PART 990—NATURAL RESOURCE DAMAGE ASSESSMENTS Authority: 33 U.S.C. 2701 et seq. Source: 61 FR 500, Jan. 5, 1996, unless otherwise noted. Subpart A—Introduction § 990.10 Purpose. The goal of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA), 33 U.S.C. 2701 et seq., This goal is achieved through the return of the injured natural resources and services to baseline and compensation for interim losses of such natural resources and services from the date of the incident until recovery. The purpose of this part is to promote expeditious and cost-effective restoration of natural resources and services injured as a result of an incident. To fulfill this purpose, this part provides a natural resource damage assessment process for developing a plan for restoration of the injured natural resources and services and pursuing implementation or funding of the plan by responsible parties. This part also provides an administrative process for involving interested parties in the assessment, a range of assessment procedures for identifying and evaluating injuries to natural resources and services, and a means for selecting restoration actions from a reasonable range of alternatives. § 990.11 Scope. The Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA), 33 U.S.C. 2701 et seq., § 990.12 Overview. This part describes three phases of a natural resource damage assessment. The Preassessment Phase, during which trustees determine whether to pursue restoration, is described in subpart D of this part. The Restoration Planning Phase, during which trustees evaluate information on potential injuries and use that information to determine the need for, type of, and scale of restoration, is described in subpart E of this part. The Restoration Implementation Phase, during which trustees ensure implementation of restoration, is described in subpart F of this part. § 990.13 Rebuttable presumption. Any determination or assessment of damages to natural resources made by a Federal, State, or Indian trustee in accordance with this part shall have the force and effect of a rebuttable presumption on behalf of the trustee in any administrative or judicial proceeding under OPA. § 990.14 Coordination. (a) Trustees. (2) If there is a reasonable basis for dividing the natural resource damage assessment, trustees may act independently under this part, so long as there is no double recovery of damages. (3) Trustees may develop pre-incident or incident-specific memoranda of understanding to coordinate their activities. (b) Response agencies. (c) Responsible parties Invitation. (2) Timing. (3) Agreements. (4) Nature and extent of participation. (5) Considerations. (i) Whether the responsible parties have been identified; (ii) The willingness of responsible parties to participate in the assessment; (iii) The willingness of responsible parties to fund assessment activities; (iv) The willingness and ability of responsible parties to conduct assessment activities in a technically sound and timely manner and to be bound by the results of jointly agreed upon studies; (v) The degree of cooperation of the responsible parties in the response to the incident; and (vi) The actions of the responsible parties in prior assessments. (6) Request for alternative assessment procedures. (A) Identify the proposed procedures to be used that meet the requirements of § 990.27 of this part, and provide reasons supporting the technical adequacy and appropriateness of such procedures for the incident and associated injuries; (B) Advance to the trustees the trustees' reasonable estimate of the cost of using the proposed procedures; and (C) Agree not to challenge the results of the proposed procedures. The request from the responsible parties may be made at any time, but no later than, fourteen (14) days of being notified of the trustees' proposed assessment procedures for the incident or the injury. (ii) Trustees may reject the responsible parties' proposed assessment procedures if, in the sole judgment of the trustees, the proposed assessment procedures: (A) Are not technically feasible; (B) Are not scientifically or technically sound; (C) Would inadequately address the natural resources and services of concern; (D) Could not be completed within a reasonable time frame; or (E) Do not meet the requirements of § 990.27 of this part. (7) Disclosure. (d) Public. § 990.15 Considerations to facilitate restoration. In addition to the procedures provided in subparts D through F of this part, trustees may take other actions to further the goal of expediting restoration of injured natural resources and services, including: (a) Pre-incident planning. (b) Regional Restoration Plans. Subpart B—Authorities § 990.20 Relationship to the CERCLA natural resource damage assessment regulations. (a) General. et seq., et seq., (b) Assessments commenced before February 5, 1996. (c) Oil and hazardous substance mixtures. § 990.21 Relationship to the NCP. This part provides procedures by which trustees may determine appropriate restoration of injured natural resources and services, where such injuries are not fully addressed by response actions. Response actions and the coordination with damage assessment activities are conducted pursuant to the National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan (NCP), 40 CFR part 300. § 990.22 Prohibition on double recovery. When taking actions under this part, trustees are subject to the prohibition on double recovery, as provided in 33 U.S.C. 2706(d)(3) of OPA. § 990.23 Compliance with NEPA and the CEQ regulations. (a) General. et seq. (b) NEPA requirements for federal trustees. (c) NEPA process for federal trustees. (1) Environmental Assessment. Purpose. (ii) General steps. (B) The Draft Restoration Plan/EA must be made available for public review before concluding a FONSI or proceeding with an EIS. (C) If a FONSI is concluded, the restoration planning process should be no different than under § 990.55 of this part, except that the Draft Restoration Plan/EA will include the FONSI analysis. (D) The time period for public review on the Draft Restoration Plan/EA must be consistent with the federal trustee agency's NEPA requirements, but should generally be no less than thirty (30) calendar days. (E) The Final Restoration Plan/EA must consider all public comments on the Draft Restoration Plan/EA and FONSI. (F) The means by which a federal trustee requests, considers, and responds to public comments on the Draft Restoration Plan/EA and FONSI must also be consistent with the federal agency's NEPA requirements. (2) Environmental Impact Statement. Purpose. (ii) General steps. Federal Register. (B) The notice must be followed by formal public involvement in the development of the Draft Restoration Plan/EIS. (C) The Draft Restoration Plan/EIS must be made available for public review for a minimum of forty-five (45) calendar days. The Draft Restoration Plan/EIS, or a notice of its availability, must be published in the Federal Register. (D) The Final Restoration Plan/EIS must consider all public comments on the Draft Restoration Plan/EIS, and incorporate any changes made to the Draft Restoration Plan/EIS in response to public comments. (E) The Final Restoration Plan/EIS must be made publicly available for a minimum of thirty (30) calendar days before a decision is made on the federal trustees' proposed restoration actions (Record of Decision). The Final Restoration Plan/EIS, or a notice of its availability, must be published in the Federal Register. (F) The means by which a federal trustee agency requests, considers, and responds to public comments on the Final Restoration Plan/EIS must also be consistent with the federal agency's NEPA requirements. (G) After appropriate public review on the Final Restoration Plan/EIS is completed, a Record of Decision (ROD) is issued. The ROD summarizes the trustees' decisionmaking process after consideration of any public comments relative to the proposed restoration actions, identifies all restoration alternatives (including the preferred alternative(s)), and their environmental consequences, and states whether all practicable means to avoid or minimize environmental harm were adopted (e.g., monitoring and corrective actions). The ROD may be incorporated with other decision documents prepared by the trustees. The means by which the ROD is made publicly available must be consistent with the federal trustee agency's NEPA requirements. (d) Relationship to Regional Restoration Plans or an existing restoration project. § 990.24 Compliance with other applicable laws and regulations. (a) Worker health and safety. (b) Natural Resources protection. et seq.; et seq.; et seq.; et seq.; et seq.; et seq.; et seq. § 990.25 Settlement. Trustees may settle claims for natural resource damages under this part at any time, provided that the settlement is adequate in the judgment of the trustees to satisfy the goal of OPA and is fair, reasonable, and in the public interest, with particular consideration of the adequacy of the settlement to restore, replace, rehabilitate, or acquire the equivalent of the injured natural resources and services. Sums recovered in settlement of such claims, other than reimbursement of trustee costs, may only be expended in accordance with a restoration plan, which may be set forth in whole or in part in a consent decree or other settlement agreement, which is made available for public review. § 990.26 Emergency restoration. (a) Trustees may take emergency restoration action before completing the process established under this part, provided that: (1) The action is needed to avoid irreversible loss of natural resources, or to prevent or reduce any continuing danger to natural resources or similar need for emergency action; (2) The action will not be undertaken by the lead response agency; (3) The action is feasible and likely to succeed; (4) Delay of the action to complete the restoration planning process established in this part likely would result in increased natural resource damages; and (5) The costs of the action are not unreasonable. (b) If response actions are still underway, trustees must coordinate with the On-Scene Coordinator (OSC), consistent with the NCP, to ensure that emergency restoration actions will not interfere with or duplicate ongoing response actions. Emergency restoration may not address residual oil unless: (1) The OSC's response is complete; or (2) The OSC has determined that the residual oil identified by the trustee as part of a proposed emergency restoration action does not merit