scholarly journals A PROPOSED RESOURCE DAMAGE ASSESSMENT METHODOLOGY FOR WASHINGTON STATE1

1989 ◽  
Vol 1989 (1) ◽  
pp. 275-279 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Geselbracht ◽  
Jonathan Rubin ◽  
Thomas M. Leschine
Keyword(s):  
Oil Spill ◽  
Damage Assessment ◽  
Oil Spills ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Field Studies ◽  
State Legislature ◽  
State Agencies ◽  
Natural Resource Damage Assessment ◽  
Oil Spill Response ◽  
Assessment Procedures

ABSTRACT A state legislature sponsored study of Washington's oil spill damage assessment programs has revealed a number of problems. Studies designed to assess damages following major marine oil spills have not always been cost-effective and appropriate, state oil spill response activities have been difficult to fund, agencies have had difficulties spending damage recoveries in accordance with state law, and laws and regulations provide inadequate guidance on how to monetize resource damages identified. In addition, state agencies lack an alternative to field-based studies for compensation recovery in situations where damages are for all intents and purposes unquantifiable. An examination of CERCLA-based natural resource damage assessment procedures, the civil penalties in lieu of damages system employed by the State of Alaska, and other damage assessment practices had led to a recommendation for substantial changes in state marine resource damage assessment procedures. The recommended approach emphasizes the use of CERCLA-like preassessment screening to guide decisions about whether to quantify damages through field studies or to charge civil penalties in lieu of damages, as done in Alaska. In addition, emphasis is placed on direct negotiations with the responsible party to identify restoration/enhancement projects as alternatives to paying damages, and on developing capabilities to manage recovered damages and assessment costs through a new revolving fund.

COMPUTER MODELS FOR DAMAGE ASSESSMENT: ESTIMATES OF USE AND RESULTS1

1995 ◽  
Vol 1995 (1) ◽  
pp. 339-344
Author(s):  
James F. Bennett ◽  
Bruce E. Peacock ◽  
Timothy R. Goodspeed
Keyword(s):  
Natural Resource ◽  
Damage Assessment ◽  
Oil Spills ◽  
Simulation Models ◽  
Field Studies ◽  
Historical Record ◽  
Assessment Model ◽  
Hazardous Substance ◽  
Natural Resource Damage Assessment ◽  
Damage Assessment Model

ABSTRACT Through the process of natural resource damage assessment (NRDA), certain public agencies have the authority to recover monetary damages from parties responsible for injury to natural resources from a discharge of oil or a release of a hazardous substance. Computer simulation models have been developed as simplified procedures for these natural resource trustees to use in calculating damages without undertaking extensive field studies. The revised Natural Resource Damage Assessment Model for Coastal and Marine Environments (NRDAM/CME) and the Natural Resource Damage Assessment Model for the Great Lakes Environments (NRDAM/GLE) are being developed to serve an expanding user community of public natural resource trustees. These tools may enable natural resource managers to expedite settlements and execute environmental restoration. To estimate the potential use of the NRDA models for oil spills, the authors have developed a set of candidate spill occurrences based on the historical record. Representing an estimated 337 applicable spill events in the subject year, 121 model runs generated damage figures ranging from zero to more than half a million dollars.

scholarly journals THE SECOND GENERATION OF NATURAL RESOURCE DAMAGE ASSESSMENTS: LESSONS LEARNED?1

1993 ◽  
Vol 1993 (1) ◽  
pp. 727-731
Author(s):  
Randall B. Luthi ◽  
Linda B. Burlington ◽  
Eli Reinharz ◽  
Sharon K. Shutler
Keyword(s):  
Natural Resources ◽  
Oil Spill ◽  
Natural Resource ◽  
Damage Assessment ◽  
Oil Spills ◽  
Oil Pollution ◽  
Economic Valuation ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
General Counsel ◽  
Natural Resource Damage Assessment

ABSTRACT The Damage Assessment Regulations Team (DART), under the Office of General Counsel of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), has centered its efforts on developing natural resource damage assessment regulations for oil pollution in navigable waters. These procedures will likely lower the costs associated with damage assessments, encourage joint cooperative assessments and simplify most assessments. The DART team of NOAA is developing new regulations for the assessment of damages due to injuries related to oil spills under the Oil Pollution Act of 1990. These regulations will involve coordination, restoration, and economic valuation. Various methods are currently being developed to assess damages for injuries to natural resources. The proposed means include: compensation tables for spills under 50,000 gallons, Type A model, expedited damage assessment (EDA) procedures, and comprehensive procedures. They are being developed to provide trustees with a choice for assessing natural resource damages for each oil spill.

