Draft Partial Restoration Plan and Environmental Assessment Addressing Injuries to Migratory Birds and Threatened and Endangered Species at the Tar Creek Superfund Site, Ottawa County, OK

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Fish and Wildlife Service

Draft Partial Restoration Plan and Environmental Assessment

Addressing Injuries to Migratory Birds and Threatened and Endangered

Species at the Tar Creek Superfund Site, Ottawa County, OK

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of availability.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposes to protect habitat

for the endangered gray bat, threatened Ozark cavefish and bald eagle,

and migratory birds through acquisition of land in fee or easement, or

management agreements with land owners. Such alternatives will provide

partial compensation to the public for injuries to these trust

resources from releases of hazardous chemicals from mining activities

at the Tar Creek Superfund Site, Ottawa County, Oklahoma.

DATES: Written comments on the partial restoration plan and

environmental assessment must be received within November 29, 1999.

ADDRESSES: Copies of the draft restoration plan and environmental

asssessment are available on the Internet at http://ifw2es.fws.gov/

library, or requested from the Service at:

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 222 South Houston, Suite A, Tulsa,

Oklahoma 74127, 918/581-7458

or

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Ecological Services (HC/EC), P.O. Box

1306, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87103, 505/248-6648

Written data or comments should be submitted to the NRDAR

Coordinator, Division of Habitat Conservation/Environmental

Contaminants, Ecological Services, P.O. Box 1306, Albuquerque, New

Mexico 87103, or via the website. All comments received, including

names and addresses, will become part of the official administrative

record and may be made available to the public.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service,

Ecological Services, Division of Habitat Conservation/Environmental

Contaminants, P.O. Box 1306, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87103. Documents

and other information submitted with these applications are available

for review, subject to the requirements of the Privacy Act and Freedom

of Information Act, by any party who submits a written request for a

copy of such documents within November 29, 1999, to the address above.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

The Tar Creek Superfund site, located in Ottawa County, Oklahoma,

is one of three superfund sites located within the Tri-State Mining

District of Kansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma. The district contained

multiple lead and zinc mines after the early 1900s which operated until

deposits were depleted in the 1970's. Acidic groundwater surfacing

through old air shafts and other openings contaminated the Tar Creek

drainage and its associated wetlands and bottomland hardwoods. The

bankruptcy of two major mining companies in the 1990's led the

Department of Interior to collect partial damages for injuries to trust

resources, specifically migratory birds and endangered and threatened

species. Endangered and Threatened species of concern at the Site are

endangered gray bat, and threatened Ozark cavefish and bald eagle.

Alternatives for expenditure of the funds collected through these

bankruptcies center on allowing the site to naturally restore itself

through time (no action, Alternative A), or protection of habitat

through acquisition in fee or easement, or management agreements with

land owners (Alternatives B-D). Specifically Alternative B provides for

the acquisition and protection of an Ottawa County endangered bat

maternity cave, Alternative C protects high quality bottomland forest

along the Neosho River, and Alternative D acquires and protects a large

continuous stand of Ozark forest and Federally endangered bat caves in

Adair County, Oklahoma.

The no action alternative is not a preferred alternative because it

takes no on-site restoration actions and accepts that there will be

continued injuries at the site over a long period of time, yet provides

no off-site actions to restore the injured or comparable resources. In

addition, the no action alternative fails to use the recovered funds on

restoration, as mandated by the natural resources provisions in the

Superfund law. Since other alternatives provide some mix of protection

to trust resources, all are viable candidates for implementation.

Because costs of implementation for alternatives B--D will be achieved

through negotiation with landowners, implementation of more than one

alternative may be attainable as available funds are depleted.

Alternatives B and C are closest to the site and Alternative D protects

caves having the greatest threat from development. Because alternative

B has potential available management, through the adjacent Boy Scout

Camp, it is the preferred alternative. Alternative D follows, due to

threat from development, and alternative C, due to its inherent

significance to migratory birds and bat foraging habitat.

Implementation of the preferred alternative will commence upon

signature of the final Partial Restoration Plan, and associated Finding

of No Significant Impact.

The Service will place notices in the Tulsa World, a newspaper of

general circulation in the state, the Daily Oklahoman, a newspaper

circulated in the State Capitol and central and western Oklahoma, and

the Miami Daily Herald, a newspaper circulated in the general area of

the Site, and will make copies available at the Miami, Oklahoma Public

Library concurrently with this Federal Register notice. Copies can also

be obtained from the Internet at http://ifw2es.fws.gov/library.

The current comment period on this proposal closes on November 29,

1999. Written comments may be submitted to the Service office in the

ADDRESSES section.

Author

The primary author of this notice is Karen E. Cathey (see

ADDRESSES).

Authority

The authority for this action is the Comprehensive Environmental

Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) of 1980, through its

Natural Resource Damage Assessment and Restoration (NRDAR) provisions

(43 CFR Part 11).

Dated: October 8, 1999.

Stephen W. Parry,

Acting Regional Director, Region 2, Fish and Wildlife Service.

[FR Doc. 99-26932 Filed 10-14-99; 8:45 am]

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