Trustees Publish Final Plan for the Next Phase of Early Restoration

Image

The final plan is now available for the third phase of Early Restoration following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. As the largest phase of early restoration, the Phase III Early Restoration Plan proposes 44 early restoration projects and includes environmental analyses for each of them. The document also includes our proposed strategic approach to early restoration and the environmental analysis for that approach.

In response to your requests for concise information in an easy-to-read format, we developed a reader-friendly overview of Phase III. Start here before reviewing the entire plan.

The Final Phase III Early Restoration Plan and Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (Final Phase III ERP/PEIS) describes the early restoration planning and projects in detail. We are proposing $627 million to implement 44 projects in Phase III. Some of the proposed projects would restore barrier islands, dunes, marshes, shorelines, and oyster beds. Others, such as boat ramps and park enhancements, seek to address the lost recreational use of natural resources. Together, these projects would help restore the Gulf, addressing a range of natural resource injuries and losses sustained during the spill.

We carefully reviewed and considered the thousands of comments we received before preparing the Final Phase III ERP/PEIS. Your comments played a key role in shaping this stage of early restoration. With your input, we refined and improved the projects we originally proposed in December 2013.

BP and the other responsible parties are required to compensate for all natural resource injuries and losses due to the spill. Early restoration is a first step in that process. In early restoration, the Trustees, the U.S. Department of Justice, and BP negotiate to determine specific offsets for each project. In the future, we will credit these early restoration offsets against our total assessment of BP's liability.

To learn more about Phase III, check out our overview, or view the full plan. Copies of the plan, supplemental materials, and translations are also available in community libraries and offices across the Gulf (PDF, 3 pages).

Our final decisions on both the programmatic early restoration plan alternative and each of the 44 projects will be documented in a final Record of Decision expected to be issued this summer.