Emergency Restoration Plan and Environmental Assessment Pago Pago Harbor American Samoa, September 1, 1999

摘要

Natural resource Trustees are authorized to act on behalf of the public to assess and recover natural resource damages, and to plan and implement actions to restore natural resources and resource services injured or lost as a result of an incident involving the discharge or substantial threat of a discharge of oil under OPA. Trustees are also authorized to restore natural resources and services injured as a result of response actions, such as the planned response action to address the grounded vessels. This Emergency Restoration Plan/Environmental Assessment (ERP/EA) was prepared to evaluate alternatives for emergency restoration actions under the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA) necessary to address injuries to natural resources resulting from a planned response action by the United States Coast Guard (USCG). The stated objectives of the USCG response action in American Samoa are to remove oil and oily debris, hazardous and other toxic materials, and keels from nine vessels driven aground on the reefs within Pago Pago Harbor. 1.1 Background On December 10, 1991, Hurricane Val struck and caused widespread damage to the South Pacific Islands of American Samoa. During the storm, nine foreign-owned fishing vessels broke from their moorings and were driven aground on the reefs within Pago Pago Harbor on the island of Tutuila. Seven of the vessels grounded in a group about 100 yards from the village of Leloaloa, while two vessels grounded in the outer harbor on Breakers Point near the village of Aua (Exhibits 1 and 2). The grounded vessels range from 125 to 160 feet and 300 to 350 gross tons. Surveys completed within the past two years found that the wrecks vary dramatically in condition. Some remain upright with their hulls intact, while others have broken up. According to a USCG assessment conducted on December 11, 1991, about 1,500 gallons of oil was discharged into the surrounding waters during the grounding incident (USCG, December 1997).