Notice of Availability; Oil Spill Restoration Plan and Environmental Assessment

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Fish and Wildlife Service

Notice of Availability; Oil Spill Restoration Plan and

Environmental Assessment

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior

ACTION: Notice of availability

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SUMMARY: The Fish and Wildlife Service, on behalf of the Department of

the Interior, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

(Administration), the State of Washington, and the Makah Tribe,

announces the release for public review of the Draft Restoration Plan

and Environmental Assessment for the Tenyo Maru Oil Spill (Plan/

Assessment). The Plan/Assessment covers the Natural Resource Trustees'

(Trustees) proposal to restore natural resources injured as a result of

the 1991 Tenyo Maru fishing vessel oil spill.

DATES: Written comments must be submitted on or before April 12, 1999.

ADDRESSES: Requests for copies of the Plan/Assessment may be made to:

Fish and Wildlife Service, 510 Desmond Drive SE, Suite 102, Lacey,

Washington 98503, Attn: Cindy M. Chaffee. The Plan/Assessment is also

available for download at http://www.r1.fws.gov. and http://

www.darcnw.noaa.gov/tenyo.htm. Written comments regarding the Plan/

Assessment should be sent to the same mailing address as requests for

copies of the Plan/Assessment.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Cindy M.Chaffee, Fish and Wildlife

Service, 510 Desmond Drive SE, Suite 102, Lacey, Washington 98503.

Interested parties may also call (360) 753-4324.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On July 22, 1991, a Japanese fishing vessel

(Tenyo Maru) and a Chinese freighter (Tuo Hai) collided about 20 miles

northwest of Neah Bay, Washington, spilling at least 100,000 gallons of

oil. Beaches were fouled with oil from Vancouver Island, British

Columbia to northern Oregon. While impacts were scattered along the

entire Washington State shoreline and the northern beaches of Oregon,

the heaviest oiling occurred along the Makah Indian Reservation and the

Olympic National Park shoreline. Seabirds, and to a lesser extent, kelp

habitats, were demonstrated to have been injured by the spill. The

trustees documented that common murres (Uria aalge) and federally

threatened marbled murrelets (Brachyramphus marmoratus) were killed, as

well as rhinoceros auklets

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(Cerorhinca moncerata), tufted puffins (Fratercula cirrhata), Cassin's

auklets (Ptychoramphus aleuticus) and pigeon guillemots (Cepphus

columba). Oil was observed in many of the giant kelp (Macrocystis) and

bull kelp (Nereocystis) dominated kelp beds from Cape Alava north to

Tatoosh Island and from Tatoosh Island east to Waadah Island.

Claims for natural resource damages were settled by consent decree

under the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (Act), 33 U.S.C. Sec. 2701 et seq.

Under the consent decree, the defendants agreed to pay approximately

$5.2 million to the natural resource trustees to compensate the public

for the injury, destruction, and loss of natural resources resulting

from the spill. The Plan/Assessment is presented to the public by the

Trustees responsible for restoration implementation under the consent

decree and is consistent with the Natural Resource Damage Assessment

Regulations found at 15 CFR, Part 990. The Plan/Assessment describes

the affected environment and illustrates potential restoration

alternatives to restore, rehabilitate, replace, or acquire the

equivalent of natural resources injured in the Tenyo Maru oil spill and

their environmental consequences.

The preferred restoration alternative selected by the Trustees is

an integrative restoration approach that restores populations of

injured resources, provides quality habitat, and allows natural

recovery. Proposed restoration efforts will include the combination of

protection and enhancement activities that have the greatest potential

to restore the injured natural resources, with particular emphasis on

seabirds. The Plan/Assessment proposes to restore injured resources by:

(1) Restoring common murre colonies within the Copalis National

Wildlife Refuge; (2) contributing to an oiled wildlife rehabilitation

center; (3) educating the general public on human disturbance of

nesting seabird colonies; (4) reducing seabird by-catch in coastal set-

net fisheries; (5) protecting marbled murrelet habitat; and (6)

reducing siltation in rivers.

Interested members of the public are invited to review and comment

on the Plan/Assessment. Copies of the plan are available for review at

the Fish and Wildlife Service's Western Washington Office in Lacey,

Washington (510 Desmond Drive SE, Suite 102); the Olympic Coast

National Marine Sanctuary in Port Angeles, Washington (Federal

Building, 138 West 1st Street, Suite 7) and; the Makah Tribe at Neah

Bay, Washington (Old Air Force Building #15). Additionally the Plan/

Assessment will be available for review at the Fish and Wildlife

Service's web site http://www.rl.fws.gov, at Administration's web site

http://www.darcnw.noaa.gov/tenyo.htm, and at public libraries in

Clallam, Jefferson, Grays Harbor, and Pacific Counties.

Written comments will be considered and addressed in the final

Restoration Plan and Environmental Assessment at the conclusion of the

restoration planning process.

Dated: February 2, 1999.

Thomas J. Dwyer,

Acting Regional Director, Region 1, Portland, Oregon.

[FR Doc. 99-3198 Filed 2-9-99; 8:45 am]

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