The trustee council began the public scoping process for restoration planning during spring 1999. The trustees prepared and distributed a public scoping document that described injuries from the spill and summarized potential restoration projects that were identified during settlement discussions. The scoping document solicited input from both the public and other interested parties who could provide additional expertise and perspective to the planning process. A public scoping meeting was held on May 10, 1999, in San Francisco.

The trustee council developed a draft restoration plan and environmental assessment (draft RP/EA) to provide the public with available information concerning the nature and extent of the natural resource injuries, the restoration planning process, and the restoration projects being considered to restore injured resources or lost human use services. The trustees reviewed comments received on the draft plan and prepared a final restoration plan (effective July 8, 2002) to begin planning and designing the restoration projects.

The preferred restoration projects were selected in order to address five resource categories impacted by the spill: birds, fisheries and water quality, wetland habitat, sandy shoreline and rocky intertidal habitats, and lost and diminished human use. The Cape Mohican Trustee Council selected 13 projects to mitigate or restore the injured natural resources.