Resolving Conflict in Applying the Washington State Natural Resource Damage Assessment Compensation Schedule-Spill Volume Determination in the Absence of Volumetric Methods

1999 ◽  
Vol 1999 (1) ◽  
pp. 519-525
Author(s):  
David Mora ◽  
Greg Challenger
Keyword(s):  
Natural Resource ◽  
Oil Recovery ◽  
Damage Assessment ◽  
Oil Spills ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Volume Estimation ◽  
Volume Determination ◽  
Natural Resource Damage Assessment ◽  
Spilled Oil ◽  
Volumetric Methods

ABSTRACT Many jurisdictions rely upon compensation formulae for environmental damages caused by oil spills in lieu of protracted in situ studies. Formulae often rely on quantity and physical properties of the oil. The State of Washington Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA) compensation schedule is primarily based on quantity spilled. The quantity spilled is multiplied by relative values or scaling factors related to general environmental effect and habitat vulnerability indices. Using the formula, a range of $l–$50 dollars per gallon is possible. Spill volume estimation is therefore an important and sometimes controversial issue, especially when spilled volumes are not quantifiable by conventional volumetric methods. While methods of estimating spilled oil from recovery equipment, on the water, and along the shoreline are available, quantifying oil that may be bound to items in the waste stream presents many challenges and must address difficulties such as evaporative oil loss, water bound to recovered materials, varied types of absorbent materials and oiled debris among others. Attempts to quantify recovered oil from the M/V Nosac Forest (1993), Tosco Ferndale (1997), and M/V Anadyr (1998) oil spills yielded reasonable but uncertain results. Questions remain with respect to the accuracy of oil recovery estimates and the cost-effectiveness of the approach. Utilizing assumptions is necessary in any oil volume estimation technique and can be the basis for contention. However, utilizing a collaborative investigative process, where both state and responsible party investigators participate, can alleviate many potential concerns. While uncertainty remains, a collaborative process can lead to consensus and a cost-effective approach to spilled-oil estimation techniques in the absence of conventional volumetric methods.

scholarly journals Time Window-of-Opportunity Strategies for Oil Spill Planning and Response

1999 ◽  
Vol 71 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Atle B. Nordvik
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Oil Spill ◽  
Time Window ◽  
Time Windows ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Field Studies ◽  
Insurance Companies ◽  
Specific Response ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Oil Spill Response

This paper presents an integrated scientific and engineering strategy to improve and bring planning and decision-making for marine oil spill response to a higher level of knowledge. The most efficient, environmentally preferred, and cost effective spill response is dependent on the following factors: chemistry of the spilled product, quantity, location, response time, environmental conditions, and effectiveness of available response technologies at various degrees of oil weathering.Time windows is a highly targeted process, in which the selection of response technologies will be more efficient, cost effective, technically correct, and environmentally sensitive and appropriate. The strategy integrates dynamic oil weathering data and performance effectiveness data for oil spill response technologies derived from laboratory, mesoscale, and experimental field studies. Performance data has been developed from a wide range of viscosities of different weathering stages of transported oils into a dynamic oil weathering database to identify and estimate time periods, called "technology windows-of-opportunity." In these windows, specific response methods, technologies, equipment, or products are more effective during clean-up operations for specific oils. The data bases represent the state of the art for response technologies and research in oil spill response.The strategy provides a standard foundation for rapid and cost effective oil spill response decision-making, and is intended for use by local, state, federal agencies, response planners, clean up organizations (responders), insurance companies, tanker owners, and transporters. It provides policy, planners and decision-makers with a scientifically based and documented "tool" in oil spill response that has not been available before.

