Natural Resource Damage Assessment
Hylebos Waterway Proposal

The Commencement Bay Natural Resource Trustees made available the Hylebos Waterway Natural Resource Damage Settlement Proposal Report (Report) and its appendices for public review and comment from April 17, 2002 until June 17, 2002. The Trustees prepared a Reviewers Guide and various fact sheets to further aid reviewers in distilling the allocation elements of the Report. Public meetings were held on May 17,2002 and April 24, 2002. From mid-2002 to mid-2003 Trustee technical staff worked to evaluate and respond to the comments and to revise their proposal in light of the comments. The Trustees presented the final proposal in October 2003 and created a password-protected web page to facilitate Trustee-potentially responsible party (PRP) communications regarding comments, modifications, or public meeting announcements. In 2004 and 2005, the Trustees held preliminary discussions with individual PRPs and initiated settlement negotiations with others. If the negotiations are ultimately successful, the Trustees will conclude the damage assessment process as it relates to the Hylebos Waterway and focus their attention on the remaining unresolved waterways. If significant Hylebos Waterway natural resource damage liability is still unresolved after the negotiations have concluded, the Trustees will determine what further studies or other steps are needed to address the outstanding claims. Public Meetings The May 17, 2002 meeting was focused on informally discussing the technical elements of the habitat equivalency analysis (HEA) model the Trustees used to quantify their claim for natural resource damages in the Hylebos Waterway and to present the geographic information system (GIS) database portion of the HEA and the calculator for the discounted service acre-years (DSAYs) that are the basis of the Trustees' claim. The April 24, 2002 meeting centered on informally discussing the structure and content of the settlement proposal and how the Trustees anticipate handling settlement negotiations. On October 30, 2003, the Trustees held a question-and-answer session for potentially responsible parties (PRPs) and counsel to give interested parties general information to assist in developing good faith settlement offers in response to the Trustees' proposal. The January 23, 2004 meeting between the Trustees, the PRPs and counsel focused on progress toward developing good faith settlement offers and deadlines for submissions of those offers. Another meeting was held on April 23, 2004 to review the status of the efforts toward developing good faith setttlement offers. Quarterly public briefings. NOTE: If you are having any difficulties with downloading or printing from this site, please try the following: Use the "Save Target As..." (Internet Explorer) or "Save Link As..." (Netscape) option (in toolbar or right-click) to download the PDF file to your local hard drive and bypass the Acrobat Reader plug-in. Use the Adobe Acrobat Reader on your hard drive to open the file for viewing or printing. Comments Received-Draft Proposal Handmacher, J.V. for R. Oline, J. Johnson, Hylebos Marina, Inc. Loutzenhiser, D. for Atofina. Encl.: [1] [2] [3] [4] Johannessen, K.M. for Middle Waterway Action Committee Seeley, K.A. for Asarco Preston, C.L. for Kaiser. Encl.: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] Hall, H. for USG Corp. DeChaine, D.D. for Zidell Myers, M. for General Metals. Encl.: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [24] [25] [26] Nelson, S.C. for U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Jacoby, G.A. for Manke Lumber, Jacoby, G.A. for Norlund Properties Felton, K.L. for Buffelen Woodworking Joyce, W.F. for Portac Joyce, W.F. for Cenex Ag, Inc. Neugebauer, S. for Weyerhaeuser Leder, J.E. for Murray Pacific Krages, B.P. for Louisiana-Pacific Corp. Bakemeier, R.F. for Occidental. Encl.: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [24] [25] [26] [27] [28] [29] [30] [31] [32] [33] [34] [35] [36] [37] [38] [39] [40] [41] [42] [43] [44] [45] [46] [47] [48] [49] [50] [51] [52] [53] [54] [55] [56] [57] [58] [59] [60] [61] [62] [63] [64] [65] [66] [67] [68] [69] [70] [71] [72] [73] [74] [75] [76] Received after close of public comment period: Jacoby, G.A. for Modutech Marine Riniker, A. for Port of Tacoma Corpuz, Jr., R.E. for City of Tacoma Related Documents DRAFT PROPOSAL, March 2002. Reviewers Guide to aid reviewers of the allocation elements of the Report. Two tables (Table RG-1 and Table RG-2) were inadvertently omitted from the Guide. The tables have been incorporated into the document. Hylebos Waterway Natural Resource Damage Settlement Proposal Report. 03/02. Appendix A. Habitat Equivalency Analysis: An Overview (NOAA Damage Assessment and Restoration Program, Revised Oct. 4, 2000) Appendix B. Discounting and the Treatment of Uncertainty in Natural Resource Damage Assessment, Technical Paper 99-1 (NOAA Damage Assessment Center, Feb. 19, 1999) Appendix C. Determining Habitat Value and Time to Sustained Function Appendix D. Report and Supplements 1 and 2: "Defining Injuries to Natural Resources in Hylebos Waterway; Supplement 1 - "Calculating and Separating the Effects of Multiple Contaminants" Supplement 2 - "Associating Ecosystem Service Loss with Indicators of Toxicity in Habitat Equivalency Analysis." Addendum. Sediment Chemistry Data Preparation Appendix E. How Habitat and Sediment Injury Information is Mapped Via a Geographic Information System: Spatial Analysis of Sediment Chemistry Data Appendix F. Equating Contaminant-Related Ecological Service Losses and Restoration-Generated Service Gains for the Hylebos Waterway Using Habitat Equivalency Analysis Appendix G. Determining Discounted Service Acre-Year (DSAY) Credits for Example Habitat Restoration Projects Appendix H. Natural Resource Damage Allocation of Injuries to Natural Resources in the Hylebos Waterway Figure 2-2 and Table 3-1 were inadvertently omitted from appendix H. These have now been incorporated into the document. Appendix H1. SOC distribution maps. Appendix H2. Site Activity Report; Appendix H3: Site Contaminantion Report; Appendix H4: Trigger Report; Appendix H5: Regression Analysis for Applied Distribution Factors; Appendix H6: References. Appendix I. Commencement Bay Natural Resource Damage Assessment Restoration Monitoring Program Appendix J. Allocation of Natural Resource Damage Assessment Costs Incurred in Connection with the Hylebos Waterway Additional Outreach Materials: Presentation. Proposed Settlement for Sediment-Based Injuries to Natural Resources in Hylebos Waterway, Commencement Bay Fact Sheet #1. Natural resource agencies and Indian tribes propose novel approach to resolving environmental damage claims Fact Sheet #2. Hazardous chemical contamination in Hylebos Waterway sediments injures fish that live in and use the area; juvenile salmon, flatfish, sediment organisms and habitats harmed by pollution Fact Sheet #3. Equating natural resource injury losses and habitat restoration gains - using Habitat Equivalency Analysis to measure compensatory restoration Fact Sheet #4. Trustees propose allocation of natural resource damage liability among Hylebos Waterway facilities Contact Information: Contact cbcoordinator@noaa.gov for copies of materials and Robert.A.Taylor@noaa.gov for settlement information.