INCIDENT COMMAND SYSTEM AND NATURAL RESOURCE DAMAGE ASSESSMENT: MULTIPLE ROLES FACING NATURAL RESOURCE TRUSTEE AGENCIES1

1995 ◽  
Vol 1995 (1) ◽  
pp. 345-350
Author(s):  
Pierre H. duVair
Keyword(s):  
Natural Resource ◽  
Damage Assessment ◽  
Oil Spills ◽  
Multiple Roles ◽  
Incident Command System ◽  
Incident Command ◽  
Natural Resource Damage Assessment ◽  
Primary Responsibility ◽  
Unified Command ◽  
And Training

ABSTRACT This paper discusses the continually evolving subjects of emergency response and natural resource damage assessment (NRDA) from the perspective of a state natural resource trustee agency. Following the Exxon Valdez and American Trader spills, California enacted a law that gave the Department of Fish and Game primary responsibility for management of oil spills in marine waters of the state. There are considerable advantages to placing the lead responsibility for spill response and damage assessment on a single trustee agency which must carry out prespill planning and training, and participate in drills. Trustee agencies potentially face numerous roles in significant spill events; methods have been developed to facilitate the conduct of these activities. In particular, the unified command structure, incident command system, and the trustee NRDA team concept are useful.

WHERE RESPONSE MEETS NATURAL RESOURCE DAMAGE ASSESSMENT (NRDA)

2008 ◽  
Vol 2008 (1) ◽  
pp. 1153-1155 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jason Lehto
Keyword(s):  
Data Collection ◽  
Natural Resources ◽  
Natural Resource ◽  
Damage Assessment ◽  
Oil Pollution ◽  
Liaison Officer ◽  
Incident Command System ◽  
Incident Command ◽  
Natural Resource Damage Assessment ◽  
The Impact

ABSTRACT During oil spill incidents, NRDA and response activities may co-occur. This paper discusses those occurrences, focusing on ephemeral data collection and emergency restoration. Current laws provide some guidance for how these activities may be coordinated. The Field Operations Guide (FOG) and the National Contingency Plan (NCP) state that it is the responsibility of the Incident Commander (IC) to notify natural resource trustees of the incident and to coordinate NRDA representative's activities through the Liaison Officer. The FOG and NCP also state that it is the responsibility of the trustees to conduct their NRDA preassessment activities without hindering the response. The overlap between NRDA and response may be further complicated because many trustees may work within the environmental unit or the wildlife recovery unit for the response and also have the responsibility to work on NRDA. They may work in the Incident Command System advising the IC on response issues while also trying to initiate a damage assessment. Data collection during a response is critical for managing the incident as well as performing a thorough damage assessment. Although the types of data collected to aid the response may be similar to those used in damage assessment, often the scale and level of detail may be quite different. Even with these differences, synergies in ephemeral data collection may exist. Emergency restoration activities do sometimes occur before the response has concluded. The Oil Pollution Act regulations state that emergency restoration may occur if the action is needed to avoid the loss of natural resources, or to prevent any continuing danger to natural resources. If the trustees determine that emergency restoration is needed, they are required to consult with the IC prior to taking any such action. As an example, this paper will discuss emergency restoration actions undertaken during the Whatcom creek, WA gasoline spill to reduce the impact to migrating salmon.

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 Restoration Scaling Approaches to Addressing Ecological Injury: The Habitat-Based Resource Equivalency Method

2020 ◽  
Vol 65 (2) ◽  
pp. 161-177 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary Baker ◽  
Adam Domanski ◽  
Terill Hollweg ◽  
Jason Murray ◽  
Diana Lane ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Natural Resource ◽  
Oil Spills ◽  
Error Rates ◽  
Hazardous Substances ◽  
Habitat Equivalency Analysis ◽  
Natural Resource Damage Assessment ◽  
As Species ◽  
Ecological Habitat ◽  
Multiple Species ◽  
Species Specific

AbstractNatural resource trustee agencies must determine how much, and what type of environmental restoration will compensate for injuries to natural resources that result from releases of hazardous substances or oil spills. To fulfill this need, trustees, and other natural resource damage assessment (NRDA) practitioners have relied on a variety of approaches, including habitat equivalency analysis (HEA) and resource equivalency analysis (REA). The purpose of this paper is to introduce the Habitat-Based Resource Equivalency Method (HaBREM), which integrates REA’s reproducible injury metrics and population modeling with HEA’s comprehensive habitat approach to restoration. HaBREM is intended to evaluate injury and restoration using organisms that use the habitat to represent ecological habitat functions. This paper seeks to expand and refine the use of organism-based metrics (biomass-based REA), providing an opportunity to integrate sublethal injuries to multiple species, as well as the potential to include error rates for injury and restoration parameters. Applied by NRDA practitioners in the appropriate context, this methodology can establish the relationship between benefits of compensatory restoration projects and injuries to plant or animal species within an affected habitat. HaBREM may be most effective where there are appropriate data supporting the linkage between habitat and species gains (particularly regionally specific habitat information), as well as species-specific monitoring data and predictions on the growth, density, productivity (i.e., rate of generation of biomass or individuals), and age distributions of indicator species.

NATURAL RESOURCE DAMAGE ASSESSMENT OF THE PRESIDENTE RIVERA OIL SPILL, DELAWARE RIVER1

1995 ◽  
Vol 1995 (1) ◽  
pp. 333-338
Author(s):  
Douglas Helton ◽  
Donna Lawson ◽  
Martin McHugh
Keyword(s):  
New Jersey ◽  
Natural Resource ◽  
Damage Assessment ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Fuel Oil ◽  
Delaware River ◽  
Natural Resource Damage Assessment ◽  
Damage Claim ◽  
The U.S ◽  
Responsible Party

ABSTRACT On June 24, 1989, the Uruguayan merchant marine tanker Presidente Rivera, loaded with 19 million gallons of No. 6 fuel oil, ran aground in the Delaware River near Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania, spilling between 200,000 and 300,000 gallons of oil. Currents spread the oil over approximately 29 miles of shoreline in New Jersey, Delaware, and Pennsylvania, reaching upstream as far as Little Tinicum Island, a wildlife refuge near Philadelphia, and downstream as far as Reedy Island, south of the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal. Natural resources under the trusteeship of New Jersey, Delaware, Pennsylvania, the U.S. Department of the Interior, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (U.S. Department of Commerce) were affected by the spill, including shoreline parks, fisheries, marshes, birds, and wildlife. Additionally, portions of the river were closed to vessel traffic and nearby creeks were boomed off, preventing access to marinas and boat ramps. After three years of damage assessment, pretrial discovery, and negotiations, the trustees reached a settlement on natural resource damages with the responsible party. This paper discusses the strategy used by the trustees in developing a natural resource damage claim and highlights some of the lessons learned during the assessment and settlement process.

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