1512 Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 7 / Monday, January 12, 2015 / Notices 

Dated: January 5, 2015. 

Katherine M. O’Regan, 

Assistant Secretary for Policy Development 

& Research. 

[FR Doc. 2015–00198 Filed 1–9–15; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4210–67–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

[FWS–R2–FHC–2014–N178; 

FVHC98120208440–XXX–FF02ETTX00] 

Texas City Y Oil Spill; Notice of Intent 

To Conduct Restoration Planning 

AGENCY: Interior. 

ACTION: Notice of Intent. 

SUMMARY: Under the Oil Pollution Act 

(OPA), Federal and State trustees for 

natural resources are authorized to 

assess natural resource injuries resulting 

from an oil discharge or the substantial 

threat of discharge, as well those 

injuries that result from response 

activities. The trustees develop and 

implement a restoration plan to identify 

and quantify injuries to natural 

resources and the restoration required to 

compensate for those injuries. This 

notice announces the intent of the 

Federal and State trustees to conduct 

restoration planning regarding the 

discharge of oil from the Kirby Barge 

27706 resulting from the collision with 

an inbound bulk carrier, the M/V 

SUMMER WIND, an incident that 

occurred in the Houston Ship Channel 

near Texas City, Texas on March 22, 

2014. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Benjamin Tuggle, Regional Director, 

Southwest Region, U.S. Fish and 

Wildlife Service, ((505) 248–6911). 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Texas 

City Y Oil Spill occurred on March 22, 

2014, in Galveston Bay in the vicinity of 

the Houston Ship Channel near Texas 

City, Texas, when the inbound bulk 

carrier M/V SUMMER WIND collided 

with the oil tank-barge KIRBY 27706. At 

the time of the collision, the M/V MISS 

SUSAN was towing the oil tank-barges 

KIRBY 27705 and KIRBY 27706. As a 

result of the collision, the number 2 

starboard tank of KIRBY 27706 was 

punctured discharging approximately 

168,000 gallons (4,000 barrels) of 

intermediate fuel oil (IFO–380) into 

Galveston Bay and subsequently entered 

the waters of the Gulf of Mexico 

(referred to as the ‘‘Texas City 

Incident’’). 

Pursuant to Section 1006 of the Oil 

Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA), 33 U.S.C. 

2706, Federal and State trustees for 

natural resources are authorized to (1) 

assess natural resource injuries resulting 

from a discharge of oil or the substantial 

threat of a discharge and from response 

activities, and (2) develop and 

implement a plan for restoration of such 

injured resources and their services. The 

Federal trustees are designated pursuant 

to the National Oil and Hazardous 

Substances Pollution Contingency Plan 

(NCP) (40 CFR 300.600) and Executive 

Order 12777. State trustees are 

designated by the governors of each 

State pursuant to the NCP, 40 CFR 

300.605, OPA 33 U.S.C. 2706(b)(3), 

Clean Water Act (CWA), 33 U.S.C. 

1321(f)(5), and the Comprehensive 

Environmental Response, 

Compensation, and Liability Act 

(CERCLA; 42 U.S.C. 9607(f)(2)(B)). The 

following agencies are designated 

natural resources trustees under OPA 

and are currently acting as trustees for 

this Incident: The United States 

Department of the Interior (DOI), as 

represented by the United States Fish 

and Wildlife Service and the National 

Park Service; the National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) 

on behalf of the United States 

Department of Commerce; and the Texas 

Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD), 

Texas Commission on Environmental 

Quality (TCEQ) and Texas General Land 

Office (GLO) for the State of Texas 

(collectively, the Trustees). In addition 

to acting as Trustees for this Incident 

under OPA, the State of Texas is also 

acting pursuant to its applicable state 

laws and authorities, including the 

Texas Oil Spill Prevention and 

Response Act of 1991, Tex. Nat. Res. 

Code Chapter 40. 

The Responsible Party (RP) identified 

for this Incident thus far is Kirby Inland 

Marine, LP (‘‘Kirby’’), owner of the 

M/V MISS SUSAN, KIRBY 27705 and 

KIRBY 27706. Pursuant to 15 CFR 

990.14(c), the Trustees have invited the 

RP identified above to participate in a 

cooperative Natural Resource Damage 

Assessment (NRDA) process. To date, 

the Trustees have coordinated with 

Kirby representatives on activities 

undertaken as part of the NRDAR 

process. 

The Trustees initiated the 

Preassessment Phase of the NRDA in 

accordance with 15 CFR 990.40 to 

determine if they have jurisdiction to 

pursue restoration under OPA and, if so, 

whether it is appropriate to do so. 

