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• LAND GOES BACK TO NATURE
  Alcoa creates marsh that will be donated to Aransas refuge

  Completed Marsh Restoration - Credit: Ken Rice, USFWS.

  March 29, 2007

  By Louise Popplewell - Victoria Advocate
  Reprinted by permission.

  PORT LAVACA - In giving back what it took away so many years ago, Alcoa on Wednesday showed off its latest project to restore Lavaca Bay, and federal, state, county and local officials were on hand to celebrate with Calhoun County residents.

  The culmination of 15 years of work by so many drew to a close with completion of Alcoa's creation of a 70-acre inter-tidal marsh on 730 acres near Indianola the industrial giant acquired and will transfer to the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge.

  The addition to the 3,400-acre Myrtle Foester Whitmire Unit of the refuge consists of marsh habitats and Powderhorn Lake that are viewed from a 30-foot man-made elevation.

  The improvements were made as part of the terms of a settlement to resolve the company's liability for damages stemming from releases of mercury and hydrocarbons into the bay in the late 1960s.

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• NOAA and Its Partners Publish Two Louisiana Restoration Planning Documents

  The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is pleased to announce the publication of two Louisiana Regional Restoration Planning Program (RRP Program) documents. NOAA and its natural resource co- trustees have developed the innovative statewide comprehensive RRP Program to respond to oil discharges.

  The framework and the major provisions of the RRP Program are outlined in a Final Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (FPEIS) . The FPEIS divides the State of Louisiana into nine regions and a Regional Restoration Plan for each will identify trust resources and services that are likely to be injured by an oil spill, suitable restoration for those injuries, and available projects that can be implemented at the local level to affect restoration. The first of these plans, the Final Regional Restoration Plan for Region 2, is available for the delta region of southeast Louisiana.

  NOAA Restoration Portal

  The NOAA Restoration Portal has been updated to provide you with more information about NOAA's vital restoration projects. The enhanced site now provides comprehensive information about restoration techniques, NOAA restoration programs, projects, and activities, and access to the other NOAA restoration resources. The site also provides educational resources, a publication library, and a list of funding sources.

  
  Team sampling marsh sediments
  and water quality near a creek restoration project.

  
  
• NOAA Leading Assessment of Areas Possibly Harmed by Citgo Oil Spill
  Workers with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration are leading a federally mandated assessment of areas possibly harmed by the June 18, 2006 Citgo oil spill. That process, called a national resource damage assessment, is a long-term effort involving several government agencies and led by NOAA.

  Its goal is to quantify the damage to sensitive areas of the environment, such as river bottoms and wetlands. State environmental and health regulators have begun testing tissue samples from fish, shrimp, crabs, and oysters for any effects from the spill.
  *Reprinted with permission from the American Press.

  Captain Scott Wyatt of Pathmaker Airboats from Cecilia arrives at Calcasieu Point along with crews from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and other agencies. The group was bringing in sediment samples from Big Lake. Testing is being conducted as a result of the recent Citgo oil spill. Crews with NOAA will be collecting samples throughout the affected areas for two weeks.		Lisa Dipinto of NOAA checks for phone calls at Calcasieu Point after she collected sediment samples from Big Lake.

  
  

• Bald Eagle Chick Takes Its First Flight
  After weeks of practice, the first bald eagle to hatch on the northern Channel Islands in over 50 years took to the air in its first flight July 14, 2006. This bald eagle reintroduction study is part of the Montrose Settlements Restoration Program , a multiagency effort to address natural resource injuries from DDT and PCB releases into the environment by Montrose Chemical Corporation and other industrial sources in Southern California in the mid 20th century. Closeup views from a publicly broadcast web camera and play-by-play posts from an associated discussion board allowed hundreds of people to join biologists as they watched the chick show typical preflight behaviors over two weeks. There were at least 32 news sources that had reported it; 200 registered users were documented on the webcam; and at least 450,000 hits were sited on the website.

Home Page What's New

• Learn about the Berman Barge Restoration

• Natural Resource Damage Assessment, 2002, (Fact Sheet).

• Watershed Database and Mapping Projects/Anacostia River, May 2002.

• May 23, 2007: NOAA's Damage Assessment, Remediation and Restoration Program Celebrates 15 Years of Success
• March 28, 2007: Lavaca Bay Restoration and Clean Up Celebrating Successful Government-Industry Partnership

• December 17, 2003: NOAA and Florida Awarded $2.2 Million for South Florida Oil Spill

• September 17, 2003: Agencies Seek Input on Draft Regional Restoration Plan for Louisiana

• September 10, 2003: Restoration Begins for Westchester Oil Spill in Louisiana

• June 18, 2003: First State-Wide Program Promotes Regional Restoration in Louisiana

• January 8, 2003: NOAA and Florida Submit $2.2 Million Claim for South Florida Oil Spill

• December 12, 2002: NOAA Announces $2.7 Million Patuxent River Oil Spill Restoration

• December 22, 1999, press release announcing that a "settlement in principle" had been reached in the North Cape oil spill.

• Press Release issued July 6, 2000—"U.S., Rhode Island announce settlement to redress environmental damage from massive oil spill"