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Title: Integrating Natural Resource Damage Assessment and environmental restoration activities at DOE facilities

Abstract

Environmental restoration activities are currently under way at many US Department of Energy (DOE) sites under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA). DOE is the CERCLA lead response agency for these activities. Section 120 of CERCLA also could subject DOE to liability for natural resource damages resulting from hazardous substance releases at its sites. A Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA) process is used to determine whether natural resources have been injured and to calculate compensatory monetary damages to be used to restore the natural resources. In addition to restoration costs, damages may include costs of conducting the damage assessment and compensation for interim losses of natural resource services that occur before resource restoration is complete. Natural resource damages represent a potentially significant source of additional monetary claims under CERCLA, but are not well known or understood by many DOE staff and contractors involved in environmental restoration activities. This report describes the requirements and procedures of NRDA in order to make DOE managers aware of what the process is designed to do. It also explains how to integrate the NRDA and CERCLA Remedial Investigation/Feasibility Study processes, showing how the technical and cost analysis concepts of NRDA can bemore » borrowed at strategic points in the CERCLA process to improve decisionmaking and more quickly restore natural resource services at the lowest total cost to the public.« less

Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Martin Marietta Energy Systems, Inc., Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
OSTI Identifier:
10133004
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 10133004; Legacy ID: DE94008230
Report Number(s):
DOE/OR/21851--T1
ON: DE94008230; NC: NONE
Resource Type:
Technical Report
Resource Relation:
Other Information: PBD: Oct 1993
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY AND ECONOMY; US SUPERFUND; COMPLIANCE; LAND RESOURCES; ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY; POLLUTION REGULATIONS; REMEDIAL ACTION; US DOE 290300; 293000; ENVIRONMENT, HEALTH, AND SAFETY; POLICY, LEGISLATION, AND REGULATION

Citation Formats

Not Available. Integrating Natural Resource Damage Assessment and environmental restoration activities at DOE facilities. United States: N. p., 1993. Web. doi:10.2172/10133004.
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Not Available. Integrating Natural Resource Damage Assessment and environmental restoration activities at DOE facilities. United States. doi:10.2172/10133004.
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Not Available. Fri . "Integrating Natural Resource Damage Assessment and environmental restoration activities at DOE facilities". United States. doi:10.2172/10133004. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/10133004.
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@article{osti_10133004,
title = {Integrating Natural Resource Damage Assessment and environmental restoration activities at DOE facilities},
author = {Not Available},
abstractNote = {Environmental restoration activities are currently under way at many US Department of Energy (DOE) sites under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA). DOE is the CERCLA lead response agency for these activities. Section 120 of CERCLA also could subject DOE to liability for natural resource damages resulting from hazardous substance releases at its sites. A Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA) process is used to determine whether natural resources have been injured and to calculate compensatory monetary damages to be used to restore the natural resources. In addition to restoration costs, damages may include costs of conducting the damage assessment and compensation for interim losses of natural resource services that occur before resource restoration is complete. Natural resource damages represent a potentially significant source of additional monetary claims under CERCLA, but are not well known or understood by many DOE staff and contractors involved in environmental restoration activities. This report describes the requirements and procedures of NRDA in order to make DOE managers aware of what the process is designed to do. It also explains how to integrate the NRDA and CERCLA Remedial Investigation/Feasibility Study processes, showing how the technical and cost analysis concepts of NRDA can be borrowed at strategic points in the CERCLA process to improve decisionmaking and more quickly restore natural resource services at the lowest total cost to the public.},
doi = {10.2172/10133004},
journal = {},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {Fri Oct 01 00:00:00 EDT 1993},
month = {Fri Oct 01 00:00:00 EDT 1993}
}
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Technical Report:
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DOI:  10.2172/10133004
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  • Environmental restoration activities are currently under way at many U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) sites under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), as amended. DOE is the CERCLA lead response agency for these activities. Section 120 of CERCLA also could subject DOE to liability for natural resource damages resulting from hazardous substance releases at its sites. A Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA) process is used to determine whether natural resources have been injured and to calculate compensatory monetary damages to be used to restore the natural resources. In addition to restoration costs, damages may include costs ofmore » conducting the damage assessment and compensation for interim losses of natural resource services that occur before resource restoration is complete. Natural resource damages represent a potentially significant source of additional monetary claims under CERCLA, but are not well known or understood by many DOE staff and contractors involved in environmental restoration activities. This report describes the requirements and procedures of NRDA in order to make DOE managers aware of what the process is designed to do. It also explains how to integrate the NRDA and CERCLA Remedial Investigation/Feasibility Study processes, showing how the technical and cost analysis concepts of NRDA can be borrowed at strategic points in the CERCLA process to improve decisionmaking and more quickly restore natural resource services at the lowest total cost to the public.« less

  • ; ; ; ...
    Environmental restoration activities are currently under way at several sites owned by the US Department of Energy (DOE) under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), as amended. DOE is the CERCLA lead response agency for these activities. Section 120(a) of the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act also subjects DOE to liability under Section 107 of CERCLA for natural resource damages resulting from hazardous substance releases at its sites. The Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA) process, by which natural resource injuries are determined and compensatory monetary damages are calculated, is not well known or understood by DOE staffmore » and contractors involved in environmental restoration activities. Nevertheless, natural resource liabilities are potentially a significant source of additional monetary claims for CERCLA hazardous substance releases. This paper describes the requirements of NRDA and explains how to integrate the NRDA and CERCLA Remedial Investigation/Feasibility Study processes, in order to more quickly restore environmental services at the lowest total cost to the public. The first section of the paper explains the statutory and regulatory mandates for the NRDA process. The second section briefly describes the four phases of the NRDA process, while the third section examines the three steps in the assessment phase in considerable detail. Finally, the last section focuses on the integration of the CERCLA and NRDA processes.« less

  • Regulations have been promulgated by the Department of Interior (DOI) which provide an administrative process whereby natural resource trustees may establish the type and extent of injury and evaluate the damages to natural resources. These regulations provide an optional mechanism for Natural Resource Damage Assessments (NRDAs), with four major components. A workshop was held to develop recommendations for DOE-OR regarding implementation of the DOI NRDA regulations at the Oak Ridge Reservation (ORR). The attendants were divided into three working groups to consider (1) administrative/legal requirements, (2) ecological assessments, and (3) the NRDA/economic evaluation process. This report supplies an overview ofmore » the DOI NRDA regulations as well as summaries of the consensus of each of the three working groups.« less

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    This project is the result of a three-year survey of the Exxon Valdez oil spill impact area to identify appropriate and cost-effective instream habitat restoration techniques for salmon, including spawning channels and improvement of fish passage through fish ladders or step-pool structures to overcome physical or hydrological barriers. Additional wild salmon stock rehabilitation measures include stream-side incubation boxes, remote egg-taking, incubation at existing hatcheries for fry stocking in oil-impacted streams, and fry rearing. Study results include the identification of the most promising instream habitat restoration projects in each of the spill-impacted areas.

  • In order to restore populations of Dolly Varden and cutthroat trout, a closure of sport fisheries for these two species occurred in oiled areas. Sixty-one stream systems in non-oiled locations in Prince William Sound that support populations of Dolly Varden and cutthroat trout were identified and incorporated into a site selection matrix. Catch rate, size information, and information about stream morphology were collected during the ground surveys. Migration information was analyzed from four years of tag return data, as an initial effort to understand stock movement and definition.