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Draft:Natural Resource Damage Assessment

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  • Comment: Sources need to be independent (not the gov) also the prose is not clear about which countries this applies to Czarking0 (talk) 15:49, 24 March 2025 (UTC)


General description

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Natural Resource Damage Assessment and Restoration (NRDAR), or just Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA), is a legal, scientific, and economic process of calculating monetary damages after natural resources have been injured by a release of hazardous substances[1]. The process includes ecosystem services injury assessment and valuation[2]. It is meant to compensate the public and is not intended to be punitive[1]. The process is defined in several regulations in the United States and referred to internationally[2][3][4]. It is a structured process that is often collaborative and should result in restoration projects that will reverse harm caused to natural resources[1][2].

NRDAR in United States federal regulations

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United States federal regulations (such as the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA), the Oil Pollution Act (OPA), and others) require polluters to cleanup unauthorized releases of hazardous substances and oil[5][6]. Additionally, these laws allow natural resource trustees to perform NRDA.[7][8] In the United States, federal, state, or tribal governments may act as trustees for natural resources.[9][5][6] While methods for performing NRDA can vary,[10][11][12][13][7][14][15][16] the steps are well established in CERCLA and OPA. Following procedures laid out in these regulations is not mandatory, although their use triggers a rebuttable presumption[8][2].

In the United States, natural resource trustees are designated by federal, state, and tribal governments.[9][17][18][7][5] Federal trustees are designated by the President of the United States, and often include NOAA (through the Office of Response and Restoration) or USFWS. State trustees are appointed by their state's governors[17] and tribal trustees are appointed by their governing bodies.[9] Every state designated one or more trustee organizations,[19] however not all states have active NRDAR programs prepared to respond after an accident.[20][21]

In the United States, responsible parties must reimburse trustees (the trustee organizations performing the NRDA) for restoration and for the cost of assessing the injury.[8] In the United States, reimbursement covers: 1) the reasonable cost of assessing damages, 2) the cost of restoring/rehabilitating until full recovery of the resources (or acquiring the equivalent of the injured natural resources), and 3) lost past-use of ecosystem services for legacy releases.[5][11][8]

In the United States, injury to natural resources can be the result of exposure to hazardous substance, the cleanup itself (driving machinery through habitat) or even actions in response to a threat of a discharge.[5][6][22] Natural resource valuation is performed during natural resource damage assessments. Trustees must quantify the severity of injuries, determine how much the responsible party owes the public (often defined in monetary damages),[23] and then develop restoration plans to restore ecosystem services.[5][11][13][18] The US Department of the Interior maintains a library of NRDA cases for public access, for NRDA cases in which the US DOI is involved.[24] The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration maintains a library of NRDA cases for public access for NRDA cases in which US NOAA is involved.[25]

NRDAR regulations elsewhere

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In the United States, individual states may either use the process defined in CERCLA and OPA or use their own state regulations,[21][26][17] although not every state has adopted their own NRDA regulations.[17]

Outside of the United States, other countries have similar procedures to determine injuries due to releases of hazardous substances and to determine the level of restoration that would offset those injuries in their own regulations.[2][3] Additionally, NRDA regulations from the United States have been used for assessment of natural resource injury abroad.[4] The US NRDA process is similar to the European Union's Environmental Liability Directive 2004 in that both define damages liability and provide trustees for natural resources to act on behalf of the public to receive compensation for injury to natural resources[27]. The preferred form of compensation is full restoration.[27][28] The process similar to NRDA is also used in Canada through the Federal Environmental Enforcement Act [2].

Additional resources

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Resources are available to NRDA practitioners, from assessing injury to invertebrates,[29] to modeling for oil spills,[30] to considerations regarding climate change.[31]

