[Federal Register: March 17, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 51)]
[Notices]
[Page 13043-13045]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr17mr05-71]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service
Notice of Intent To Conduct Restoration Planning for Natural
Resources Injured by the Release of Oil From the MV Kure Oil Spill,
Humboldt County, CA
AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of intent.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Department of the
Interior), the California Department of Fish and Game, and the
California State Lands Commission are joint trustees (Trustees) for
natural resources and are authorized to assess injuries to Federal and
State resources caused by the MV Kure Oil Spill and to plan and
implement restoration actions to address those injuries. The Trustees
announce their intent to conduct restoration planning for the MV Kure
Oil Spill. The purpose of this restoration planning effort is to
complete an assessment of the natural resource injuries and damages
caused by the oil spill, and to prepare a plan for the restoration of
the injured resources.
DATES: To ensure consideration, we must receive written comments on or
before April 18, 2005.
ADDRESSES:
Review of Administrative Record
The Administrative Record will be available for public inspection,
by appointment, during normal business hours at these locations:
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Sacramento Fish and
Wildlife Office, 2800 Cottage Way, Suite W-2605, Sacramento, California
95825.
California Department of Fish and Game, 619 2nd Street,
Eureka, California 95501.
You may schedule a time to review the Administrative Record by
contacting the Sacramento Fish and Wildlife Office or the California
Department of Fish and Game's Eureka office (see FOR FURTHER
INFORMATION CONTACT).
Submission of Comments
You may submit your written comments on this Notice, Administrative
Record materials, and all upcoming restoration planning documents by
any of the following methods:
1. Send written comments and information by mail to Charlene
Andrade, Sacramento Fish and Wildlife Office, at the above address.
2. Hand-deliver written comments to the Sacramento Fish and
Wildlife Office, at the above address.
3. Fax comments to (916) 414-6713 (Attn.: Charlene Andrade).
4. Send comments by electronic mail (e-mail) to
Charlene_Andrade@fws.gov. For directions on how to submit electronic comments,
see the ``Public Comments Solicited'' section.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Charlene Andrade, Sacramento Fish and
Wildlife Office, telephone (916) 414-6590; Kris Weise, California
Department of Fish and Game, Eureka, (707) 441-5752. To receive public
notices about future Restoration Planning activities, contact Charlene
Andrade by telephone.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
On the morning of November 5, 1997, the vessel M/V Kure spilled oil
into Humboldt Bay after colliding with a dock at the Louisiana Pacific
wood chip facility during loading operations. Oil was spread by tide,
currents and winds through much of the bay and into the Pacific Ocean.
The oil affected a number of natural resources, including seabirds,
shorebirds, marine and estuarine waters, marshes, mudflats, beaches and
other shoreline habitats. This oil spill is hereafter referred to as
the ``Incident.''
Pursuant to section 1006 of the Oil Pollution Act (OPA), 33 U.S.C.
2701 et seq., Federal and State trustees (Trustees) for natural
resources are
[[Page 13044]]
authorized to assess natural resource damages resulting from oil spills
into navigable waters and to develop and implement a plan for
restoration of such injured resources. The Trustees for this Incident
are the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Department of the Interior),
the California Department of Fish and Game, and the California State
Lands Commission. The Natural Resource Damage Assessment Regulations
under OPA, 15 CFR part 990 (the ``NRDA regulations''), provide that the
Trustees are to prepare a Notice of Intent to Conduct Restoration
Planning (Notice) if they determine certain conditions have been met
and if they decide to quantify the injuries to natural resources and to
develop a restoration plan.
This Notice is to announce, pursuant to Section 990.44 of the NRDA
regulations, that the Trustees, having collected and analyzed data,
intend to proceed with restoration planning actions to address injuries
to natural resources resulting from the Incident. The purpose of this
restoration planning effort is to further evaluate injuries to natural
resources and services and to use that information to determine the
need for, type of, and scale of restoration actions.
Determination of Jurisdiction
The Trustees have made the following determinations pursuant to 15
CFR 990.41 and 990.42:
(1) On November 5, 1997, the vessel MV Kure spilled a quantity of
intermediate fuel oil, estimated to be approximately 4,500 gallons, in
Humboldt Bay, near Eureka, California. This occurrence constituted an
``Incident'' within the meaning of 15 CFR 990.30. The Incident is also
a ``spill'' or ``discharge'' as defined at California Government Code
8670.3(aa).
(2) The Incident was not permitted under a permit issued under
Federal, State, or local law; was not from a public vessel; and was not
from an onshore facility subject to the Trans-Alaska Pipeline Authority
Act, 43 U.S.C. 1651 et seq.
(3) Oil discharged during the Incident affected marine and
shoreline habitats, wildlife, and human uses of natural resources in
the area. Consequently, natural resources under the trusteeship of the
Trustees have been injured as a result of the Incident.
(4) As a result of the foregoing determinations, the Trustees have
jurisdiction to pursue restoration under the Federal Oil Pollution Act
(OPA), 33 U.S.C. 2701-2761, and California's Lempert-Keene-Seastrand
Oil Spill Prevention and Response Act, Government Code Sections 8670.1
et seq.
