with Section 1006 of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA), Chapter 376 of the Florida Statutes and the guidance provided by the Natural Resource Damage Assessment regulations at 43 CFR Part 11 (1994), as amended. Public review of this draft plan, as announced by this notice, is consistent with Section 1006 of OPA and 43 CFR 11.32(c) of those regulations.
Dates
Comments must be submitted in writing on or before March 4, 1996.
Addresses
Requests for copies of Volume I of the Draft DARP should be sent to Jim Jeansonne of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Damage Assessment Center, 9721 Executive Center Drive N., Suite 134, St. Petersburg, FL 33702, or Jane Urquhart- Donnelly of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), Office of Coastal Protection, 8407 Laurel Fair Circle, Rm. 214, Tampa, FL 33619. Volume I is also available for public review at the St. Petersburg Public Library, Main Library Reference Dept., 3745 9th Ave N., St. Petersburg FL during normal library hours. Written comments on the plan should be sent to either Jim Jeansonne of the NOAA Damage Assessment Center or to Jane Urquhart-Donnelly of the DEP Office of Coastal Protection at the same address as listed above.
For Further Information Contact
Jim Jeansonne of the NOAA Damage Assessment Center, (813) 570-5391 or Jane Urquhart-Donnelly, (813) 744- 6462.
Supplementary Information
On August 10, 1993, at approximately 5:45 a.m., the tank barge ``OCEAN 255'' and the tank barge ``B-155'' collided with the freighter ``BALSA 37'' just south of Mullet Key near the entrance of Tampa Bay, Florida. The OCEAN 255 caught fire upon impact and burned for approximately 18 hours. During that period, approximately 32,000 gallons of Jet A fuel, diesel, and gasoline were discharged from the OCEAN 255 into lower Tampa Bay. The B-155 was also damaged by the collision and discharged approximately 330,000 gallons of #6 fuel oil in the same vicinity. A number of different natural resources were eventually exposed to oil as a result of these discharges, including mangroves, seagrasses, salt marshes, birds, sea turtles, shellfish beds, bottom sediments, sandy shorelines and the estuarine water column, with a variety of direct injuries and lost uses of natural resources documented to have resulted from such exposure. The incident is subject to the authority of OPA, 33 U.S.C. 2701- 2761 (OPA), the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, 33 U.S.C. 1321 et seq. (FWPCA) and the Florida Pollutant Discharge and Control Act, Fla. Stat. 376.121. NOAA, the U.S. Department of the Interior, and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection are trustees for natural resources pursuant to the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980, as amended, 42 U.S.C. 9601 et seq., OPA, the FWPCA, subpart G of the National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan, 40 CFR 300.600-300.615, and, in the case of the Florida Department of
Environmental Protection, the Florida Pollutant Discharge and Control Act, Fla Stat. 376.121 (1994), and in the case of the Federal trustees, Executive Order 12777. These State and Federal agencies (the co-trustees) previously determined that natural resources and resource services subject to their trust authority were injured or lost as a result of the August 1993 oil spill and that the injuries and losses were sufficient to warrant proceeding with an assessment of natural resource damages under the above authorities. That determination is documented in the ``Preassessment Screen and Determination for August 10, 1993 Tampa Bay, Florida Oil Spill'', of November 2, 1993. Volume I of the Draft DARP presents the assessment and restoration plan developed by the co- trustees to address the direct injuries to natural resources and the interim losses of ecological resource services caused by the spill. Volume I evaluates restoration alternatives for each category of ecological injury or loss and defines compensation for resource injuries based on necessary or appropriate restoration actions, wherever possible. Further, the draft plan contemplates the use of simplified, cost-effective procedures and methods to document and quantify resource injuries and losses, as feasible and appropriate to specific resource injuries or losses. Accordingly, proposed methods and procedures include the use of relevant scientific literature, scientifically based models, and focused injury determination or quantification studies, alone or in combination, depending on the specific injury or loss category. The August 1993 oil spill also disrupted publicly important human uses of natural resources, however, assessment methods and restoration plans addressing public compensation for those lost natural resources uses will be outlined in the second part (Volume II) of the Draft DARP, currently being developed by the co-trustees. Interested members of the public are invited to request a copy of Volume I of the Draft DARP from and to submit written comments on the plan to either Jim Jeansonne of NOAA's Damage Assessment Center, or to Jane Urquhart-Donnelly, at the same addresses given above. All written comments will be considered by NOAA, the Department of the Interior, and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection in finalizing the assessment and restoration plan for the ecological injuries and losses and will be included in the Report of Assessment issued at the conclusion of the assessment process.
Dated: December 21, 1995. Terry D. Garcia, General Counsel, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. [FR Doc. 96-455 Filed 1-18-96; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 3510-12-M