References

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  1. ^ a b c Shaw, W.D. (1997). "Natural resource damage assessment - economics and settlements". International journal of environmental studies. 51 (4): 285–299 – via Taylor and Francis online.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Olsynski, Martin ZP (2012). "Environmental damages after the Federal Environmental Enforcement Act: Bringing ecosystem services to Canadian environmental law". Osgoode Hall Law Journal. 50 (1): 129 – via DigitalCommons.
  3. ^ a b Brans, E.H. (2005). "Liability for damage to public natural resources under the 2004 EC Environmental Liability Directive: standing and assessment of damages". Environmental Law Review. 7 (2): 90–109. Bibcode:2005EnvLR...7...90B. doi:10.1177/146145290500700202.
  4. ^ a b Wenning, R.J.; Tomasi, T.D. (2023). "Using US Natural Resource Damage Assessment to understand the environmental consequences of the war in Ukraine". Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management. 19 (2): 366–375. Bibcode:2023IEAM...19..366W. doi:10.1002/ieam.4716. PMID 36444733.
  5. ^ a b c d e f United States. Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980. 43 Code of Federal Regulations Part 11: https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-43/subtitle-A/part-11
  6. ^ a b c United States. Oil Pollution Act of 1990. 15 Code of Federal Regulations Part 990: https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-15/subtitle-B/chapter-IX/subchapter-E/part-990
  7. ^ a b c Dunford, Richard; Gmur, Stephan; Lynes, Melissa; Challenger, Greg; Dunford, Michael (2019). "Natural Resource Damages from Oil Spills in the United States". Environmental Claims Journal. 31 (2): 176–190. Bibcode:2019EnvCJ..31b.176D. doi:10.1080/10406026.2019.1567000.
  8. ^ a b c d Brighton, W.D., Glaser, D.A. and King, R.E. (2024). "Natural Resource Damages under CERCLA and OPA". Environmental Law Reporter. 54: 10569 – via HeinOnline.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  9. ^ a b c Kanner, Allan (2004). "Tribal Sovereignty and Natural Resource Damages". Public Land & Resources Law Review. 25: 93.
  10. ^ Baker, M.; Domanski, A.; Hollweg, T.; Murray, J.; Lane, D.; Skrabis, K.; Taylor, R.; Moore, T.; DiPinto, L. (2020). "Restoration scaling approaches to addressing ecological injury: the habitat-based resource equivalency method" (PDF). Environmental Management. 65 (2): 161–177. Bibcode:2020EnMan..65..161B. doi:10.1007/s00267-019-01245-9. PMC 7007898. PMID 31915910.
  11. ^ a b c Jones, C.A. (2000). "Economic valuation of resource injuries in natural resource liability suits". Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management. 126 (6): 358–365. doi:10.1061/(ASCE)0733-9496(2000)126:6(358).
  12. ^ Helm, R.C; Ford, R.G.; Carter, H.R. (May 2008). "Oil Spills, Seabirds, and NRDA: Differences Between US West, East, and Gulf Coasts". International Oil Spill Conference, American Petroleum Institute. 2008: 1131–1139.
  13. ^ a b Barnthouse, L.W.; Stahl, R.G. (2017). "Assessing and managing natural resource damages: continuing challenges and opportunities". Environmental Management. 59 (5): 709–717. Bibcode:2017EnMan..59..709B. doi:10.1007/s00267-017-0840-5. PMID 28260121.
  14. ^ Freeman, A.M. (2013). Nonuse values in natural resource damage assessment, in Valuing natural assets (First ed.). RFF Press. pp. 264–303. ISBN 9781315060620.
  15. ^ Rohr, J.R.; Johnson, P.; Hickey, C.W.; Helm, R.C.; Fritz, A.; Brasfield, S. (2013). "Implications of global climate change for natural resource damage assessment, restoration, and rehabilitation". Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry. 32 (1): 93–101. Bibcode:2013EnvTC..32...93R. doi:10.1002/etc.2036.
  16. ^ Horsch, E.; Phaneuf, D.; Giguere, C.; Murray, J.; Duff, C.; Kroninger, C. (2023). "Discounting in natural resource damage assessment". Journal of Benefit-Cost Analysis. 14 (1): 141–161. doi:10.1017/bca.2022.24.
  17. ^ a b c d Ando, A.W.; Khanna, M. (2004). "Natural resource damage assessment methods: lessons in simplicity from state trustees". Contemporary Economic Policy. 22 (4): 504–519. doi:10.1093/cep/byh037.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  18. ^ a b Kanner, A. (2017). "Issues Trustees Face in Natural Resource Damage Assessments, Part I." Journal of Environmental Protection. 08 (4): 503. doi:10.4236/jep.2017.84035.
  19. ^ "State Trustees". Documents and information pertaining to State natural resource trustees. US Department of the Interior. Retrieved April 9, 2025.
  20. ^ Ando, A, and W Polasub. 2009. The political economy of state-level adoption of natural resource damage assessment. Journal of Regulatory Economics, 35:312-330.
  21. ^ a b Ando, A.W.; Khanna, M. (2004). "Natural resource damage assessment methods: lessons in simplicity from state trustees". Contemporary Economic Policy. 22 (4): 504–519. doi:10.1093/cep/byh037.
  22. ^ Desvousges, W.H.; Lutz, J.C. (2000). "Compensatory Restoration: Economic Principles and Practice". Arizona Law Review. 42: 411.
  23. ^ Kanner, A. and Nagy, T. (2005). "Measuring Loss of Use Damages in Natural Resource Damage Actions". Columbia Journal of Environmental Law. 30: 417.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  24. ^ "ORDA Natural Resource Damage Assessment and Restoration". U.S. Department of the Interior. Retrieved 2025-03-28.
  25. ^ "Damage Assessment, Remediation, and Restoration Program". DARRP | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration | US Department of Commerce. Retrieved 2025-03-28.
  26. ^ Ando, A, and W Polasub (2009). "The political economy of state-level adoption of natural resource damage assessment". Journal of Regulatory Economics. 35: 312-330. doi:10.1007/s11149-008-9083-y.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  27. ^ a b Defrancesco, E., Gatto, P. and Rosato, P. (2014). "A 'component-based'approach to discounting for natural resource damage assessment". Ecological Economics. 99: 1-9. Bibcode:2014EcoEc..99....1D. doi:10.1016/j.ecolecon.2013.12.017 – via Science Direct.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  28. ^ Andreotti, F., Montanaro, D. and Calcagni, L. (2024). "A new approach for environmental damage assessment pursuant to the European Union Environmental Liability Directive". Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management. 20 (6): 2050–2059. Bibcode:2024IEAM...20.2050A. doi:10.1002/ieam.4940. PMID 38695669.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  29. ^ Soucek, D.J., Farag, A.M., Besser, J.M. and Steevens, J.A. (2023). Guide for benthic invertebrate studies in support of Natural Resource Damage Assessment and Restoration. US Geological Survey.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  30. ^ French-McCay, D. (2011). Oil spill modeling for ecological risk and natural resource damage assessment. In International Oil Spill Conference. p. 415.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  31. ^ Rohr, J.R., Johnson, P., Hickey, C.W., Helm, R.C., Fritz, A. and Brasfield, S. (2013). "Implications of global climate change for natural resource damage assessment, restoration, and rehabilitation". Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry. 32 (1): 93–101. Bibcode:2013EnvTC..32...93R. doi:10.1002/etc.2036. PMC 3601426. PMID 23097077 – via Oxford Academic.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
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