Notice2025-13752
Deepwater Horizon Natural Resource Damage Assessment Texas Trustee Implementation Group Final Restoration Plan/Environmental Assessment #3: Wetlands, Coastal, and Nearshore Habitats and Finding of No Significant Impact
Primary source
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Published
July 22, 2025
Issuing agencies
Commerce DepartmentNational Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Abstract
This notice announces that the Deepwater Horizon (DWH) natural resource Trustees for the Texas Trustee Implementation Group (Texas TIG) have prepared and are making available to the public the Final Restoration Plan/Environmental Assessment #3: Wetlands, Coastal, and Nearshore Habitats (RP/EA #3) and Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI). The Final RP/EA #3 considers alternatives to help restore wetlands, coastal, and nearshore habitats injured by the DWH oil spill. The Final RP/EA #3 evaluates a reasonable range of project alternatives under the Oil Pollution Act (OPA) and the OPA Natural Resource Damage Assessment regulations, and the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), and selects six projects for funding and implementation. A no action alternative is also evaluated pursuant to NEPA.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 90 Issue 138 (Tuesday, July 22, 2025)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 138 (Tuesday, July 22, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 34436-34437]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2025-13752]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
[RTID 0648-XE798]
Deepwater Horizon Natural Resource Damage Assessment Texas
Trustee Implementation Group Final Restoration Plan/Environmental
Assessment #3: Wetlands, Coastal, and Nearshore Habitats and Finding of
No Significant Impact
AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.
ACTION: Notice of availability.
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SUMMARY: This notice announces that the Deepwater Horizon (DWH) natural
resource Trustees for the Texas Trustee Implementation Group (Texas
TIG) have prepared and are making available to the public the Final
Restoration Plan/Environmental Assessment #3: Wetlands, Coastal, and
Nearshore Habitats (RP/EA #3) and Finding of No Significant Impact
(FONSI). The Final RP/EA #3 considers alternatives to help restore
wetlands, coastal, and nearshore habitats injured by the DWH oil spill.
The Final RP/EA #3 evaluates a reasonable range of project alternatives
under the Oil Pollution Act (OPA) and the OPA Natural Resource Damage
Assessment regulations, and the National Environmental Policy Act
(NEPA), and selects six projects for funding and implementation. A no
action alternative is also evaluated pursuant to NEPA.
ADDRESSES: Obtaining Documents: You may view and download the Final RP/
EA #3 and FONSI at <a href="https://www.gulfspillrestoration.noaa.gov/restoration-areas/texas">https://www.gulfspillrestoration.noaa.gov/restoration-areas/texas</a>. You may also request a flash drive containing
the Final RP/EA #3, FONSI, and a fact sheet (see FOR FURTHER
INFORMATION CONTACT).
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration--Jamie Schubert, NOAA Restoration Center, (409) 621-
1208, <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#d79db6babeb2f9a4b4bfa2b5b2a5a397b9b8b6b6f9b0b8a1"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="3a705b57535f144959524f585f484e7a54555b5b145d554c">[email protected]</span></a>.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Introduction
On April 20, 2010, the mobile offshore drilling unit Deepwater
Horizon, which was drilling a well for BP Exploration and Production,
Inc. (BP), experienced a significant explosion, fire and subsequent
sinking in the Gulf of America (Gulf) (formerly, the Gulf of Mexico),
resulting in the release of millions of barrels of oil and
[[Page 34437]]
other discharges into the Gulf. Under the authority of the OPA,
designated Federal and state Trustees, acting on behalf of the public,
assessed the injuries to natural resources and prepared the Deepwater
Horizon Oil Spill Final Programmatic Damage Assessment and Restoration
Plan and Final Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (Final
PDARP/PEIS), and the Record of Decision for the Deepwater Horizon Oil
Spill Final PDARP/PEIS (ROD), which sets forth the governance structure
and process for DWH restoration planning under the OPA NRDA
regulations. On April 4, 2016, the United States District Court for the
Eastern District of Louisiana entered a Consent Decree resolving civil
claims by the Trustees against BP.