LIABILITY INCENTIVES FOR REDUCING THE COSTS OF OIL SPILLS

1995 ◽  
Vol 1995 (1) ◽  
pp. 249-254
Author(s):  
Bobbie Lively-Diebold ◽  
Paul Ameer ◽  
Gary Yoshioka ◽  
Justin Anand
Keyword(s):  
Damage Assessment ◽  
Oil Spills ◽  
Oil Pollution ◽  
Societal Cost ◽  
Court Cases ◽  
Incentive Structure ◽  
Paper Briefly ◽  
Liability Law ◽  
Natural Resource Damage Assessment ◽  
Assessment Procedures

ABSTRACT This paper briefly reviews the economics of liability law related to oil pollution and analyzes selected federal statutes and court cases to assess how liability law has evolved over time in terms of creating incentives for potential spillers to reduce the societal cost of oil spills. Based on a review of statutes and judge-made law, it appears that prior to the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA 90), the liability provisions of statutes and judge-made law may have failed to provide spillers with sufficient incentives to invest in spill prevention and minimize the societal cost of spills. The OPA liability provisions and judge-made law related to federal government natural resource damage assessment procedures have strengthened the incentive structure by making potential spillers liable for the range of costs of oil spills. However, a sufficient body of judge-made law is not yet available to draw any definitive conclusions about the extent to which the new liability regime created in part by OPA 90 will lead to significantly different outcomes and therefore compel industry to adjust behavior accordingly.

scholarly journals OPA 90: ENHANCED BY STATE PREVENTION AND RESPONSE PROGRAMS

2005 ◽  
Vol 2005 (1) ◽  
pp. 213-215
Author(s):  
K.C. Sullivan ◽  
Michael Baccigalopi ◽  
Dave Jensen
Keyword(s):  
Oil Spill ◽  
State Government ◽  
Oil Spills ◽  
Oil Pollution ◽  
State Level ◽  
State Agencies ◽  
State Regulations ◽  
General Land Office ◽  
Oil Spill Response ◽  
Additional Influence

ABSTRACT In the wake of the Exxon Valdez the federal government passed the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA 90). A number of recent publications have discussed the effects of OPA 90 on the occurrence of unauthorized discharges, but nothing to date has included the additional influence of state regulations in their analysis. To address oil spill response on a state level, agencies such as the Texas General Land Office Oil Spill Prevention and Response Division (TGLO) and the Louisiana Oil Spill Coordinator's Office (LOSCO) were created. Each state, given authority under similar Oil Spill Prevention and Response Legislation, regulates heavily industrialized coastlines. These agencies have developed a level of expertise in management and response to oil spills that compliment the federal oil spill response capabilities. This programmatic analysis of two adjacent state agencies will show that the interaction between state government, industry, and the public has a large influence on the effectiveness of OPA 90.

scholarly journals Beyond Natural Resource Damage Assessment: A Navy/State of Washington Oil Spill Restoration Partnership

1999 ◽  
Vol 1999 (1) ◽  
pp. 1203-1204
Author(s):  
Dale A. Davis ◽  
Dean C. Smith ◽  
Dan Doty
Keyword(s):  
Oil Spill ◽  
Natural Resource ◽  
Oil Spills ◽  
Puget Sound ◽  
The State ◽  
State Agencies ◽  
Restoration Planning ◽  
Natural Resource Damage Assessment ◽  
Education And Awareness ◽  
Navy Personnel

ABSTRACT Money from oil spill natural resource damage claims in Washington State is used primarily to fund environmental restoration and enhancement projects, but all parties liable for oil spills in the state are invited to propose and perform resource restoration projects in lieu of monetary compensation. As a result of numerous oil spills from Naval vessels and facilities in Washington and the high probability of future spills, Naval Base Seattle developed a comprehensive restoration program that lists potential restoration projects for Navy facilities throughout Washington, and supports restoration opportunities for non-Navy trustee properties. The program has evolved into a collaborative restoration planning effort between the Navy and Washington natural resource agencies to identify and prioritize restoration opportunities to be applied in the event of future Navy spills. To date, three restoration projects have been approved as compensation for five spills into Puget Sound from Naval vessels, and are considered highly successful by both the Navy and the state. This approach results in substantial savings for state agencies, restoration projects that are implemented quickly and efficiently, and environmental education and awareness for Navy personnel.

