Contact: Matt Stout, NOAA For Immediate Release
Spence Conley, USFWS 1/15/97
In the year since the North Cape oil spill, federal and state natural resource trustees and the responsible party, Eklof Marine, continue to work cooperatively to assess the effects of the spill and determine appropriate restoration actions for southern Rhode Island's coastal and marine environment.
On Jan. 19, 1996, the tank barge North Cape and the tug Scandia grounded on Moonstone Beach in southern Rhode Island after the tug caught fire, spilling 828,000 gallons of home heating oil. Oil spread throughout a large area of Block Island Sound, including Trustom Pond National Wildlife Refuge, resulting in the closure of a 250-square mile area of the Sound for fishing. Hundreds of oiled birds were recovered in the weeks following the spill and large numbers of dead lobsters, surf clams and sea stars were found on area beaches.
Under the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, the party responsible for the oil spill, Eklof Marine in this case, is liable for the costs to restore natural resources injured by the spill. Restoration alternatives may include actions to directly restore the injured resources and/or actions to compensate the public for its loss of use of these resources.
Shortly before the North Cape oil spill, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued new federal regulations that provide a framework to achieve restoration more quickly and effectively. Three key provisions of the new regulations direct trustees to: 1) conduct a cooperative assessment of damages with the responsible parties; 2) focus the damage assessment on restoration planning to replace the lost or injured resources, rather than on the monetary value of losses; and 3) invite public participation in the restoration planning process.
In addition, last year the Interior Department announced development of innovative computer software to speed restoration of natural resources injured by minor releases of oil and hazardous substances. The new computer models will enable resource management agencies to determine the monetary value of injuries to natural resources from minor releases of oil and hazardous substances in an easier and more effective manner.
Federal and state agencies are entrusted with stewardship responsibilities on behalf of the public for the nation's natural resources. Trustees for the North Cape spill include the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management; NOAA, an agency of the Commerce Department; and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, an agency of the Interior Department.
The U. S. Department of Justice and the Rhode Island Attorney General's Office are working closely with the trustees in support of the goal of quick and efficient restoration of lost natural resources through the cooperative process.
The trustees, working with representatives from Eklof Marine, have assembled four teams of experts to examine impacts to salt pond communities (fish, shellfish and vegetation), marine communities (lobster and surf clams), birds, and human uses (charter boat fishing, tourism and recreation). The teams consist of marine biologists, bird specialists, contaminant specialists, wetlands specialists, ecologists, refuge managers and economists. These injury assessments are nearing completion and a draft comprehensive restoration plan should be available for public review and comment in the spring of 1997.
Trustees welcome comments and restoration proposals from the public. An Administrative Record has been established and is on file with the Division of Site Remediation, Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management, that includes spill response and assessment data that will be used as a basis for restoration planning and decision-making.
To review the Record, contact Warren Angell. Comments should be forwarded to Michael C. Donlan, Industrial Economics, Incorporated, 2067 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA 02140, or by fax at (617) 354-0463, or at mdonlan@indecon.com.