[Federal Register: June 9, 2003 (Volume 68, Number 110)]
[Notices]
[Page 34383-34385]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr09jn03-38]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Public Meeting for the Louisiana Regional Restoration Planning
Program/Draft Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement
AGENCY: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),
Commerce.
ACTION: Notice of public meetings for the Louisiana Regional
Restoration Planning Program/Draft Programmatic Environmental Impact
Statement (DPEIS)
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[[Page 34384]]
SUMMARY: Pursuant to 15 CFR 990.23 & 990.56, notice is hereby given
that two public meetings will be held to provide an opportunity for
public comment and input on the ``Louisiana Regional Restoration
Planning Program/Draft Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement, May
2003.'' Notice of the availability of this DPEIS was published in the
Federal Register on May 9, 2003 and the comment period ends on July 9,
2003. This document was prepared by the state and Federal natural
resource trustee agencies (National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA), Commerce; United States Department of the
Interior; Louisiana Oil Spill Coordinator's Office; Louisiana
Department of Environmental Quality; Louisiana Department of Natural
Resources; and Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries) to
address natural resource damages in the State of Louisiana caused by
discharges of oil, which are actionable under the Oil Pollution Act of
1990 (OPA), 33 U.S.C. 2701 et seq. Pursuant to OPA, the above natural
resource trustee agencies may claim damages from responsible parties to
restore, rehabilitate, replace or acquire the equivalent of natural
resources and services injured by oil spill incidents. The purpose of
the Louisiana Regional Restoration Planning Program is to develop an
institutional framework and procedures that will enable the trustees to
select and implement projects that restore for losses of natural
resources and services from unauthorized discharges of oil in a
consistent and predictable manner. As part of the implementation of the
Louisiana Regional Restoration Planning Program, nine Regional
Restoration Plans will be developed. Each Regional Restoration Plan
will identify existing, planned, or proposed projects that may provide
appropriate restoration alternatives for natural resources injured by
oil spill incidents and thereby enhance resolution of claims for
natural resource damages caused by oil spill incidents in a more
expeditious and cost-effective manner.
Dates/Location:
Two public meetings to receive public comments on the ``Louisiana
Regional Restoration Planning Program/Draft Programmatic Environmental
Impact Statement, May 2003'' will be held on Monday, June 23, 2003. The
daytime meeting is scheduled at 2 PM and the evening meeting is
scheduled at 6:30 PM.
Both meetings will be held at the following location: Conservation
and Mineral Board Resources Hearing Room, 1st floor--LaBelle Room,
Department of Natural Resources, LaSalle Office Building, 617 N. 3rd
Street, Baton Rouge, LA 70802.
ADDRESSES: Requests for copies of the ``Louisiana Regional Restoration
Planning Program/Draft Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement, May
2003'' should be sent to William Conner, Chief , NOAA/Damage Assessment
Center, 1305 East-West Highway, SSMC 4, 10th floor, Silver
Spring, MD, 20910, at (301) 713-3038 ext. 190 or
William.Conner@noaa.gov. Written comments on the program should be sent
to NOAA to the person listed above or faxed to: (301) 713-4387. A copy
of comments should also be sent to: NEPA Coordinator, NOAA/SP, Room
6121, 14th and Constitution, NW., Washington DC 20230.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information, contact
William Conner at (301) 713-3038 ext. 190, or at
William.Conner@noaa.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Traditionally, Louisiana's economy has been
based on the state's vast natural resources. Both renewable (hunting,
fishing, forest products) and nonrenewable (cultural, oil, natural gas)
resources are important, and the industries associated with each have
coexisted for years. Although Louisiana's oil and gas industry tries to
avoid adverse impacts on renewable natural resources, injuries do occur
as a result of oil spill incidents. The cumulative impact of these
incidents on fish, wildlife and the environment can be significant and
adversely affect the industries and communities depending on natural
resources for commerce and recreation.
Federal and state natural resource trustees are developing the
first statewide comprehensive Regional Restoration Planning Program to
assist the natural resource trustees in carrying out their
responsibilities to restore the natural resources that have been
injured by oil spill incidents. The goal of this planning effort is to
establish a statewide program that will: expedite and reduce the cost
of the Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA) process; increase
predictability by describing in detail the NRDA process; and increase
restoration of lost natural resources and services by expediting
resolution of claims.
