Restoration selection—use of a Regional Restoration Plan or existing restoration project.
15 C.F.R. § 990.56
in effectEffective: 2024-07-01(a) General. Trustees may consider using a Regional Restoration Plan or existing restoration project where such a plan or project is determined to be the preferred alternative among a range of feasible restoration alternatives for an incident, as determined under § 990.54 of this part. Such plans or projects must be capable of fulfilling OPA's intent for the trustees to restore, rehabilitate, replace, or acquire the equivalent of the injured natural resources and services and compensate for interim losses.
(b) Existing plans or projects—(1) Considerations. Trustees may select a component of a Regional Restoration Plan or an existing restoration project as the preferred alternative, provided that the plan or project:
(i) Was developed with public review and comment or is subject to public review and comment under this part;
(ii) Will adequately compensate the environment and public for injuries resulting from the incident;
(iii) Addresses, and is currently relevant to, the same or comparable natural resources and services as those identified as having been injured; and
(iv) Allows for reasonable scaling relative to the incident.
(2) Demand. (i) If the conditions of paragraph (b)(1) of this section are met, the trustees must invite the responsible parties to implement that component of the Regional Restoration Plan or existing restoration project, or advance to the trustees the trustees' reasonable estimate of the cost of implementing that component of the Regional Restoration Plan or existing restoration project.
(ii) If the conditions of paragraph (b)(1) of this section are met, but the trustees determine that the scale of the existing plan or project is greater than the scale of compensation required by the incident, trustees may only request funding from the responsible parties equivalent to the scale of the restoration determined to be appropriate for the incident of concern. Trustees may pool such partial recoveries until adequate funding is available to successfully implement the existing plan or project.
(3) Notice of Intent To Use a Regional Restoration Plan or Existing Restoration Project. If trustees intend to use an appropriate component of a Regional Restoration Plan or existing restoration project, they must prepare a Notice of Intent to Use a Regional Restoration Plan or Existing Restoration Project. Trustees must make a copy of the notice publicly available. The notice must include, at a minimum:
(i) A description of the nature, degree, and spatial and temporal extent of injuries; and
(ii) A description of the relevant component of the Regional Restoration Plan or existing restoration project; and
(iii) An explanation of how the conditions set forth in paragraph (b)(1) of this section are met.
Source: eCFRURL: https://www.ecfr.gov/api/versioner/v1/full/2024-07-01/title-15.xmlFetched: 7/26/2026