(a) The lead administrative trustee, upon consensus of the state trustees, shall provide the responsible person with written notice of intent to perform an assessment. The notice of intent to perform an assessment must be provided to the responsible person within 60 days of the on-scene coordinator's (SOSC) determination that the cleanup is complete. The state trustees may petition the commissioner for a longer period of time to make the above determination by showing that the full impact of the discharge on the affected natural resources cannot be determined in 60 days.
(b) The state trustees shall not conduct any assessment activities, other than the preliminary field investigation, for at least ten calendar days after receipt by the responsible person of the notice of intent to perform an assessment, except when certain preassessment activities must be conducted in order to ensure a reasonable and rational assessment. Receipt may be determined by either United States Postal Service Domestic Return Receipt or other appropriate proof.
(c) The notice of intent to perform an assessment shall include:
  (1) a summary of the activities conducted during the preliminary field investigation;
  (2) a description of the unauthorized discharge of oil, including: the facts of the incident; the estimated quantity of oil discharged into coastal waters or onto coastal shorelines; the length of time that the oil remained on, in, or under coastal waters; and the estimated quantity recovered through response activities;
  (3) an evaluation of the impact of response activities on natural resources; and
  (4) if available, information from the SOSC's incident report related to the quality of the responsible person's containment and removal actions and the protection and preservation of natural resources.

Source Note: The provisions of this §20.31 adopted to be effective October 19, 1994, 19 TexReg 7911; amended to be effective October 21, 2010, 35 TexReg 9318