[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 113 (Friday, June 13, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 25072-25074]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office []
[FR Doc No: 2025-10770]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
[FWS-R4-ES-2025-N015; FVHC98220410150-XXX-FF04H00000]
Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Louisiana and Open Ocean Trustee
Implementation Groups; Draft Joint Restoration Plan and Environmental
Assessment #1: Wetlands, Coastal, and Nearshore Habitats, Federally
Managed Lands, Fish and Water Column Invertebrates, Sea Turtles,
Submerged Aquatic Vegetation, and Birds Restoration of the Chandeleur
Islands
AGENCY: Department of the Interior.
ACTION: Notice of availability; request for public comments.
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SUMMARY: The natural resource trustee agencies for the Louisiana and
Open Ocean Trustee Implementation Groups (the TIGs) have prepared the
Draft Joint Restoration Plan and Environmental Assessment #1: Wetlands,
Coastal, and Nearshore Habitats, Federally Managed Lands, Fish and
Water Column Invertebrates, Submerged Aquatic Vegetation, Sea Turtles,
and Birds Restoration of the Chandeleur Islands (Draft RP/EA). The
Draft RP/EA analyzes projects to partially restore resources injured in
the Deepwater Horizon (DWH) oil spill. The Draft RP/EA evaluates a
reasonable range of six action alternatives under the Oil Pollution Act
(OPA), including criteria set forth in the OPA natural resource damage
assessment (NRDA) regulations, and the National Environmental Policy
Act (NEPA). A No Action alternative is also analyzed. The total cost to
implement the TIGs' two preferred alternatives is approximately
$360,000,000. The TIGs are proposing to allocate approximately
$247,000,000 in DWH NRDA funds to implement the preferred alternatives
and the State of Louisiana is actively pursuing additional funding
sources. The TIGs invite comments on the Draft RP/EA.
DATES:
Submitting Comments: The TIGs will consider public comments on the
Draft RP/EA received on or before June 14, 2025.
Public Webinar: The TIGs will host a public webinar on June 26,
2025, at 11:00 a.m. central daylight time (CDT). The webinar will
include an overview presentation of the Draft RP/EA and a session for
general questions regarding the plan. The public will also have an
opportunity to provide formal comments during the webinar. The public
can find information about, and register for, the webinar at . After
registering for a webinar, participants will receive a confirmation
email with instructions for joining the webinar. Instructions for
commenting will be provided during the webinar. Presentation material
and factsheets about the projects can be found on the web at .
ADDRESSES:
Obtaining Documents: You may download the Draft RP/EA at .
Alternatively, you may request a USB flash drive containing the Draft
RP/EA (see FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT). Hard copies of the
executive summary and fact sheets are also available for review during
the public comment period at the locations listed in the following
table.
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Location Address City State Zip
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St. Tammany Parish Library..... 310 W 21st Avenue...... Covington........................ LA 70433
Terrebonne Parish Library...... 151 Library Drive...... Houma............................ LA 70360
New Orleans Public Library, 219 Loyola Avenue...... New Orleans...................... LA 70112
Louisiana Division.
East Baton Rouge Parish Library 7711 Goodwood Boulevard Baton Rouge...................... LA 70806
Jefferson Parish Library, East 4747 W Napoleon Avenue. Metairie......................... LA 70001
Bank Regional Library.
Jefferson Parish Library, West 2751 Manhattan Harvey........................... LA 70058
Bank Regional Library. Boulevard.
Plaquemines Parish Library..... 8442 Highway 23........ Belle Chasse..................... LA 70037
St. Bernard Parish Library..... 2600 Palmisano Chalmette........................ LA 70043
Boulevard.
St. Martin Parish Library...... 201 Porter Street...... St. Martinville.................. LA 70582
Alex P. Allain Library......... 206 Iberia Street...... Franklin......................... LA 70538
Vermilion Parish Library....... 405 E St. Victor Street Abbeville........................ LA 70510
Martha Sowell Utley Memorial 314 St. Mary Street.... Thibodaux........................ LA 70301
Library.
