Natural resource damage assessment plans; availability, etc.: Hudson River, NY; scoping document,

[Federal Register: September 30, 1998 (Volume 63, Number 189)]

[Notices]

[Page 52244-52245]

From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

[DOCID:fr30se98-59]

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Hudson River Natural Resource Damage Assessment: Notice of Availability and Request for Comments on a Damage Assessment Scoping Document

AGENCIES: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), United States Department of the Interior (DOI), and Department of Environmental Conservation, State of New York.

ACTION: Notice of availability of a draft Damage Assessment Scoping Document and of a 80-calendar day period for public comment on the plan.

SUMMARY: Notice is given that the document entitled ``Draft Scope for the Hudson River Natural Resource Damage Assessment Plan'' is available for public review and comment. The first step of the Hudson River Natural Resource Damage Assessment, issuance of the preassessment screen determination for the Hudson River, was completed in October 1997. The ``Draft Scope for the Hudson River Natural Resource Damage Assessment Plan'' document represents the initiation of the second step, assessment planning, in the Hudson River Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA) being conducted by the State and Federal natural resource trustees. The purpose of the assessment plan is to ensure that the Trustees perform the assessment of injury to natural resources along the Hudson River in a planned and systematic manner, pursuant to 43 CFR Part 11 of the Federal Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), NRDA Regulations. Public review of this scoping document, as announced by this notice, is consistent with 43 CFR 11.32 (c).

DATES: Comments must be submitted in writing on or before December 19, 1998.

ADDRESSES: Written requests for copies and written comments for the Draft Scope of the Hudson River NRDA Plan should be sent to Steven Jay Sanford at the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, Natural Resources Damages Unit, Room 403, 50 Wolf Road, Albany, NY 12233-1090; Lisa DiPinto at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Damage Assessment Center, 1305 East-West Highway, SSMC 4 Rm 10218, Silver Spring, MD 20910; or Anne Secord at Department of the Interior, US Fish and Wildlife Service, 3817 Luker Rd, Cortland, NY 13045.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Steven Jay Sanford, 518-457-7987 (FAX: 518-485-8424; email: sxsanfor@gw.dec.state.ny.us; Lisa DiPinto, 301- 713-3038 ext. 187 (FAX: 301-713-4387; email: lisa.dipinto@noaa.gov or Ann Secord, 607-753-9334 (FAX: 607-753-9699; email: anne__secord@fws.gov) .

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Pursuant to section 107(f) of the Federal Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), as amended (42 USC 9601 et seq.), and other applicable Federal and state laws, Federal and state officials may act on behalf of the public as Trustees for natural resources to pursue claims for natural resource damages for injury to, destruction of, or loss of natural resources resulting from the release of hazardous substances to the environment. Claims may be pursued against parties responsible for releasing hazardous substances to the environment. Under CERCLA, sums recovered by trustees as damages shall be used only to restore, rehabilitate, replace, or acquire the equivalent of such natural resources.

In October 1997, the United States Department of the Interior (DOI), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC), referred to as the Trustees, issued a preassessment screen determination for the Hudson River, in accordance with the Federal Regulations for Natural Resource Damages Assessments (43 CFR Part 11 (b)). The preassessment screen documents the Trustees' determination that conditions in the River warrant a natural resource damage assessment (NRDA). The preassessment screen documents releases of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) along approximately 200 miles of the Hudson River from identified sources of contamination between Hudson Falls and the Thompson Island Dam. The effects of these releases on natural resources, for which Federal and state agencies may assert trusteeship under section 107(f) of CERCLA, serves as a basis for making a claim against the potentially responsible parties identified with the documented PCB releases. The Trustees acknowledge that there are other sources of contamination to the river, including inactive hazardous waste disposal sites, paper mills, combined sewer overflows, sewage effluent, and tributaries entering the river. These sources may also be addressed in the NRDA.

Under the CERCLA regulations (subpart c), the next step in the NRDA process is the preparation of an assessment plan. This scoping document is a preliminary outline of the potential contents of an NRD Assessment plan for the Hudson River. The assessment plan will be designed to address injuries to a variety of natural resources and natural resource services associated with the release of hazardous substances in the Hudson River environment.

[[Page 52245]]

Dated: September 24, 1998. Nancy Foster, Assistant Administrator for Ocean Services and Coastal Zone Management.

[FR Doc. 98-26147Filed9-29-98; 8:45 am]

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