Putting Response and Natural Resource Damage Costs in Perspective1

1999 ◽  
Vol 1999 (1) ◽  
pp. 577-583 ◽  
Author(s):  
Douglas Helton ◽  
Tony Penn
Keyword(s):  
Natural Resource ◽  
Social Cost ◽  
Oil Spills ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Cost Category ◽  
Relative Significance ◽  
Damage Costs ◽  
Repair Costs ◽  
Federal Response ◽  
Cost Categories

ABSTRACT The total private and social cost of oil spills is of great interest to industry, responders, and regulators, but relatively few incidents have been examined in detail. Furthermore, publicly available cost data are often limited to state and federal response costs and natural resource damage settlements. Significant categories of costs, such as private response costs, third-party claims, and vessel or facility repair costs, are often not publicly available. Failure to consider these additional cost categories may result in erroneous conclusions regarding the total cost of spills and the relative significance of any one cost category. In this paper the authors update their previous analysis (Helton et al., 1997) on the various categories of costs that may result from spill incidents. The authors present and discuss the costs for a number of incidents representing a range of spill volumes and locations. The authors' data show that, contrary to the perception, costs for natural resource damages and assessment comprise only a small portion of total liability from an oil spill.

Financial Implications of Hypothetical San Francisco Bay Oil Spill Scenarios: Response, Socioeconomic, and Natural Resource Damage Costs

2003 ◽  
Vol 2003 (1) ◽  
pp. 1317-1325 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dagmar Schmidt Etkin ◽  
Deborah French-McCoy ◽  
Jill Jennings ◽  
Nicole Whittier ◽  
Sankar Subbayya ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
San Francisco ◽  
Oil Spill ◽  
Natural Resource ◽  
Oil Spills ◽  
San Francisco Bay ◽  
Relative Proportion ◽  
Response Strategy ◽  
Damage Costs ◽  
Financial Impacts ◽  
Type Response

ABSTRACT This study provides a comprehensive examination of the use of trajectory modeling to estimate financial impacts of oil spills, including natural resource damages, response costs, and socioeconomic costs, as well as an opportunity to examine how spill size, oil type, response strategy, and probabilistic trajectory factors impact costs. The inclusion of NRDA, response, and socioeconomic costs in the modeling allows for an assessment of the relative proportion of NRDA costs to response and socioeconomic costs to further support the findings of past studies that refute the myth that NRDA costs are the overriding factors in most spill cases. The study demonstrates the overall financial and NRDA benefits of dispersant use. Estimated total bio-economic costs for oil spill scenarios involving four oil types and three spill sizes for two locations in San Francisco Bay, were modeled. Assuming present-day mechanical-only response, total costs range from $30 to $520 million. Estimated total bioeconomic costs would be reduced to $11 to $113 million if dispersants were used with high effectiveness. Dispersant use would reduce response costs, and if used effectively, could reduce NRDA and socioeconomic damages substantially, as both of these costs are driven by the amount of surface and shoreline oiling.

RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN LMX AND SUBORDINATES' FEEDBACK-SEEKING BEHAVIORS

2007 ◽  
Vol 35 (5) ◽  
pp. 659-674 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hye Eun Lee ◽  
Hee Sun Park ◽  
Tai Sik Lee ◽  
Dong Wook Lee
Keyword(s):  
South Korea ◽  
Social Cost ◽  
Civil Engineering ◽  
Source Credibility ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Leader Member Exchange ◽  
Feedback Seeking ◽  
Party Strategies ◽  
Member Exchange ◽  
The Relationship

Relationships among subordinates' feedback-seeking strategy preferences, Leader-Member Exchange (LMX), social cost, and source credibility were examined. Employees (N = 134) of civil engineering companies in South Korea completed a questionnaire. Findings showed that LMX quality, social cost, and source credibility either independently or jointly influenced subordinates' feedback-seeking strategy preferences. LMX was positively related to preference for using direct strategies, but not significantly related to preferences for using indirect strategies and for using third-party strategies. As moderators, increases in social cost and source credibility were associated with changes in the relationship between LMX and preference for third-party strategies. More detailed explanations and implications of these findings are discussed.

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.

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.