South Lafourche Public Library. 16241 E Main Street.... Cut Off.......................... LA 70345
Calcasieu Parish Public Library 301 W Claude Street.... Lake Charles..................... LA 70605
Central Branch.
Iberia Parish Library.......... 445 E Main Street...... New Iberia....................... LA 70560
Mark Shirley, LSU AgCenter..... 1105 West Port Street.. Abbeville........................ LA 70510
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Dauphin Island Sea Laboratory, 101 Bienville Boulevard Dauphin Island................... AL 36528
Admin Building.
Thomas B. Norton Public Library 221 West 19th Avenue... Gulf Shores...................... AL 36542
Mobile Public Library, West 5555 Grelot Road....... Mobile........................... AL 36606
Regional Library.
Bayou La Batre Public Library.. 12747 Padgett Switch Irvington........................ AL 36544
Road.
Okaloosa County Library........ 185 Miracle Strip Ft. Walton....................... FL 32548
Parkway, SE.
Escambia Southwest Branch 12248 Gulf Beach Pensacola........................ FL 32507
Library. Highway.
Walton County Library, Coastal 437 Greenway Trail..... Santa Rosa Beach................. FL 32459
Branch.
Bay County Public Library...... 898 W 11th Street...... Panama City...................... FL 32401
Gulf County Public Library..... 110 Library Drive...... Port St. Joe..................... FL 32456
Homosassa Public Library....... 4100 S Grandmarch Homosassa........................ FL 34446
Avenue.
Pinellas Public Library........ 1330 Cleveland Street.. Clearwater....................... FL 33755
Jacaranda Public Library....... 4143 Woodmere Park Venice........................... FL 34293
Boulevard.
Riverdale Branch Library....... 2421 Buckingham Road... Fort Myers....................... FL 33905
Archie Carr National Wildlife 4055 Wildlife Way...... Vero Beach....................... FL 32963
Refuge Barrier Island Visitor
Center.
Nathaniel P. Reed Hobe Sound 13640 SE Federal Hobe Sound....................... FL 33455
National Wildlife Refuge Highway.
Visitor Center.
Biloxi Public Library, Local 580 Howard Avenue...... Biloxi........................... MS 39530
History and Genealogy
Department.
Hancock County Library System.. 312 Highway 90......... Bay St. Louis.................... MS 39520
Gulfport Harrison County 1708 25th Avenue....... Gulfport......................... MS 39501
Library.
Pascagoula Public Library...... 3214 Pascagoula Street. Pascagoula....................... MS 39567
Port Arthur Public Library..... 4615 9th Avenue........ Port Arthur...................... TX 77672
Library, Texas A&M, Corpus 6300 Ocean Drive....... Corpus Christi................... TX 78412
Christi.
Rosenberg Library.............. 2310 Sealy Street...... Galveston........................ TX 77550
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Submitting Comments: You may submit comments on the Draft RP/EA by
one of the following methods:
Internet: . Follow
the online instructions for submitting comments.
U.S. Mail: Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority,
150 Terrace Avenue, Baton Rouge, LA 70802. To be considered, mailed
comments must be postmarked on or before the deadline given in DATES.
During the Public Webinar: Verbal comments may be provided
by the public during the webinar.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Amy Mathis, at [email protected] or
251-401-2172. Individuals in the United States who are deaf, deafblind,
hard of hearing, or have a speech disability may dial 711 (TTY, TDD, or
TeleBraille) to access telecommunications relay services. Individuals
outside the United States should use the relay services offered within
their country to make international calls to the point of contact in
the United States.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Introduction
On April 20, 2010, the mobile offshore drilling unit Deepwater
Horizon, which was drilling a well for BP Exploration and Production,
Inc. (BP), experienced a significant explosion, fire, and subsequent
sinking in the Gulf of America, resulting in the release of millions of
barrels of oil and other discharges into the Gulf. Under the authority
of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA; 33 U.S.C. 2701 et seq.),
designated Federal and State trustees, acting on behalf of the public,
assessed the injuries to natural resources and prepared the Deepwater
Horizon Oil Spill Final Programmatic Damage Assessment and Restoration
Plan and Final Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (Final
PDARP/PEIS), and subsequent record of decision (ROD), which sets forth
the governance structure and process for DWH restoration planning under
the OPA's natural resource damage assessment (NRDA). On April 4, 2016,
the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana
entered a consent decree resolving civil claims by the Trustees against
BP.
