Book Description

"The Natural Resource Trustees for the Montrose Case (Trustees) have developed this Phase 2 Final Restoration Plan to restore natural resources injured and natural resource services lost due to historic releases of DDTs and PCBs into marine waters of the Southern California Bight. The Trustees are comprised of six federal and state agencies: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Park Service, California Department of Fish and Game, California State Lands Commission, California Department of Parks and Recreation. To satisfy the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) (42 U.S.C. Section 4321 et seq.) and the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) (Public Resources Code Parts 21000-21178.1), the Trustees are combining the restoration planning process provided for under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) (42 U.S.C. section 9601 et seq.) with the development of an Environmental Assessment (EA) and Initial Study (IS). This EA is tiered off of the 2005 Final Restoration Plan and Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement and Environmental Impact Report (hereafter referred to as 2005 RP). This RP specifically analyzes the environmental impacts of the proposed actions in Phase 2 of the Montrose Settlements Restoration Program (MSRP). The Phase 2 projects consist of restoration actions aimed at restoring resources impacted by the historic releases of DDT. Specifically the projects address fish habitat, Bald Eagles, Peregrine Falcons, California Condors, and seabird species. This document serves as the Phase 2 Restoration Plan and Environmental Assessment/Initial Study for the MSRP. The 2005 RP allocated approximately half of the available restoration funds for Phase 1 projects. This Phase 2 Restoration Plan has incorporated public and professional opinion to develop, evaluate, and select specific actions to restore natural injured resources and the lost services that they provide. Some actions will be initiated in the near-term. Other actions have been selected conditionally, because they must await the outcome of further study, testing, and public review prior to final selection and implementation. Thus, this Restoration Plan has a range of selected restoration actions that together will form the basis of a comprehensive program to restore the natural resources and services affected by the DDTs and PCBs at issue in this case. This document will guide the restoration effort as a whole, as well as the specific restoration actions selected for near-term implementation. This Restoration Plan establishes a process for adaptive decision-making for the remaining years that the Trustees are implementing restoration actions. The natural resource restoration projects to be undertaken constitute federal and state actions for the purposes of environmental impact assessment. In addition to serving as a natural resource restoration plan as required under CERCLA, this document is an EA/IS in order to satisfy the requirements of NEPA and CEQA"--Executive summary (page xiv).