During the Preassessment Phase, the 

Trustees collected and analyzed the 

following: (1) Data reasonably expected 

to be necessary to make a determination 

of jurisdiction and a determination to 

conduct restoration planning, (2) 

ephemeral data, and (3) information 

needed for assessment activities as part 

of the Restoration Planning Phase. The 

collection and analysis of the data and 

information listed above continues to 

date. 

Under the NRDA regulations 

applicable to OPA, 15 CFR part 990 

(NRDA regulations), the Trustees 

prepare and issue a notice of intent to 

conduct restoration planning (notice) to 

demonstrate that conditions have been 

met that establish that the Trustees have 

jurisdiction over this matter and that 

restoration of natural resources is 

feasible and appropriate. 

Pursuant to 15 CFR 990.44, this notice 

announces that the Trustees have 

determined to proceed with restoration 

planning to fully evaluate, assess, 

quantify and develop plans for 

restoring, replacing or acquiring the 

equivalent of injured natural resources 

and services losses resulting from the 

Texas City Y Incident. The restoration 

planning process will include collection 

of information for evaluating and 

quantifying injuries, and use of that 

information to determine the need for, 

and type and scale of restoration 

actions. 

Determination of Jurisdiction 

The Trustees have made the following 

findings pursuant to 15 CFR 990.41: 

1. The Texas City Y Incident resulted 

in discharges of oil into and upon 

navigable waters of the United States, 

including the Gulf of Mexico, as well as 

adjoining shorelines, all of which 

constitute an ‘‘incident’’ within the 

meaning of 15 CFR 990.30. 

2. The discharge(s) are not permitted 

pursuant to federal, state, or local law; 

are not from a public vessel; and are not 

from an onshore facility subject to the 

Trans-Alaska Pipeline Authority Act, 

(43 U.S.C. 1651 et seq.). 

3. Natural resources under the 

trusteeship of the Trustees have been 

and continue to be injured or threatened 

as a result of discharged oil and 

associated removal efforts. The 

discharged oil is harmful to natural 

resources exposed to the oil, including 

aquatic organisms, birds, wildlife, 

vegetation, and habitats. Discharged oil 

and the response activities to address 

the discharges of oil have resulted in 

adverse effects on natural resources in 

and around the coastal waters of Texas 

and along its adjoining shorelines, and 

impaired services that those resources 

provide. The full extent of potential 

injuries is currently unknown; however 

current natural resources and resource 

services that have been impacted due to 

the discharged oil include but are not 

limited to the following: 

• Over 160 miles of shoreline 

habitats, including salt marshes, sandy 

beaches, and mangroves. 


tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 7 / Monday, January 12, 2015 / Notices 1513 

• A variety of wildlife, including 

birds, and marine mammals. 

• Lost human use opportunities 

associated with various natural 

resources in the Gulf region, including 

fishing, swimming, beach-going, and 

viewing of birds and wildlife. 

• Waters of the Gulf of Mexico and 

adjoining coastal waters of the State. 

• Various other biota, including 

benthic communities and fish. 

• Water column habitat. 

Accordingly, the Trustees have 

determined they have jurisdiction to 

pursue restoration under OPA. 

Determination To Conduct Restoration 

Planning 

1. The Trustees have made the 

following findings pursuant to 15 CFR 

990.42. Observations and data collected 

pursuant to 15 CFR 990.43 demonstrate 

that injuries to natural resources and the 

services they provide have resulted from 

the Texas City Y incident; however, the 

nature and extent of such injuries has 

not been fully determined at this time. 

The Trustees have identified numerous 

categories of impacted and potentially 

impacted resources, including marine 

mammals and birds, as well as their 

habitats. Potentially or actually 

impacted habitats include but are not 

limited to wetlands, marshes, sand 

beaches, bottom sediments and the 

water. Impacts to these resources have 

or are anticipated to affect human use of 

these affected resources or habitats. The 

Trustees have been conducting, and 

continue to conduct, activities to 

evaluate injuries and potential injuries 

within these categories. More 

information on these resource 

categories, including assessment work 

plans developed jointly by the Trustees 

and the RP, if any, and information 

gathered during the Preassessment 

Phase, will be available in the 

Administrative Record (AR), as 

discussed below. The full nature and 

extent of injuries will be determined 

during the injury assessment conducted 

as part of the Restoration Planning 

Phase. 

2. Response actions employed for this 

spill included containment, skimming 

of oil and other removal operations. 