further response. (c) Trustees must provide notice to identified responsible parties of any emergency restoration actions and, to the extent time permits, invite their participation in the conduct of those actions as provided in § 990.14(c) of this part. (d) Trustees must provide notice to the public, to the extent practicable, of these planned emergency restoration actions. Trustees must also provide public notice of the justification for, nature and extent of, and results of emergency restoration actions within a reasonable time frame after completion of such actions. The means by which this notice is provided is left to the discretion of the trustee. [61 FR 500, Jan. 5, 1996, as amended at 67 FR 61492, Oct. 1, 2002] § 990.27 Use of assessment procedures. (a) Standards for assessment procedures. (1) The procedure must be capable of providing assessment information of use in determining the type and scale of restoration appropriate for a particular injury; (2) The additional cost of a more complex procedure must be reasonably related to the expected increase in the quantity and/or quality of relevant information provided by the more complex procedure; and (3) The procedure must be reliable and valid for the particular incident. (b) Assessment procedures available. (i) Procedures conducted in the field; (ii) Procedures conducted in the laboratory; (iii) Model-based procedures, including type A procedures identified in 43 CFR part 11, subpart D, and compensation formulas/schedules; and (iv) Literature-based procedures. (2) Trustees may use the assessment procedures in paragraph (b)(1) of this section alone, or in any combination, provided that the standards in paragraph (a) of this section are met, and there is no double recovery. (c) Selecting assessment procedures. (i) The range of procedures available under paragraph (b) of this section; (ii) The time and cost necessary to implement the procedures; (iii) The potential nature, degree, and spatial and temporal extent of the injury; (iv) The potential restoration actions for the injury; and (v) The relevance and adequacy of information generated by the procedures to meet information requirements of restoration planning. (2) If a range of assessment procedures providing the same type and quality of information is available, the most cost-effective procedure must be used. Subpart C—Definitions § 990.30 Definitions. For the purpose of this rule, the term: Baseline Cost-effective CEQ regulations Damages Discharge Exclusive Economic Zone Exposure Facility Fund Incident Indian tribe (or tribal) Indirect costs Injury Lead Administrative Trustee(s) (or LAT) Legal costs (1) When making a determination of the nature of attorneys' actions for purposes of this definition, trustees must consider whether: (i) The action comprised all or part of an action specified either in this part or in OPA section 1006(c); (ii) The action was performed prior to, or in the absence of, the filing of ligation by or on behalf of the trustee in question to recover damages; and (iii) The action was performed by an attorney who was working for or on behalf of the trustee agency, as opposed to a prosecutorial agency. (2) If all of the criteria in paragraph (1) of this definition are met, the costs associated with attorney's actions are deemed assessment costs. If the criteria are not met, the trustee must explain why the action was not performed for the primary purpose of furthering litigation in order to support a characterization of the action as an assessment action. (3) Examples of common or routine assessment actions that may be most appropriately performed by trustee attorneys, in accordance with this part, include, but are not limited to: (i) Providing written and oral advice on the requirements of OPA, this part, and other applicable laws; (ii) Preparing public notices, including the Notice of Intent to Conduct Restoration Planning issued to responsible parties and the Notice of Availability of Draft Restoration Plans; (iii) Developing and managing administrative records; (iv) Preparing binding agreements with potentially responsible parties in the context of the assessment, including study agreements, funding agreements, and restoration agreements; (v) Preparing co-trustee cooperative agreements; (vi) Preparing formal trustee determinations required under this part; and (vii) Procuring title searches, title insurance, and/or conservation easements when property agreements are part of restoration packages. NCP Natural resource damage assessment (or assessment) Natural resources Navigable waters NEPA et seq. Oil On-Scene Coordinator (or OSC) OPA et seq. Pathway Person Public vessel Reasonable assessment costs Recovery Response remove removal Responsible party (a) Vessels. (b) Onshore facilities. (c) Offshore facilities. et seq. (d) Deepwater ports. (e) Pipelines. (f) Abandonment. Restoration (a) Primary restoration, (b) Compensatory restoration, Services natural resource services Trustees natural resource trustees United States State Value Vessel [61 FR 500, Jan. 5, 1996, as amended at 67 FR 61493, Oct. 1, 2002] Subpart D—Preassessment Phase § 990.40 Purpose. The purpose of this subpart is to provide a process by which trustees determine if they have jurisdiction to pursue restoration