Duck and Otter Final Natural Resource Damage Assessment Plan

The U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI), represented by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS or the Trustee) is conducting a natural resource damage assessment (NRDA) to restore natural resources and the services they provide, that have been injured as a result of releases of hazardous substances1 from several Potentially Responsible Parties (PRPs) to the Duck and Otter Creeks in Toledo, Ohio (the Assessment Area). The FWS has identified several PRPs that may be responsible for releases of hazardous substances including, but not necessarily limited to, BP Products North America, Inc., Chevron Corporation, ConocoPhillips Corporation, CSX Corporation, Envirosafe Services of Ohio, Inc., Lubriplate Lubricants Company/Fiske Brothers Refining Company, Marsulex, Inc., Pilkington North America, Inc., Sunoco, Inc and Toledo Edison Company. The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) [42 U.S.C. §§ 9607 et seq.], the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (Clean Water Act or CWA) [33 U.S.C. §§ 1321 et seq.], and the National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan (NCP) [40 C.F.R. Part 300, Subpart G] provide the Trustee with authority to seek damages and to make the public whole for injuries to natural resources. The FWS prepared a Preassessment Screen and Determination (PAS) following the federal regulations at 43 C.F.R. § 11.23. The PAS was a review of readily available information, from which the Trustee determined that hazardous substance releases 2 from the PRPs’ facilities3 were likely to have injured natural resources (FWS, 2010). The Trustee therefore concluded that an assessment should proceed. This Draft Assessment Plan (Draft AP) has been prepared in accordance with federal regulations at 43 C.F.R. Part 11. The purpose of the Draft AP is to describe the Trustee’s approach for conducting an NRDA at the Assessment Area and to propose assessment work to determine and quantify natural resource restoration necessary to make the public whole for losses caused by natural resource injuries resulting from the PRPs’ releases of hazardous substances.