The state and federal trustees have identified: the Louisiana
Regional Restoration Planning Program structure; the decision-making
process; the criteria that will be used to select the restoration
project(s) that restore the natural resources injured by an incident;
and several innovative settlement approaches that can expedite the NRDA
process. The state is divided into nine regions. For each region, a
regional plan will be developed that identifies: resources which could
potentially be injured by incidents; appropriate restoration types to
restore those resources; and available restoration projects for each of
the restoration types.
The Louisiana Regional Restoration Planning Program will benefit
the public, industry, and natural resource trustees by:
[sbull] Providing greater opportunities to restore injuries to
trust resources caused by oil spill incidents;
[sbull] Potentially reducing the cost and time required for
restoration planning and implementation;
[sbull] Pooling individual case recoveries to provide for
implementation of larger, more ecologically significant restoration
projects;
[sbull] Providing for more consistency and predictability through
detailing the NRDA process, thereby reducing uncertainty to the public
and industry;
[sbull] Improving coordination between restoration activities under
the NRDA mandates and other restoration efforts in the State;
[sbull] Enhancing trustee capability to restore resources/services
injured by oil incidents for which there is no viable RP;
[sbull] Maximizing opportunities for partnering among RPs,
trustees, and other public and private restoration efforts; and
[sbull] Increasing opportunity for public participation in the NRDA
process through pre-incident planning.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),
Commerce; United States Department of the Interior (DOI); Louisiana Oil
Spill Coordinator's Office (LOSCO); Louisiana Department of
Environmental Quality (LDEQ); Louisiana Department of Natural Resources
(LDNR); and Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF) are
natural resource trustees designated pursuant to 33 U.S.C. 2706(c),
Executive Order 12777, and the National Contingency Plan, 40 CFR
300.600 and 300.605. Pursuant to La. Rev. Stat. 30:2460, the State of
Louisiana Oil Spill Contingency Plan (September 1995) describes the
state trust resources to include the following: Vegetated wetlands,
surface waters, ground waters, air, soil, wildlife, aquatic life, and
the appropriate habitats on which they depend. DOI has been designated
as trustee for the natural resources that it manages or controls.
Examples of those resources are described in the National Contingency
Plan, 40 CFR 300.600(b)(2) and (3), include the following and their
[[Page 34385]]
supporting ecosystems: Migratory birds, anadromous fish, endangered
species and marine mammals, federally owned minerals, certain federally
managed water resources, and natural resources located on, over, or
under land administered by DOI. NOAA's trust resources include, but are
not limited to: Commercial and recreational fish species, anadromous
and catadromous fish species, marshes and other coastal habitats,
marine mammals, and endangered and threatened marine species.
Pursuant to 15 CFR 990.56, the natural resource trustees are
authorized to develop regional restoration plans as part of OPA's
mandate for the trustees to restore, rehabilitate, replace, or acquire
the equivalent of natural resources and services injured by oil spill
incidents and to compensate for interim losses of such resources and
services.
In compliance with 15 CFR 990.45, the trustees have opened an
Administrative Record (Record). The Record is maintained in the NOAA
Damage Assessment Center, SSMC 4, 1305 East-West Highway,
Silver Spring, Maryland, 20910-3281, and duplicate copies of the Record
will be maintained in Baton Rouge at the Louisiana Oil Spill
Coordinator's Office, Suite 405, 150 Third Street, Baton Rouge, LA,
70801.
The Record includes documents that the trustees relied upon during
the development of the Louisiana Regional Restoration Planning Program
and the DPEIS. Pursuant to 15 CFR 990.23 & 990.56, the trustees sought
public involvement in developing the Louisiana Regional Restoration
Planning Program and Regional Restoration Plans through public review
and comment of the documents contained in the Record as well as through
publication of a ``Public Review Document of the Louisiana Regional
Restoration Planning Program''. Further opportunity for public review
will become available when the Louisiana Regional Restoration Planning
Program/Final Environmental Impact Statement is prepared. The Record
and the above documents are also available at the following Web site:
http://www.darp.noaa.gov/.
Dated: June 3, 2003.
Jamison S. Hawkins,
Deputy Assistant Administrator for Ocean Services and Coastal Zone
Management.
[FR Doc. 03-14400 Filed 6-6-03; 8:45 am]