August 1993 Tampa Bay Oil Spill: Notice of Availability and Request for Comments on a Draft Damage Assessment and Restoration Plan

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

August 1993 Tampa Bay Oil Spill: Notice of Availability and

Request for Comments on a Draft Damage Assessment and Restoration Plan

AGENCIES: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),

Commerce, United States Department of the Interior (DOI), and

Department of Environmental Protection, State of Florida.

ACTION: Notice of availability of a draft damage assessment and

restoration plan and of a 45-day period for public comment on the plan.

SUMMARY: Notice is given that the draft document entitled ``Draft

Damage Assessment and Restoration Plan for the 1993 Tampa Bay Oil

Spill, Volume I--Ecological Injuries'' is available for public review

and comment. The document represents the first part (Volume I) of the

draft damage assessment and restoration plan (Draft DARP) being

developed by the State and Federal natural resource trustees to assess

natural resource damages for the injury, loss, destruction and lost use

of natural resources that resulted from the oil spill in Tampa Bay,

Florida, following the August 10, 1993 collision of certain vessels in

Tampa Bay. Volume I presents the methods proposed for use to restore

and compensate for natural resources injuries and losses of an

ecological nature. Volume I of the Draft DARP is consistent with

Section 1006 of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA), Chapter 376 of the

Florida Statutes and the guidance provided by the Natural Resource

Damage Assessment regulations at 43 CFR Part 11 (1994), as amended.

Public review of this draft plan, as announced by this notice, is

consistent with Section 1006 of OPA and 43 CFR 11.32(c) of those

regulations.

DATES: Comments must be submitted in writing on or before March 4,

1996.

ADDRESSES: Requests for copies of Volume I of the Draft DARP should be

sent to Jim Jeansonne of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric

Administration (NOAA) Damage Assessment Center, 9721 Executive Center

Drive N., Suite 134, St. Petersburg, FL 33702, or Jane Urquhart-

Donnelly of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP),

Office of Coastal Protection, 8407 Laurel Fair Circle, Rm. 214, Tampa,

FL 33619. Volume I is also available for public review at the St.

Petersburg Public Library, Main Library Reference Dept., 3745 9th Ave

N., St. Petersburg FL during normal library hours. Written comments on

the plan should be sent to either Jim Jeansonne of the NOAA Damage

Assessment Center or to Jane Urquhart-Donnelly of the DEP Office of

Coastal Protection at the same address as listed above.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jim Jeansonne of the NOAA Damage

Assessment Center, (813) 570-5391 or Jane Urquhart-Donnelly, (813) 744-

6462.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On August 10, 1993, at approximately 5:45

a.m., the tank barge ``OCEAN 255'' and the tank barge ``B-155''

collided with the freighter ``BALSA 37'' just south of Mullet Key near

the entrance of Tampa Bay, Florida. The OCEAN 255 caught fire upon

impact and burned for approximately 18 hours. During that period,

approximately 32,000 gallons of Jet A fuel, diesel, and gasoline were

discharged from the OCEAN 255 into lower Tampa Bay. The B-155 was also

damaged by the collision and discharged approximately 330,000 gallons

of #6 fuel oil in the same vicinity. A number of different natural

resources were eventually exposed to oil as a result of these

discharges, including mangroves, seagrasses, salt marshes, birds, sea

turtles, shellfish beds, bottom sediments, sandy shorelines and the

estuarine water column, with a variety of direct injuries and lost uses

of natural resources documented to have resulted from such exposure.

The incident is subject to the authority of OPA, 33 U.S.C. 2701-

2761 (OPA), the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, 33 U.S.C. 1321 et

seq. (FWPCA) and the Florida Pollutant Discharge and Control Act, Fla.

Stat. 376.121. NOAA, the U.S. Department of the Interior, and the

Florida Department of Environmental Protection are trustees for natural

resources pursuant to the Comprehensive Environmental Response,

Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980, as amended, 42 U.S.C. 9601 et

seq., OPA, the FWPCA, subpart G of the National Oil and Hazardous

Substances Pollution Contingency Plan, 40 CFR 300.600-300.615, and, in

the case of the Florida Department of

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Environmental Protection, the Florida Pollutant Discharge and Control

Act, Fla Stat. 376.121 (1994), and in the case of the Federal trustees,

Executive Order 12777.

These State and Federal agencies (the co-trustees) previously

determined that natural resources and resource services subject to

their trust authority were injured or lost as a result of the August

1993 oil spill and that the injuries and losses were sufficient to

warrant proceeding with an assessment of natural resource damages under

the above authorities. That determination is documented in the

``Preassessment Screen and Determination for August 10, 1993 Tampa Bay,

Florida Oil Spill'', of November 2, 1993. Volume I of the Draft DARP

presents the assessment and restoration plan developed by the co-

trustees to address the direct injuries to natural resources and the

interim losses of ecological resource services caused by the spill.

Volume I evaluates restoration alternatives for each category of

ecological injury or loss and defines compensation for resource

injuries based on necessary or appropriate restoration actions,

wherever possible. Further, the draft plan contemplates the use of

simplified, cost-effective procedures and methods to document and

quantify resource injuries and losses, as feasible and appropriate to

specific resource injuries or losses. Accordingly, proposed methods and

procedures include the use of relevant scientific literature,

scientifically based models, and focused injury determination or

quantification studies, alone or in combination, depending on the

specific injury or loss category.

The August 1993 oil spill also disrupted publicly important human

uses of natural resources, however, assessment methods and restoration

plans addressing public compensation for those lost natural resources

uses will be outlined in the second part (Volume II) of the Draft DARP,

currently being developed by the co-trustees.

Interested members of the public are invited to request a copy of

Volume I of the Draft DARP from and to submit written comments on the

plan to either Jim Jeansonne of NOAA's Damage Assessment Center, or to

Jane Urquhart-Donnelly, at the same addresses given above. All written

comments will be considered by NOAA, the Department of the Interior,

and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection in finalizing

the assessment and restoration plan for the ecological injuries and

losses and will be included in the Report of Assessment issued at the

conclusion of the assessment process.

Dated: December 21, 1995.

Terry D. Garcia,

General Counsel, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

[FR Doc. 96-455 Filed 1-18-96; 8:45 am]

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