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Alcoa Point Comfort/Lavaca Bay NPL Site, Point Comfort, Texas: Notice of Availability and Request for Comments on a Draft Damage Assessment and Restoration Plan/Environmental Assessment for Ecological Injuries and Service Losses

Note: EPA no longer updates this information, but it may be useful as a reference or resource.

 [Federal Register: July 14, 2000 (Volume 65, Number 136)]
[Notices]
[Page 43739-43740]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr14jy00-45]

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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration


Alcoa Point Comfort/Lavaca Bay NPL Site, Point Comfort, Texas:
Notice of Availability and Request for Comments on a Draft Damage
Assessment and Restoration Plan/Environmental Assessment for Ecological
Injuries and Service Losses

AGENCIES: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),
Commerce; United States Department of the Interior (DOI); Texas Parks
and Wildlife Department (TPWD); Texas General Land Office (TGLO); Texas
Natural Resources and Conservation Commission (TNRCC).

ACTION: Notice of availability of a Draft Damage Assessment and
Restoration Plan and Environmental Assessment for ecological injuries
and service losses associated with the Alcoa Point Comfort/Lavaca Bay
NPL Site, and of a 30-day period for public comment on the draft plan
beginning July 14, 2000.

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SUMMARY: Pursuant to 43 CFR 11.32 and 11.81--.82, notice is hereby
given that a document entitled, ``Draft Damage Assessment and
Restoration Plan and Environmental Assessment for the Point Comfort/
Lavaca Bay NPL Site Ecological Injuries and Service Losses'' (Draft
DARP/EA) is available for public review and comment. This document has
been prepared by the state and federal natural resource trustee
agencies listed above to address natural resource injuries and resource
services losses of an ecological nature attributable to releases of
hazardous substances from the Alcoa Point Comfort/Lavaca Bay NPL Site
(Site). This Draft DARP/EA presents the Trustees' assessment of the
natural resource injuries and service losses attributable to the Site,
and their proposed plan to compensate for those losses by restoring
ecological resources and services. In an effort to expedite

[[Page 43740]]

completion of the restoration planning process for this Site, the
current document also includes an evaluation of the terrestrial
resource injuries and ecological losses after 1999, and their
corresponding restoration requirements, based on an anticipated final
remedy. The need for a future Draft DARP/EA to complete restoration
planning will be determined based on the final remedy decision for the
Site and the consistency of this evaluation with that decision. The
Trustees will consider comments received during the public comment
period, including this evaluation, before finalizing the DARP/EA for
these ecological losses.

DATES: Comments on the Draft DARP/EA must be submitted in writing on or
before August 14, 2000.

ADDRESSES: Requests for copies of the Draft DARP/EA should be sent to
Richard Seiler of TNRCC, MC142, P.O. Box 13087, Austin, TX 78711-3087
or John Kern of NOAA, 9721 Executive Center Drive North, Suite 134, St.
Petersburg, FL 33702. Written comments on the plan should be sent
either to Richard Seiler of TNRCC or John Kern of NOAA at the addresses
listed above.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Alcoa Point Comfort/Lavaca Bay NPL Site
is located in Point Comfort, Calhoun County, Texas and encompasses
releases of hazardous substances from Alcoa's Point Comfort Operations
facility. Between 1948 and the present, Alcoa has constructed and
operated several types of manufacturing processes at this facility,
including aluminum smelting, carbon paste and briquette manufacturing,
gas processing, chlor-alkali processing, and alumina refining. Past
operations at the facility have resulted in the release of hazardous
substances into the environment, including through the discharge of
mercury-containing wastewater into Lavaca Bay from 1966 to 1970 and
releases of mercury into the bay through a groundwater pathway. In
April 1988, the Texas Department of Health (TDH) issued a ``closure
order'' prohibiting the taking of finfish and crabs for consumption
from a specified area of Lavaca Bay near the facility due to elevated
mercury concentrations found in these species.
    The Alcoa Point Comfort/Lavaca Bay Site was added to the National
Priorities List (NPL), pursuant to Section 105 of the Comprehensive
Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA), 42
U.S.C. 9601 et seq., on March 25, 1994 (59 FR 8724; February 23, 1994).
The Site was listed primarily due to the presence of mercury in several
species of finfish and crabs in Lavaca Bay, the fishing closure imposed
by TDH, and the presence of mercury and other hazardous substances in
bay sediments adjacent to the facility. Alcoa, the State of Texas and
the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) signed an Administrative
Order on Consent (AOC) under CERCLA in March 1994 for the conduct of a
remedial investigation and feasibility study (RI/FS) for the Site.
    NOAA, DOI, TPWD, TGLO and TNRCC (collectively, the Trustees) are
designated natural resource trustees under section 107(f) of CERCLA,
section 311 of the Federal Water Pollution and Control Act (FWPCA), 33
U.S.C. 1321, and other applicable federal or state laws, including
Subpart G of the National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution
Contingency Plan (NCP), 40 CFR 300.600--300.615. The Trustees are
authorized to act on behalf of the public under these authorities to
protect and restore natural resources injured or lost as a result of
discharges or releases of hazardous substances.
    Paralleling the RI/FS process for the Site, the Trustees have
undertaken an assessment of the natural resource injuries and service
losses attributable to hazardous substances at the Site. The assessment
for this Site has been aided and supported by Alcoa's cooperation
pursuant to a Memorandum of Agreement between Alcoa and the Trustees,
which was effective January 14, 1997. The Draft DARP/EA released today
has been developed under the cooperative assessment framework outlined
in the MOA. It is focused on natural resource injuries or services
losses of an ecological nature caused by the hazardous substances at
the Site based on known contamination and response actions initiated at
the Site as of the end of 1999. The Draft DARP/EA released today
embodies the second stage of the assessment and restoration planning
process for the Site. The first stage focused on the recreational
fishing service losses resulting from the closure area and is covered
by a Draft DARP/EA for Recreational Service Losses released on
September 28, 1999, and a Revised Draft DARP/EA for Recreational
Service Losses released on May 12, 2000. Finalization of the DARP/EA
for Recreational Service Losses is anticipated to occur in July 2000.
    The Draft DARP/EA released today identifies the information and
methods being used to define the natural resource injuries and losses
of an ecological nature, including the scale of restoration actions,
and identifies the restoration actions which are preferred for use to
restore, replace or acquire resources or services equivalent to those
lost. The current document also includes an evaluation of the
terrestrial resource injuries and remaining ecological losses,
including their corresponding restoration requirements, based on an
anticipated final remedy. If the final remedy differs from that which
the Trustees' have anticipated, then the analysis may not be
appropriate and a third and final stage Draft DARP/EA may be required.
However, if the analysis is consistent with the actual choice of final
remedy, then by including this information for public review in the
current document, there will be no need to develop any further Draft
DARP/EAs to complete the assessment and restoration planning process
for this Site.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Richard Seiler at (512) 239-2523,
email: rseiler@tnrcc.state.tx.us or John Kern, at (727) 570-5391 x 158,
email: john.kern@noaa.gov

    Dated: July 10, 2000.
Captain Ted I. Lillestolen,
Deputy Assistant Administrator for Ocean Services and Coastal Zone
Management.
[FR Doc. 00-17833 Filed 7-13-00; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-JE-U

 
 

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