Determination To Conduct Restoration Planning
The Trustees have determined, pursuant to 15 CFR 990.42(a), that:
(1) Data collected pursuant to 15 CFR 990.43 demonstrate that
injuries to natural resources have resulted from the Incident,
including but not limited to the following:
(i) Injury to a wide variety and number of seabirds, shorebirds,
and waterfowl, among them marbled murrelets and California brown
pelicans (species listed as threatened or endangered under the
Endangered Species Act, 16 U.S.C. 1531-1544);
(ii) Impacts to marshes, mudflats, beaches, and other shoreline
habitats such that the ecological services provided by these habitats
were reduced for varying periods of time;
(iii) Impacts to water quality in marine and estuarine waters
affected by the spill such that the ecological services provided by
these habitats were reduced for some period of time; and
(iv) Lost public recreational uses, including lost or diminished
opportunities for sea kayaking, surfing and camping.
(2) The cleanup actions taken to respond to the Incident have not
adequately addressed the injuries resulting from the Incident to the
extent where restoration would not be necessary. Response efforts
included collection and removal of oil and oiled debris along
shorelines and rehabilitation of oiled birds. These efforts reduced the
magnitude and duration of impacts to shoreline habitats and wildlife,
but did not eliminate all injuries or make restoration unnecessary.
(3) Potential assessment procedures to be used to evaluate injuries
and to design and implement the appropriate type and scale of
restoration for these injured natural resources and services consist
of, but are not limited to:
(i) Compilation of data on numbers, species, and collection
locations of dead or debilitated birds found during the spill response;
(ii) Compilation of demographic data for key bird species;
(iii) Field studies and/or literature searches to estimate rates of
removal of carcasses from beaches by scavengers and effectiveness of
wildlife operations personnel and techniques at finding oiled birds
stranded on beaches;
(iv) Analysis of field studies and/or literature searches (iii
above), collection information (i above), bird distribution and
abundance data, and/or oil trajectory data to evaluate spill-related
avian mortality;
(v) Resource Equivalency Analysis or other techniques to scale bird
restoration projects to bird injuries;
(vi) Habitat Equivalency Analysis or other techniques to scale
habitat restoration projects to habitat injuries;
(vii) Field studies to ascertain restoration suitability of various
tracts of land; and
(viii) Analysis of habitat quality information to properly scale
restoration projects.
(4) Feasible primary and compensatory restoration actions exist to
address injuries from the Incident. Restoration activities are expected
to focus on marbled murrelets and other seabirds, shorebirds,
waterfowl, aquatic and shoreline habitats, and lost recreation.
Restoration actions for the injured resources may include, but are not
necessarily limited to:
(i) Acquisition of marbled murrelet nesting habitat from willing
sellers, purchase of conservation easements on marbled murrelet nesting
habitat, and enhancement of the quality of marbled murrelet nesting
habitat through management actions;
(ii) Enhancement and/or protection of nesting and roosting
locations of seabirds along the California coast;
(iii) Enhancement and/or protection of marshes, mudflats and other
habitats that were affected by the Incident or are used by bird species
that were affected by the Incident; and
(iv) Enhancement of trails or other facilities used for public
recreation at beaches or parks where public access was lost or
diminished during the Incident.
Administrative Record
The Trustees have opened an Administrative Record (Record) in
compliance with 15 CFR 990.45. The Record includes documents relied
upon by the Trustees during the assessment and restoration planning
performed thus far in connection with the Incident, including data
supporting the above determinations. The Record is on file and
available to the public at the locations specified in the ADDRESSES
section.
Public Comments Solicited
Pursuant to 15 CFR 990.14(d), the Trustees seek public involvement
in restoration planning for this Incident, through public review of,
and comment on, this Notice and the documents contained in the
Administrative Record.
Please submit electronic comments in an ASCII file format and avoid
the use of special characters and encryption.
[[Page 13045]]
Please also include ``Attn: Kure NOI'' and your name and return address
in your e-mail message. If you do not receive a confirmation from the
system that we have received your e-mail message, please contact us
directly by calling Charlene Andrade at the Sacramento Fish and
Wildlife Office (see ADDRESSES section).
Our practice is to make all comments, including names and home
addresses of respondents, available for public review during regular
business hours. Individual respondents may request that we withhold
their home addresses from the record, which we will honor to the extent
allowable by law. In some circumstances, we would withhold from the
record a respondent's identity, as allowable by law. If you wish for us
to withhold your name and/or address, you must state this prominently
at the beginning of your comments. However, we will not consider
anonymous comments. We will make all submissions from organizations or
businesses, and from individuals identifying themselves as
representatives or officials of organizations or businesses, available
for public inspection in their entirety.
Author
The primary author of this notice is Daniel Welsh (Sacramento Fish
and Wildlife Office; see ADDRESSES section).
Authority
The authority for this action is the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (33
U.S.C. 2701 et seq.).
Dated: February 2, 2005.
D. Kenneth McDermond,
Deputy Manager, California/Nevada Operations Office, Sacramento,
California.
[FR Doc. 05-5290 Filed 3-16-05; 8:45 am]
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