under OPA and, if so, whether it is appropriate to do so. § 990.41 Determination of jurisdiction. (a) Determination of jurisdiction. (1) An incident has occurred, as defined in § 990.30 of this part; (2) The incident is not: (i) Permitted under a permit issued under federal, state, or local law; or (ii) From a public vessel; or (iii) From an onshore facility subject to the Trans-Alaska Pipeline Authority Act, 43 U.S.C. 1651, et seq.; (3) Natural resources under the trusteeship of the trustee may have been, or may be, injured as a result of the incident. (b) Proceeding with preassessment. § 990.42 Determination to conduct restoration planning. (a) Determination on restoration planning. (1) Injuries have resulted, or are likely to result, from the incident; (2) Response actions have not adequately addressed, or are not expected to address, the injuries resulting from the incident; and (3) Feasible primary and/or compensatory restoration actions exist to address the potential injuries. (b) Proceeding with preassessment. § 990.43 Data collection. Trustees may conduct data collection and analyses that are reasonably related to Preassessment Phase activities. Data collection and analysis during the Preassessment Phase must be coordinated with response actions such that collection and analysis does not interfere with response actions. Trustees may collect and analyze the following types of data during the Preassessment Phase: (a) Data reasonably expected to be necessary to make a determination of jurisdiction under § 990.41 of this part, or a determination to conduct restoration planning under § 990.42 of this part; (b) Ephemeral data; and (c) Information needed to design or implement anticipated assessment procedures under subpart E of this part. § 990.44 Notice of Intent to Conduct Restoration Planning. (a) General. (b) Contents of the notice. (1) The facts of the incident; (2) Trustee authority to proceed with the assessment; (3) Natural resources and services that are, or are likely to be, injured as a result of the incident; (4) Potential restoration actions relevant to the expected injuries; and (5) If determined at the time, potential assessment procedures to evaluate the injuries and define the appropriate type and scale of restoration for the injured natural resources and services. (c) Public availability of the notice. (d) Delivery of the notice to the responsible parties. § 990.45 Administrative record. (a) If trustees decide to proceed with restoration planning, they must open a publicly available administrative record to document the basis for their decisions pertaining to restoration. The administrative record should be opened concurrently with the publication of the Notice of Intent to Conduct Restoration Planning. Depending on the nature and extent of the incident and assessment, the administrative record should include documents relied upon during the assessment, such as: (1) Any notice, draft and final restoration plans, and public comments; (2) Any relevant data, investigation reports, scientific studies, work plans, quality assurance plans, and literature; and (3) Any agreements, not otherwise privileged, among the participating trustees or with the responsible parties. (b) Federal trustees should maintain the administrative record in a manner consistent with the Administrative Procedure Act, 5 U.S.C. 551-59, 701-06. Subpart E—Restoration Planning Phase § 990.50 Purpose. The purpose of this subpart is to provide a process by which trustees evaluate and quantify potential injuries (injury assessment), and use that information to determine the need for and scale of restoration actions (restoration selection). § 990.51 Injury assessment—injury determination. (a) General. (b) Determining injury. (1) The definition of injury has been met, as defined in § 990.30 of this part; and (2)(i) An injured natural resource has been exposed to the discharged oil, and a pathway can be established from the discharge to the exposed natural resource; or (ii) An injury to a natural resource or impairment of a natural resource service has occurred as a result of response actions or a substantial threat of a discharge of oil. (c) Identifying injury. (d) Establishing exposure and pathway. (e) Injuries resulting from response actions or incidents involving a substantial threat of a discharge. (f) Selection of injuries to include in the assessment. (1) The natural resources and services of concern; (2) The procedures available to evaluate and quantify injury, and associated time and cost requirements; (3) The evidence indicating exposure; (4) The pathway from the incident to the natural resource and/or service of concern; (5) The adverse change or impairment that constitutes injury; (6) The evidence indicating injury; (7) The mechanism by which injury occurred; (8) The potential degree, and spatial and temporal extent of the injury; (9) The potential natural recovery period; and (10) The kinds of primary and/or compensatory restoration actions that are feasible. § 990.52 Injury assessment—quantification. (a) General. (b) Quantification approaches. (1) The degree, and spatial and temporal extent of the injury to a natural resource; (2) The degree, and spatial and temporal extent of injury to a natural resource, with