The Texas TIG, which is composed of the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration, the U.S. Department of the Interior, the
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Department of
Agriculture, the Texas General Land Office, the Texas Parks and
Wildlife Department, and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality,
selects and implements restoration projects under the Texas TIG's
management authority in accordance with the Consent Decree. The Final
PDARP/PEIS, ROD, Consent Decree, and information on the DWH Trustees
can be found at <a href="https://www.gulfspillrestoration.noaa.gov/restoration-planning/gulf-plan">https://www.gulfspillrestoration.noaa.gov/restoration-planning/gulf-plan</a>.
Background
On August 5, 2024, the Texas TIG announced on the Gulf Spill
Restoration website that they were initiating preparation of the Draft
RP/EA #3, which tiers from the Final PDARP/PEIS and includes a
reasonable range of restoration project alternatives to provide
compensatory restoration toward meeting the Restore and Conserve
Habitats restoration goal identified in the Final PDARP/PEIS under the
Wetlands, Coastal, and Nearshore Habitats (WCNH) Restoration Type. On
January 16, 2025, the Texas TIG released the Draft RP/EA #3 for a 30-
day public review period (90 FR 4725, January 16, 2025). To facilitate
public understanding of the document, the Texas TIG held a public
meeting on January 28, 2025, during which public comments were
solicited. The Texas TIG accepted public comments through February 18,
2025. After the public review period closed, the Texas TIG reviewed the
comments received, prepared responses to those comments, finalized the
plan, and prepared the FONSI.
Overview of the Texas TIG Final RP/EA #3
This Final RP/EA #3 focuses on the beneficial use of dredged
material (BUDM) to restore and conserve wetlands, coastal, and
nearshore habitats. The Texas TIG proposes the allocation of $36
million toward the use of BUDM to construct wetland habitat along the
Texas coast through the preferred projects included in the Final RP/EA
#3. The $36 million will be divided among the selected projects to
provide the incremental cost for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers or to
fund other viable sources to beneficially use dredged sediments to
construct the preferred restoration alternatives. In the Final RP/EA
#3, the Texas TIG analyzes a reasonable range of eight project
alternatives and, pursuant to the NEPA, a No Action alternative. Two of
the alternatives are not preferred by the TIG at this time. The six
projects selected by the Texas TIG for funding and implementation are
listed below:
<bullet> Jocelyn Nungaray National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) Roberts
Mueller Tract Wetland Restoration (note the NWR name change per
Executive Order 14229, ``Honoring Jocelyn Nungaray'');
<bullet> Goose Island Wetland Restoration;
<bullet> Lower Neches Wildlife Management Area Old River Unit
Wetland Restoration;
<bullet> McFaddin National Wildlife Refuge Willow Lake Terraces
Wetland Restoration;
<bullet> San Bernard National Wildlife Refuge Sargent Oil Field
Wetland Restoration; and
<bullet> Texas Point National Wildlife Refuge Wetland Restoration.
Funding to implement the alternatives selected by the Texas TIG
will come from the WCNH Restoration Type allocation. Additional
restoration planning in the Texas TIG will continue.
Administrative Record
The Administrative Record for the Final RP/EA #3 can be viewed
electronically at <a href="https://www.doi.gov/deepwaterhorizon/adminrecord">https://www.doi.gov/deepwaterhorizon/adminrecord</a>
under the folder 6.5.2.2.3.
Authority
The authority for this action is the OPA of 1990 (33 U.S.C. 2701 et
seq.), its implementing Natural Resource Damage Assessment regulations
found at 15 CFR part 990 and the NEPA of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.).
Dated: July 17, 2025.
Sunny Snider,
Deputy Director, Office of Habitat Conservation, National Marine
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2025-13752 Filed 7-21-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P
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