Natural resource damages: A legal, economic and policy overview
Natural resource damages liability is a major development in environmental law. Government authorities are increasingly seeking damage claims for injury to natural resources, invoking the natural resource damages (NRD) provisions of the federal Superfund statute and the Oil Pollution Act. The number of Claims asserted is increasing, and the amounts sought range to hundreds of millions of dollars, with some claims exceeding $1 billion. Some assert that the federal NRD program is an awakening sleeping giant that could threaten to rival the Superfund cleanup program in cost and the potential for imposing far-reaching liabilities on a wide range of businesses as well as the federal government. Lawyers, economists, and other experts on NRD have become fully engaged in comprehensive analyses of the legal, economic and policy issues presented by NRD claims, including a full review of the NRD litigating record. Many critics find that existing NRD law and practice is flawed; produces excessive liability claims, skewed incentives and economic waste; and urgently needs reform. Changes have been recommended to improve the law and refocus the NRD program on achieving cost-effective restoration of injured natural resources. These analytical endeavors are especially timely because Congress is currently considering significant changes in NRD law. This overview will provide a brief background summary of the NRD program and highlight some of the central legal and scientific issues facing government policy makers and litigants in NRD cases.
- OSTI ID:
- 442856
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-961149-; TRN: IM9712%%281
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 17. annual meeting of the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry: partnerships for the environment - science, education, and policy, Washington, DC (United States), 17-21 Nov 1996; Other Information: PBD: 1995; Related Information: Is Part Of SETAC 17. annual meeting -- Abstract book. Partnerships for the environment: Science, education, and policy; PB: 378 p.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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