subsequent translation of that adverse change to a reduction in services provided by the natural resource; or (3) The amount of services lost as a result of the incident. (c) Natural recovery. (1) The nature, degree, and spatial and temporal extent of injury; (2) The sensitivity and vulnerability of the injured natural resource and/or service; (3) The reproductive and recruitment potential; (4) The resistance and resilience (stability) of the affected environment; (5) The natural variability; and (6) The physical/chemical processes of the affected environment. § 990.53 Restoration selection—developing restoration alternatives. (a) General. (2) Trustees must consider a reasonable range of restoration alternatives before selecting their preferred alternative(s). Each restoration alternative is comprised of primary and/or compensatory restoration components that address one or more specific injury(ies) associated with the incident. Each alternative must be designed so that, as a package of one or more actions, the alternative would make the environment and public whole. Only those alternatives considered technically feasible and in accordance with applicable laws, regulations, or permits may be considered further under this part. (b) Primary restoration General. (2) Natural recovery. (3) Active primary restoration actions. (i) Address conditions that would prevent or limit the effectiveness of any restoration action; (ii) May be necessary to return the physical, chemical, and/or biological conditions necessary to allow recovery or restoration of the injured natural resources (e.g., replacing substrate or vegetation, or modifying hydrologic conditions); or (iii) Return key natural resources and services, and would be an effective approach to achieving or accelerating a return to baseline (e.g., replacing essential species, habitats, or public services that would facilitate the replacement of other, dependent natural resource or service components). (c) Compensatory restoration General. (2) Compensatory restoration actions. (d) Scaling restoration actions General. (2) Resource-to-resource and service-to-service scaling approaches. (3) Valuation scaling approach. (ii) If, in the judgment of the trustees, valuation of the lost services is practicable, but valuation of the replacement natural resources and/or services cannot be performed within a reasonable time frame or at a reasonable cost, as determined by § 990.27(a)(2) of this part, trustees may estimate the dollar value of the lost services and select the scale of the restoration action that has a cost equivalent to the lost value. The responsible parties may request that trustees value the natural resources and services provided by the restoration action following the process described in § 990.14(c) of this part. (4) Discounting and uncertainty. [61 FR 500, Jan. 5, 1996, as amended at 67 FR 61493, Oct. 1, 2002] § 990.54 Restoration selection—evaluation of alternatives. (a) Evaluation standards. (1) The cost to carry out the alternative; (2) The extent to which each alternative is expected to meet the trustees' goals and objectives in returning the injured natural resources and services to baseline and/or compensating for interim losses; (3) The likelihood of success of each alternative; (4) The extent to which each alternative will prevent future injury as a result of the incident, and avoid collateral injury as a result of implementing the alternative; (5) The extent to which each alternative benefits more than one natural resource and/or service; and (6) The effect of each alternative on public health and safety. (b) Preferred restoration alternatives. (c) Pilot projects. § 990.55 Restoration selection—developing restoration plans. (a) General. (b) Draft Restoration Plan. (i) A summary of injury assessment procedures used; (ii) A description of the nature, degree, and spatial and temporal extent of injuries resulting from the incident; (iii) The goals and objectives of restoration; (iv) The range of restoration alternatives considered, and a discussion of how such alternatives were developed under § 990.53 of this part, and evaluated under § 990.54 of this part; (v) Identification of the trustees' tentative preferred alternative(s); (vi) A description of past and proposed involvement of the responsible parties in the assessment; and (vii) A description of monitoring for documenting restoration effectiveness, including performance criteria that will be used to determine the success of restoration or need for interim corrective action. (2) When developing the Draft Restoration Plan, trustees must establish restoration objectives that are specific to the injuries. These objectives should clearly specify the desired outcome, and the performance criteria by which successful restoration will be judged. Performance criteria may include structural, functional, temporal, and/or other demonstrable factors. Trustees must, at a minimum, determine what criteria will: (i) Constitute success, such that responsible parties are relieved of responsibility for further restoration actions; or (ii) Necessitate corrective actions in order to comply with the terms of a restoration plan or settlement agreement. (3) The monitoring component to the Draft Restoration Plan should