The Louisiana TIG is composed of the State of Louisiana Coastal
Protection and Restoration Authority, Oil Spill Coordinator's Office,
Departments of Environmental Quality, Wildlife and Fisheries, and
Natural Resources, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the
U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI), the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the U.S. Department of
Agriculture (USDA). The Open Ocean TIG is composed of the EPA, DOI,
NOAA, and the USDA. Each TIG selects and implements restoration
projects under that TIG's management authority in accordance with the
Consent Decree. The Final PDARP/PEIS, ROD, Consent Decree, and
information on the DWH Trustees can be found at .
Background
On September 9, 2024, the Louisiana and Open Ocean TIGs posted a
``Notice of Intent to Conduct Restoration Planning'' on the NOAA Gulf
Spill Restoration website informing the public that they were beginning
to jointly write a draft restoration plan that would build upon
previous engineering and design work funded by DWH Trustees to evaluate
options for restoration of the Chandeleur Islands, addressing injuries
to multiple resources caused by the DWH oil spill. The RP/EA includes a
reasonable range of six action alternatives and identifies two
preferred alternatives for implementation.
Overview of the Louisiana and Open Ocean TIGs' Draft RP/EA
The Draft RP/EA is being released in accordance with OPA, its
implementing NRDA regulations found in the Code of Federal Regulations
(CFR) at 15 CFR part 990, the National Environmental Policy Act (42
U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), the Final PDARP/PEIS, and the consent decree. The
Draft RP/EA provides OPA and NEPA analyses for a reasonable range of
six action alternatives. Four of the action alternatives are habitat
improvement alternatives with various island restoration features,
including beach and dune fill, marsh fill, sand reservoirs, pocket
marshes, and feeder beaches. The preferred habitat improvement
alternative would provide the greatest sustained gains in beach/
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dune and marsh habitat acreage compared to the other habitat
improvement alternatives, is the most cost-effective, and has the
highest likelihood of success. The plan also analyzes implementation of
two fish and water column invertebrates (FWCI) restoration alternatives
for the Chandeleur Islands. The preferred FWCI restoration alternative
involves education, engagement, and communication with stakeholders to
restore FWCI from human-use related impacts from fishing, boating, and
ecotourism. The non-preferred FWCI restoration alternative would
monitor fisheries populations through telemetry.
The total estimated cost to implement the two preferred
alternatives is approximately $360,000,000, of which approximately
$247,000,000 is proposed to be funded from the following DWH NRDA
restoration type allocations:
Louisiana TIG Wetlands Coastal Nearshore Habitats:
$150,000,000;
Louisiana TIG Habitat Projects on Federally Managed Lands:
$25,693,273;
Louisiana TIG Submerged Aquatic Vegetation: $22,000,000;
Louisiana TIG Birds: $30,000,000;
Louisiana TIG Sea Turtles: $4,000,000;
Open Ocean TIG Birds: $5,000,000; and
Open Ocean TIG Fish and Water Column Invertebrates: up to
$10,000,000.
Administrative Record
The documents comprising the administrative record for the Draft
RP/EA can be viewed electronically at under folder 6.5.5.2.
Authority
The authority for this action is the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (33
U.S.C. 2701 et seq.), 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,
Department of the Interior, Director, Gulf Coast Restoration.
[FR Doc. 2025-10770 Filed 6-12-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4333-15-P