Under the federal Oil Pollution Act (OPA), state and federal natural resource trustee agencies (Trustees) have the authority to bring legal claims against the parties responsible for an oil spill. One type of claim is for natural resource monetary damages, which the Trustees then use to restore the injured environment and compensate the public for injuries to natural resources and natural resource services resulting from a discharge of oil. Once the injury assessment for the Cosco Busan oil spill was complete, the trustees developed a Draft Damage Assessment and Restoration Plan and released it for public comment in September 2011. This plan described the resource injuries and service losses resulting from the incident, an evaluation of potential restoration projects, and a description of a suite of projects that the Trustees propose to implement to compensate the public for resource injuries. After
reviewing comments from the public, the Trustees released the Final Damage
Assessment and Restoration Plan in March 2012.
The Trustees approved 12 restoration projects to restore the injured resources and compensate the public for those injuries. They have also created a process that is intended to identify numerous recreational use improvements. All of them are designed to restore, replace, or acquire the equivalent of the lost resources and/or their services through restorative on-the-ground actions. Furthermore, several of the projects address multiple resources. The projects were identified based upon the biological needs of the injured species and the feasibility of restoring the resources. Where appropriate restoration project alternatives existed within the spill area, those projects were given priority.
Approved Bird Restoration Projects
- Creation of grebe nesting habitat at Tule Luke National Wildlife Refuge;
- Creation of over-wintering duck and grebe habitat at the South Bay Salt Ponds;
- Creation of nesting and roosting habitat for cormorants, pelicans, and shorebirds at the Berkeley Pier;
- Creation of nesting habitat for seabirds at the Farallon Islands;
- Creation of a grant project to benefit Surf Scoters;
- Restoration of Marbled Murrelet nesting habitat through corvid management at Humboldt Redwoods and Grizzly Creek State Parks;
Approved Habitat Projects
- Restoration of eelgrass at several sites inside the Bay, to benefit herring spawning and other ecological services provided by shallow vegetated habitat
- Restoration of sandy beach habitat at Muir Beach;
- Restoration of sandy beach habitat at Albany Beach;
- Restoration of salt marsh and mudflat habitats at Aramburu Island;
- Restoration of native oysters at several sites inside the Bay, to benefit rocky intertidal communities;
and
- Restoration of rockweed at several sites inside the Bay to benefit rocky intertidal communities.
Approved Recreational Use Restoration Projects
- Creation of a process to fund a wide variety of human recreational use projects in impacted areas across the spill zone.
How will these projects be funded?
Under OPA, the responsible party (RP) is liable for the cost of implementing restoration projects, as well as the costs incurred by the Trustees to undertake this damage assessment. The Trustees have reached a settlement of their claim for natural resource damages with the RP. The following amounts are tentatively allocated to fund the projects described in this Draft Restoration Plan and Environmental Assessment:
- Birds: $5 million
- Fish/Eelgrass: $2.5 million
- Habitat: $4 million
- Recreational Use: $18.8 million
