HCFCD ditch near Greens Bayou before removal of contaminated sedimens.
(Photo Courtesy of USFWS)

February 2013 – The U.S. Department of Justice lodged a Consent Decree with the proposed settlement for the Greens Bayou NRDA in Houston, TX with the U.S. District Court for the Southern Division of Texas on January 22, 2013. The Greens Bayou site is a 217 acre industrial area which had facilities involved in the production of DDT and other pesticides and metallic compounds for magnetic tape. Contaminants from these facilities were released into the surrounding environment and resulted in injuries to benthic habitat and organisms, surface waters, and terrestrial habitat and wildlife. The proposed restoration includes the creation of at least 10.89 acres of intertidal wetlands at the Baytown Nature Center and the preservation of 100.17 acres of riparian and bottomland hardwood habitat in Spring Creek. The 30-day public comment period for the proposed settlement, including a final Damage Assessment and Restoration Plan/Environmental Assessment detailing the restoration projects, ends on February 28, 2013.

February 2013 – NOAA and its co-trustees from USFWS and CT released a Draft Amendment to the Restoration Plan for the GE Housatonic River Site. The amendment identifies seven preferred restoration projects and three non-preferred alternatives to increase restoration of injured aquatic natural resources and services and to more fully compensate the public for the full suite of injuries to the environment resulting from the release of hazardous substances, primarily polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), from the GE facility in Pittsfield, MA. The trustees are using the majority of the remaining $2,423,328 in settlement funds to implement these additional aquatic natural resources projects. This Amendment highlights aquatic restoration because the original 2009 Restoration Plan primarily focused on recreational and riparian restoration.

The proposed projects will:

• Enhance wetland habitat for birds, fish, and other wildlife;
• Support native salt marsh restoration by eradicating nonnative reeds and removing large debris (e.g. plywood and lumber);
• Restore migratory fish and wildlife passages by removing dams and constructing bypass channels; and
• Promote recreational fishing, other outdoor activities, and natural resource conservation.

January 2013 – NOAA and its co-trustees (USFWS and Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs) for Natural Resources Damages in Holyoke, MA helped to complete the removal of the Bartlett Fish Rod Company Dam in Pelham, MA to restore fish passage and other ecological services to Amethyst Brook, a tributary to the Connecticut River. Dam removal projects such as these can help restore fisheries by opening up fish access to critical spawning and rearing habitat; allow sediment transport to nourish downstream habitats for species such as sea lamprey, American eel and several freshwater mussel species; improve water quality; and increase opportunities for recreational and commercial fishing interests. This dam removal reconnects the high quality habitats and stream flows of the undeveloped Amethyst Brook watershed with the Fore River and Connecticut River, and ultimately with the Long Island Sound estuary, more than 100 miles downriver, for the first time in almost two hundred years. This restoration project is one of several selected by the trustees to address injuries to migratory fish and freshwater mussel populations caused by coal tar deposit contamination in a reach of the Connecticut River in Holyoke. The Holyoke Coal Tar Deposit Natural Resource Damage settlement funds supplemented grant funds awarded through the NOAA-Fish America Foundation and NOAA-American Rivers Community-Based Restoration Partnerships secured and managed by the Massachusetts Division of Ecological Restoration (MA DER). NOAA will continue to work with MA DER and other project partners to monitor restoration performance on Amethyst Brook. For more information, contact Jim Turek  (James.G.Turek@noaa.gov).

January 2013 - The Hudson River Natural Resource Trustees released a report on January 16, 2013 on PCB Contamination of the Hudson River Ecosystem. The report documents that the Hudson River, for greater than 200 miles below Hudson Falls, NY, is extensively contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). Surface waters, sediments, floodplain soils, fish, birds, wildlife, and other natural resources are all polluted with PCBs. The report documents decades of high levels of PCBs and likely adverse effects on living organisms exposed to the contamination in the Hudson River. The public has also lost the use of natural resources, for example, due to restrictions and advisories for catching and eating fish and the navigational losses due to contamination of the Champlain Canal. A Hudson River PCB Forum   was held on January 16 at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, NY. The intent of the forum was to provide mid-Hudson communities with an update on the PCB dredging project  , the natural resource damage assessment, and restoration planning by the Hudson River Natural Resource Trustees. Listen to the NPR story   and read the press release. For more information, contact Lisa Rosman or Tom Brosnan..

January 2013 – The NOAA Office of Response and Restoration is supporting the U.S. Coast Guard in its response to Shell's 266-foot floating drilling rig Kulluk which ran aground off Alaska. The rig was being transported from where it was drilling in the Beaufort Sea to Seattle, WA for winter maintenance when the tugboats towing the Kulluk suffered engine trouble and lost connection to the rig in severe weather and heavy seas. Federal and state agencies are preparing to assess harm to natural resources from a potential release of diesel fuel from the Kulluk. The shores of Alaska, where the rig grounded, fall within critical habitat for the endangered Stellar sea lion. The rig is also located close to two salmon streams, an area where razor clams are harvested for subsistence use, and a planned tanner crab fishery. Sampling around the rig would allow NOAA to evaluate harm if fuel were to be released, but traveling to the remote area for sampling would be challenging. For more information and updates on the Kulluk rig response effort, visit the NOAA Office of Response and Restoration.