New trustee restoration approach to natural resource damage assessment

Conference · Sun Dec 31 04:00:00 EST 1995

OSTI ID:442857

Garcia, T; Hall, S

Congress passed early environmental laws, such as the Clean Water Act, in the 1970s to address the degradation of the nation`s environment. These statutes initiated various programs to manage the nation`s natural resources. With the more recent passage of the Superfund Act, the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, and the Marine Sanctuaries Act, Congress explicitly expanded the authority of natural resource trustees to address injuries and restore the nation`s coastal and marine resources. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) established the Damage Assessment and Restoration Program in 1990 to fulfill its natural resource trustee responsibilities. The Program seeks to answer the following questions: have public resources been injured and can those injuries be assessed at a reasonable cost; is restoration, rehabilitation, replacement, or acquisition of equivalent resources feasible;and what actions can be taken to address the loss of natural resources from the time of injury until the time the resources recover? This approach conducts assessments in the open, with responsible parties and the public involved in the planning process to achieve restoration more quickly, decrease transaction costs, and avoid litigation. This new approach of working cooperatively with responsible parties to collect data and conduct assessments minimizes costly duplication of effort. The goal of this process is not recovery of monetary damages, but a Restoration Plan that is presented to responsible parties for funding or implementation. Protracted and costly litigation to recover damages often is avoided because NOAA, other co-trustees, and the responsible parties are provided an opportunity to agree to a settlement that restores injured resources.

• OSTI ID: 442857
• Report Number(s): CONF-961149--
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY
ENFORCEMENT
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS
ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY
HAZARDOUS MATERIALS
LAWSUITS
LEGAL ASPECTS
LIABILITIES
REMEDIAL ACTION
RESOURCES