address such factors as duration and frequency of monitoring needed to gauge progress and success, level of sampling needed to detect success or the need for corrective action, and whether monitoring of a reference or control site is needed to determine progress and success. Reasonable monitoring and oversight costs cover those activities necessary to gauge the progress, performance, and success of the restoration actions developed under the plan. (c) Public review and comment. (d) Final Restoration Plan. § 990.56 Restoration selection—use of a Regional Restoration Plan or existing restoration project. (a) General. (b) Existing plans or projects Considerations. (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. (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. (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. Subpart F—Restoration Implementation Phase § 990.60 Purpose. The purpose of this subpart is to provide a process for implementing restoration. § 990.61 Administrative record. (a) Closing the administrative record for restoration planning. (1) Are offered by interested parties that did not receive actual or constructive notice of the Draft Restoration Plan and the opportunity to comment on the plan; (2) Do not duplicate information already contained in the administrative record; and (3) Raise significant issues regarding the Final Restoration Plan. (b) Opening an administrative record for restoration implementation. § 990.62 Presenting a demand. (a) General. (b) When a Final Restoration Plan has been developed. (1) Implement the Final Restoration Plan subject to trustee oversight and reimburse the trustees for their assessment and oversight costs; or (2) Advance to the trustees a specified sum representing all trustee direct and indirect costs of assessment and restoration, discounted as provided in § 990.63(a) of this part. (c) Regional Restoration Plan or existing restoration project. (d) Response to demand. (e) Additional contents of demand. (1) Identification of the incident from which the claim arises; (2) Identification of the trustee(s) asserting the claim and a statement of the statutory basis for trusteeship; (3) A brief description of the injuries for which the claim is being brought; (4) An index to the administrative record; (5) The Final Restoration Plan or Notice of Intent to Use a Regional Restoration Plan or Existing Restoration Project; and (6) A request for reimbursement of: (i) Reasonable assessment costs, as defined in § 990.30 of this part and discounted as provided in § 990.63(b) of this part; (ii) The cost, if any, of conducting emergency restoration under § 990.26 of this part, discounted as provided in § 990.63(b) of this part; and (iii) Interest on the amounts recoverable, as provided in section 1005 of OPA (33 U.S.C. 2705), which allows for prejudgment and post-judgment interest to be paid at a commercial paper rate, starting from thirty (30) calendar days from the date a demand is presented until the date the claim is paid. (f) Cost accounting procedures. (g) Cost estimating procedures. [61 FR 500, Jan. 5, 1996, as amended at 67 FR 61493, Oct. 1, 2002] § 990.63 Discounting and compounding. (a) Estimated future restoration costs. (b) Past assessment and emergency restoration costs. (c) Trustees are referred to Appendices B and C of OMB Circular A-94 for information about U.S. Treasury rates of various maturities and guidance in calculation procedures. Copies of Appendix C, which is regularly updated, and of the Circular are available from the OMB Publications Office (202-395-7332). § 990.64 Unsatisfied demands. (a) If the responsible parties do not agree to the demand within ninety (90) calendar days after trustees present the demand, the trustees may either file a judicial action for damages or present the uncompensated claim for damages to the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund, as provided in section 1012(a)(4) of OPA (33 U.S.C. 2712(a)(4)) or seek an appropriation from the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund as provided in section 1012(a)(2) of OPA (33 U.S.C. 2712(a)(2)). (b) Judicial actions and claims must be filed within three (3) years after the Final Restoration Plan or Notice of Intent to Use a Regional Restoration Plan or Existing Restoration Project is made publicly available, in accordance with 33 U.S.C. 2717(f)(1)(B) and 2712(h)(2). [61 FR 500, Jan. 5, 1996, as amended at 67 FR 61493, Oct. 1, 2002] § 990.65 Opening an account for recovered damages. (a) General. (b) Joint trustee recoveries General. (2) Management. (c) Interest-bearing accounts. (d) Escrow accounts. (e) Records. (f) Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund. § 990.66 Additional considerations. (a) Upon settlement of a claim, trustees should consider the following actions to facilitate implementation of restoration: (1) Establish a trustee committee and/or memorandum of understanding or other agreement to coordinate among affected trustees, as provided in § 990.14(a)(3) of this part; (2) Develop more detailed workplans to implement restoration; (3) Monitor and oversee restoration; and (4) Evaluate restoration success and the need for corrective action. (b) The reasonable costs of such actions are included as restoration costs.