These response actions have not 

addressed and are not expected to 

address all injuries resulting from the 

discharges of oil. Although response 

actions were initiated soon after the 

spill, they were unable to prevent 

injuries to many natural resources. In 

addition, some of these response actions 

have caused or are likely to cause 

injuries to natural resources and the 

services they provide, including the 

impairment of sensitive marshes, 

beaches, and other habitats and impacts 

to human uses of the resources. While 

injured natural resources may 

eventually recover naturally to the 

condition they would have been in had 

the discharges not occurred, interim 

losses did occur and will persist until 

baseline conditions are achieved. In 

addition, there have been losses of and 

diminution of human uses of the 

resources resulting from the impacts to 

the natural resources and from the 

response actions themselves. 

3. Feasible restoration actions exist to 

address the natural resource injuries 

and losses, including lost human uses, 

resulting from the discharges of oil. 

Assessment procedures are available to 

scale the appropriate amount of 

restoration required to offset these 

ecological and human use service 

losses. During the restoration planning 

phase, the Trustees will evaluate 

potential projects, determine the scale of 

restoration actions needed to make the 

environment and the public whole, and 

release a draft Restoration Plan for 

public review and comment. 

Based upon these determinations, the 

Trustees intend to proceed with 

restoration planning for the Texas City 

Y Incident. 

Administrative Record 

The Department of the Interior, acting 

on behalf of the Trustees, has opened an 

Administrative Record (AR) in 

compliance with 15 CFR 990.45 and 

applicable state authorities. The AR is 

publicly accessible and includes 

documents considered by the Trustees 

during the NRDA and restoration 

planning performed in connection with 

the Incident. The AR will be augmented 

with additional information over the 

course of the NRDA process. The 

administrative record is available 

through the following location in 

electronic format: http://

www.cerc.usgs.gov/orda_docs/

DamageCase.aspx?DamageCaseId=388. 

Opportunity To Comment 

In accordance with 15 CFR 990.14(d) 

and state authorities, the Trustees will 

provide opportunities for public 

involvement in the restoration planning 

for the Incident. The opportunities for 

public involvement will be addressed in 

future notices and announcements. 

Author 

The primary author of this notice is 

Chip Wood. 

Authority 

The authority of this action is the Oil 

Pollution Act of 1990 (33 U.S.C. 2701 et 

seq.) and the implementing Natural 

Resource Damage Assessment found at 

15 CFR part 990. 

Joy E. Nicholopoulos, 

Acting Regional Director. 

[FR Doc. 2015–00231 Filed 1–9–15; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4310–55–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Bureau of Land Management 

[LLWY922000–L13200000–EL0000, 

WYW183863] 

Notice of Invitation To Participate; Coal 

Exploration License; Application 

WYW183863, Wyoming 

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, 

Interior. 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: Pursuant to the Mineral 

Leasing Act of 1920, as amended by the 

Federal Coal Leasing Amendments Act 

of 1976, and to Bureau of Land 

Management (BLM) regulations, all 

interested parties are hereby invited to 

participate with Black Butte Coal 

Company on a pro rata cost-sharing 

basis, in a program for the exploration 

of coal deposits owned by the United 

States of America in Sweetwater 

County, Wyoming. 

DATES: This notice of invitation was 

published in the Rock Springs RocketMiner once each week for 2 consecutive 

weeks beginning the week of November 

10, 2014. Any party electing to 

participate in this exploration program 

must send written notice to both the 

BLM and Black Butte Coal Company, as 

provided in the ADDRESSES section 

below, no later than February 11, 2015. 

Such written notice must refer to serial 

number WYW183863. 

ADDRESSES: Copies of the exploration 

plan submitted by Black Butte Coal 

Company (serialized under number 

WYW183863) are available for review 

during normal business hours in the 

following offices: BLM, Wyoming State 

Office, 5353 Yellowstone Road, 

Cheyenne, Wyoming 82009; and, BLM, 

Rock Springs Field Office, 280 Highway 

191 North, Rock Springs, Wyoming 

82901. Any party electing to participate 

in this exploration shall send written 

notice to the following addresses: Black 

Butte Coal Company, c/o Ambre Energy 

North America, Inc., Attn: Jeremey 

Kerly, 170 South Main St., Ste. 700, Salt 

Lake City, UT 84101 and the BLM 

Wyoming State Office, Branch of Solid 

Minerals, Attn: Jackie Madson, P.O. Box 

1828, Cheyenne, WY 82003. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Jackie Madson, Land Law Examiner, at 


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