Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill 2019 Final Supplemental Restoration Plan and Finding of No Significant Impact; Mississippi Trustee Implementation Group

Citation84 FR 53469
Record Number2019-21802
Published date07 October 2019
SectionNotices
CourtInterior Department
Federal Register, Volume 84 Issue 194 (Monday, October 7, 2019)
[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 194 (Monday, October 7, 2019)]
                [Notices]
                [Pages 53469-53470]
                From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
                [FR Doc No: 2019-21802]
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                DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
                [FWS-R4-ES-2019-N126]; [FVHC98220410150-XXX-FF04H00000]
                Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill 2019 Final Supplemental Restoration
                Plan and Finding of No Significant Impact; Mississippi Trustee
                Implementation Group
                AGENCY: Department of the Interior.
                ACTION: Notice of availability.
                -----------------------------------------------------------------------
                SUMMARY: In accordance with the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA), the
                National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Deepwater Horizon Oil
                Spill Final Programmatic Damage Assessment and Restoration Plan and
                Final Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (Final PDARP/PEIS),
                Record of Decision, and Consent Decree, the Federal and State natural
                resource trustee agencies for the Mississippi Trustee Implementation
                Group (Mississippi TIG) have prepared a Mississippi Trustee
                Implementation Group 2019 Final Supplemental Restoration Plan: Grand
                Bay Land Acquisition and Habitat Management (SRP) and Finding of No
                Significant Impact (FONSI). The SRP approves an additional $10,000,000
                in funds for additional land acquisition and habitat management within
                the Grand Bay Land Acquisition and Habitat Management project (Grand
                Bay Project) area. The Mississippi TIG originally evaluated and
                selected the Grand Bay Project as part of the Mississippi Trustee
                Implementation Group 2016-2017 Restoration Plan/Environmental
                Assessment (2016-2017 RP/EA). Additional land acquisition and habitat
                management for the Grand Bay Project will continue the process of
                conserving and restoring wetlands, coastal, and nearshore habitats
                injured as a result of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The purpose of
                this notice is to inform the public of the availability of the final
                SRP and FONSI.
                ADDRESSES: Obtaining Documents: You may download the SRP and FONSI from
                either of the following websites:
                 http://www.gulfspillrestoration.noaa.gov
                 https://www.doi.gov/deepwaterhorizon/adminrecord
                 Alternatively, you may request a CD of the SRP and FONSI (see FOR
                FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT).
                FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Nanciann Regalado, via email at
                [email protected], via telephone at 678-296-6805, or via the
                Federal Relay Service at 800-877-8339.
                SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
                Introduction
                 Notice of availability of the draft SRP was published in the
                Federal Register on July 2, 2019 (84 FR 31618). The MS TIG provided the
                public 30 days to review and comment on the draft SRP. Comments
                submitted during that time were reviewed and addressed by the MS TIG
                before finalizing the SRP. Details are provided in the final SRP.
                Additional restoration planning for the Mississippi Restoration Area
                will continue.
                Background
                 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 offshore 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.
                 The Trustees conducted the natural resource damage assessment
                (NRDA) for the Deepwater Horizon oil spill under the Oil Pollution Act
                1990 (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. 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 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;
                 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
                (MDEQ);
                 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.
                [[Page 53470]]
                 On April 4, 2016, the United States District Court for the Eastern
                District of Louisiana entered a Consent Decree resolving civil claims
                by the DWH oil spill trustees against BP Exploration and Production
                Inc. (BP) arising from the DWH oil spill: United States v. BPXP et al.,
                Civ. No. 10-4536, centralized in MDL 2179, In re: Oil Spill by the Oil
                Rig ``Deepwater Horizon'' in the Gulf of Mexico, on April 20, 2010
                (E.D. La.) (http://www.justice.gov/enrd/deepwater-horizon). Pursuant to
                that Consent Decree, restoration projects in Mississippi are now
                selected and implemented by the Mississippi TIG. The Mississippi TIG is
                composed of one State and four Federal Trustees: MDEQ, DOI, NOAA, USDA,
                and EPA.
                Overview of the Mississippi TIG SRP
                 In the final SRP and FONSI, the MS TIG selected an additional $10
                million in funding to support further acquisition and/or habitat
                management and project success monitoring within the project area of
                the Grand Bay Project originally selected in the 2016-2017 RP/EA. In
                that document, the MS TIG evaluated and selected several restoration
                projects from a reasonable range of alternatives. Projects selected for
                implementation included the Grand Bay Project. As described in Section
                3.4 of the 2016-2017 RP/EA, the Mississippi TIG allocated $6 million to
                initiate the acquisition and to commence management in nearshore
                coastal and wetland habitats within the Grand Bay Project area, which
                includes the acquisition boundaries of the Grand Bay National Wildlife
                Refuge (Refuge), the Grand Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve
                (NERR), and the Grand Bay Savanna Coastal Preserve (Preserve). The
                final 2016-2017 RP/EA can be found at https://www.gulfspillrestoration.noaa.gov/2017/07/mississippi-trustee-implementation-group-releases-first-restoration-plan.
                 In accordance with NEPA, as part of the final SRP, the Trustees
                issued a FONSI. The FONSI is available in Appendix A of the final SRP.
                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 for this action is the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (33
                U.S.C. 2701 et seq.) and its implementing 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.).
                Mary Josie Blanchard,
                Director of Gulf of Mexico Restoration, Department of Interior.
                [FR Doc. 2019-21802 Filed 10-4-19; 8:45 am]
                 BILLING CODE 4333-15-P
                

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