OCS-RELATED OIL SPILL IMPACTS ON NATURAL RESOURCES: AN ECONOMIC RISK ANALYSIS1

1989 ◽  
Vol 1989 (1) ◽  
pp. 281-287
Author(s):  
James J. Opaluch ◽  
Thomas A. Grigalunas
Keyword(s):  
Natural Resources ◽  
Oil Spill ◽  
Damage Assessment ◽  
Oil Spills ◽  
Assessment Model ◽  
Marine Resources ◽  
Outer Continental Shelf ◽  
Ongoing Research ◽  
Natural Resource Damage Assessment ◽  
Oil Spill Cleanup

ABSTRACT Risk analyses of oil spills are important in the development of outer continental shelf (OCS) leasing policy as well as other marine policies relating to oil. This paper explores the use of the Natural Resource Damage Assessment Model for Coastal and Marine Resources (NRDAM/CME) to provide a risk analysis of oil spills related to OCS oil development. For the categories of natural resources included in NRDAM/CME, the expected value of damages from large oil spills appears quite small relative to the value of oil developed. Expected damages range from $300,000 to $19.7 million per billion barrels of oil developed. Ongoing research by the authors will refine these estimates by including additional categories of damages, which will increase the damage estimates, and oil spill cleanup and the effect of OCS production on reducing imports, which will reduce the estimated net costs of OCS development.

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE AVAILABILITY OF APPROPRIATE RESTORATION PROJECTS AND INJURY ASSESSMENT

2008 ◽  
Vol 2008 (1) ◽  
pp. 1171-1174
Author(s):  
John Kern ◽  
Lisa Dipinto ◽  
John Rapp
Keyword(s):  
Oil Spill ◽  
Natural Resource ◽  
Oil Spills ◽  
Oil Pollution ◽  
Geographic Location ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Restoration Planning ◽  
Natural Resource Damage Assessment ◽  
Injury Assessment ◽  
The Relationship

ABSTRACT The natural resource damage assessment (NRDA) process under the Oil Pollution Act regulations is restoration-focused. In order to proceed with a NRDA after Preassessment Phase activities are completed, the natural resource trustees must determine that feasible restoration actions are available to address the potential injuries resulting from the discharge of oil. If this determination is made, the trustees can move forward and conduct injury assessment and injury quantification as part of the Restoration Planning Phase. The availability of appropriate restoration alternatives for natural resources can have a profound effect on the nature of both injury assessment and injury quantification that is necessary for a particular oil spill. This paper examines that relationship, using some examples from settled oil spill NRDA cases to illustrate how the availability of appropriate and cost-effective restoration alternatives can reduce the overall cost of a NRDA and the length of time necessary to reach an appropriate settlement. The type of restoration and the degree to which it is scaleable can also influence both cost and time to reach settlement. It also discusses some of the factors that are important in determining to what degree restoration opportunities influence the injury assessment and quantification process for oil spills, including geographic location, previous experience with similar spills, and the degree of cooperation that exists between the trustees and the responsible party.

ECOLOGICAL AND GEOMORPHOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT OF THE VULNERABILITY OF THE COASTS OF THE KARA SEA TO THE OIL SPILL

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Ermolov ◽  
Alexander Ermolov
Keyword(s):  
Oil Spill ◽  
Oil Spills ◽  
International System ◽  
Kara Sea ◽  
Coastal Protection ◽  
Sensitivity Index ◽  
Oil Spill Response ◽  
Expert Assessments ◽  
International Systems

International experience of oil spill response in the sea defines the priority of coastal protection and the need to identify as most valuable in ecological terms and the most vulnerable areas. Methodological approaches to the assessing the vulnerability of Arctic coasts to oil spills based on international systems of Environmental Sensitivity Index (ESI) and geomorphological zoning are considered in the article. The comprehensive environmental and geomorphological approach allowed us to form the morphodynamic basis for the classification of seacoasts and try to adapt the international system of indexes to the shores of the Kara Sea taking into account the specific natural conditions. This work has improved the expert assessments of the vulnerability and resilience of the seacoasts.

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