[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 113 (Friday, June 12, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 33540-33541]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-14410]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service
[FWS-R3-ES-2013-N194; FXHC11300300000-156-FF03E00000]
Notice of Availability of the Draft Damage Assessment and
Restoration Plan and Environmental Assessment for Enbridge Line 6B Oil
Discharges Near Marshall, MI
AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of availability; request for public comments.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI), acting through the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS); the Nottawaseppi Huron Band of
the Potawatomi Tribe; and the Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of the
Pottawatomi Indians have written a Draft Damage Assessment and
Restoration Plan and Environmental Assessment (Draft Plan), which
describes proposed alternatives for restoring injured natural resources
and compensating for losses resulting from the discharges of oil from
Enbridge's Line 6B oil pipeline near Marshall, Michigan, in July 2010.
The Draft Plan was prepared in accordance with the Oil Pollution Act of
1990 (OPA) and the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The
purpose of this notice is to inform the public of the availability of
the Draft Plan and to seek written comments.
DATES: Written comments must be postmarked no later than July 27, 2015.
ADDRESSES: Obtaining Documents: You may obtain copies of the documents
by any of the following methods:
Online: http://www.fws.gov/midwest/es/ec/nrda/MichiganEnbridge/index.html.
Email: Lisa L. Williams, at lisa_williams@fws.gov. Do not
use any special characters or forms of encryption in your email.
In-person: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 2651 Coolidge
Road, Suite 101, East Lansing, MI 48848.
U.S. mail: Lisa L. Williams, Contaminants Specialist, at
the Coolidge Road address above.
Submitting Comments: You may submit comments to Lisa L. Williams at
the Coolidge Road address above or via email at kzoorivernrda@fws.gov
with ``Enbridge NRDA Comment'' in the subject line
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Technical Information: Lisa Williams,
(517) 351-8324.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: DOI, acting through FWS; the Nottawaseppi
Huron Band of the Potawatomi Tribe; and the Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish
Band of the Pottawatomi Indians have written a Draft Damage Assessment
and Restoration Plan and Environmental Assessment (Draft Plan), which
describes proposed alternatives for restoring injured natural resources
and compensating for losses resulting from the discharges of oil from
Enbridge's Line 6B oil pipeline near Marshall, Michigan, which occurred
July 25-26, 2010. The Draft Plan was prepared in accordance with the
Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA) and the National Environmental Policy
Act (NEPA). DOI and the two tribes prepared this Draft Plan in
cooperation with our co-Trustees: The Department of Commerce (DOC),
acting through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
(NOAA), and the State of Michigan, acting through the Michigan
Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ), the Michigan Department of
Natural Resources (MDNR), and the Michigan Department of Attorney
General (MDAG). The purpose of this notice is to inform the public of
the availability of the Draft Plan and to seek written comments. This
notice is provided pursuant to Natural Resource Damage Assessment and
Restoration (NRDAR) regulations
[[Page 33541]]
(15 CFR 990.23 and 990.55(c)) and NEPA regulations (40 CFR 1506.6).
The DOI (represented by the FWS), the DOC (represented by the
NOAA), the Nottawaseppi Huron Band of the Potawatomi Tribe, the Match-
E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of the Pottawatomi Indians, and the State of
Michigan (the latter acting through MDEQ, MDNR, and MDAG) are Trustees
for natural resources considered in this Draft Plan, pursuant to
subpart G of the National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution
Contingency Plan (40 CFR 300.600, 300.605, and 300.610) and Executive
Order 12580. The Trustees followed the NRDAR regulations found at 15
CFR part 990 and the NEPA regulations found at 40 CFR parts 1500-1508
for the development of the Draft Plan. The Trustees will consider all
public comments received during the public comment as we proceed to
finalize the Draft Plan. The Draft Plan will be finalized prior to
implementation of restoration. Any significant additions or
modifications to the Final Plan that become necessary as restoration
actions proceed will be made available for public review before any
changes in restoration actions are undertaken.
Background
The goal of NRDAR under the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (33 U.S.C.
2701 et seq.; OPA) is to make the environment and public whole for
injuries to natural resources and natural resource services resulting
from incidents involving discharge or substantial threat of discharge
of oil. This goal is achieved through returning injured natural
resources and services to baseline and compensating for interim losses
of such natural resources and services through the restoration,
rehabilitation, replacement, or acquisition of equivalent natural
resources and/or services.
Process
In this case, the Trustees worked together in a cooperative process
to identify appropriate restoration activities to address natural
resource injuries caused by discharges of oil from Enbridge's Line 6B
pipeline near Marshall, Michigan. The results of this administrative
process are contained in the Draft Plan, which is a planning and
decision document being published for public review under OPA and NEPA.
The Draft Plan describes the injuries that occurred as a result of the
discharges of oil, how the Trustees estimated damages, how those
damages will be addressed through proposed restoration alternatives,
and what the expected environmental impacts of the proposed projects
would be. By law, natural resource damages received must be used to
restore, rehabilitate, replace, and/or acquire the equivalent of those
injured natural resources.
Public Involvement
Interested members of the public are invited to review and comment
on the Plan. Copies can be requested from the address and Web site
listed above. Comments on the Draft Plan should be sent to the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service (see ADDRESSES). The U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service will provide copies of all comments to the other Trustees. All
comments received from individuals become part of the official public
record. Requests for such comments will be handled in accordance with
the Freedom of Information Act and the Council on Environmental
Quality's NEPA regulations (40 CFR 1506.6(f)).
Availability of Public Comments
The Trustees' practice is to make comments, including names and
home addresses of respondents, available for public review during
regular business hours. Before including your address, phone number,
email address, or other personal identifying information in your
comment, you should be aware that the entire comment, including your
personal identifying information, may be available at any time. While
individual respondents may request that the Fish and Wildlife Service
withhold their personal identifying information from public review, we
cannot guarantee we will be able to do so.
Authority
This notice is provided pursuant to NRDAR regulations (15 CFR
990.23 and 990.55(c)) and NEPA regulations (40 CFR 1506.6).
Dated: April 3, 2015.
Charles Wooley,
Acting Regional Director, Midwest Region, U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service.
[FR Doc. 2015-14410 Filed 6-11-15; 8:45 am]
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