Draft 2017 Texas Restoration Plan/Environmental Assessment: Restoration of Wetlands, Coastal, and Nearshore Habitats; and Oysters

This Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Texas Trustee Implementation Group Draft 2017 Restoration Plan/Environmental Assessment: Restoration of Wetlands, Coastal, and Nearshore Habitats; and Oysters (Draft RP/EA) was prepared by the Texas Trustee Implementation Group (TIG) to initiate planning and restoration of lost natural resources in Texas as a result of the Deepwater Horizon (DWH) oil spill. The Texas TIG is responsible for restoring the natural resources and services within the Texas Restoration Area that were injured by the April 20, 2010, DWH oil spill and associated spill response efforts (collectively, the Incident). The Texas TIG has prepared this Draft RP/EA to inform the public about its DWH natural resource damage assessment (NRDA) restoration planning efforts and to seek public comment on the preferred restoration alternatives proposed in this document. The purpose of restoration, as discussed in this document and detailed more fully in the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill: Final Programmatic Damage Assessment and Restoration Plan and Final Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (Final PDARP/PEIS), is to make the environment and the public whole for injuries resulting from the Incident by implementing restoration actions that return injured natural resources and services to baseline conditions and compensate for interim losses in accordance with the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA) and associated NRDA regulations. The Final PDARP/PEIS and Record of Decision (ROD) can be found at http://www.gulfspillrestoration.noaa.gov/restoration-planning/gulfplan/.