VALIDATION AND USE OF SPILL IMPACT MODELING FOR IMPACT ASSESSMENT

1997 ◽  
Vol 1997 (1) ◽  
pp. 829-834 ◽  
Author(s):  
Deborah P. French ◽  
Henry M. Rines
Keyword(s):  
Natural Resource ◽  
Input Data ◽  
Oil Spills ◽  
Model Simulation ◽  
Biological Effects ◽  
Type A ◽  
Model System ◽  
Biological Data ◽  
Impact Model ◽  
Using Data

ABSTRACT SIMAP (Spill Impact Model Application Package) is Applied Science Associates’ spill impact model system. The system is designed to simulate the fates and effects of spilled oils and fuels, to allow for an evaluation of the effectiveness of spill response activities, and to evaluate the probabilities of trajectories and resulting impacts. The physical fates and biological effects models in SIMAP are based on those in the CERCLA type A model for natural resource damage assessments (NRDAs), documented in French et al. (1996a). SIMAP may be used for real-time spill simulation, contingency planning, and natural resource damage and ecological risk assessments. The physical fates and biological effects models in SIMAP and the NRDA type A model were validated using data from 27 oil spills. The success of a model simulation depends on both the algorithms and the accuracy of the input data. The results of the validation, described herein, verify the model algorithms. The most important input data in determining accuracy of results are winds, currents, and biological abundances of the most affected species. Thus the model system, when applied with accurate environmental and biological data inputs, can quantitatively and objectively estimate the impacts of oil spills into aquatic systems.

A Rapid Assessment Program for Improving Natural Resource Damage Assessments

1999 ◽  
Vol 1999 (1) ◽  
pp. 881-883
Author(s):  
Timothy J. Reilly ◽  
Douglas Helton
Keyword(s):  
Natural Resource ◽  
Damage Assessment ◽  
Oil Spills ◽  
Rapid Assessment ◽  
Assessment Center ◽  
Economic Data ◽  
Dynamic Nature ◽  
Assessment Program ◽  
Injury Assessment ◽  
Assessment Activities

ABSTRACT Assessing the impacts of oil spills requires the collection of a variety of biological, chemical and socio-economic data. However, the dynamic nature of oil spills necessitates the collection of data very soon after an incident. In 1992, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Damage Assessment Center (NOAA DAC) established a Rapid Assessment Program (RAP) to insure the collection of data necessary to characterize the nature and extent of ecological and public use injuries. The RAP maintains a team of trained and equipped government and contract personnel to initiate injury assessment activities on a 24-hour-per-day, 7-day-per-week basis. Further, the RAP sponsors research, develops assessment methodologies, and provides annual training to RAP personnel in order to continually enhance rapid assessment capabilities.

scholarly journals Habitat and Resource Equivalency Analysis: 30 Years of Lessons Learned and a Look to the Future

2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey Wakefield ◽  
Theodore Tomasi ◽  
Angeline Morrow ◽  
Christopher Pfeifer ◽  
Heath Byrd
Keyword(s):  
Natural Resource ◽  
Oil Spills ◽  
Oil Pollution ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
The Public ◽  
Habitat Equivalency Analysis ◽  
Natural Resource Damage Assessment ◽  
Creative Solutions ◽  
The Future ◽  
Technical Basis

ABSTRACT Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA) under the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA) is a process used to determine the amount of compensation due to the public for natural resource injuries arising from oil spills. Two models, Resource Equivalency Analysis (REA) and Habitat Equivalency Analysis (HEA), are used in essentially all OPA NRDAs to compute compensatory restoration requirements. REA is applied when members of wildlife populations are injured: usually mortality or a loss of reproduction among a species of bird, turtle, marine mammal, or fish. HEA is used when habitats are injured: usually oiling of beaches, wetlands, or sediments. The models are often implemented in a cooperative setting with input from both the Responsible Party and the Trustees. In this setting the models provide a structure for organizing negotiations and identifying the types of agreements that need to be reached before restoration can be identified and “right sized.” The models also have a technical basis in economic theory that is fully justified, but only in particular, limited circumstances. This technical basis is the only means of assuring the Trustees, RPs, and stakeholders that the NRDA process has identified an appropriate level of compensation. When the circumstances of a spill do not approximate those in which HEA and REA are defensible, creative solutions are needed to adjust the models to the circumstances of the case if they are to provide a convincing basis for scaling restoration and reaching resolution. This paper identifies the circumstances under which REA and HEA are fully defensible as well as 35 years of evolving adjustments designed to make them “work” when applied to real-world cases they do not quite fit. We also look to the future and how climate change may alter restoration scaling.

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.

scholarly journals Extrapolating Injury from Larger to Smaller Oil Spills: Lessons in Louisiana

2001 ◽  
Vol 2001 (1) ◽  
pp. 213-217
Author(s):  
John C. Kern
Keyword(s):  
Crude Oil ◽  
Natural Resource ◽  
Oil Spills ◽  
Aquatic Organisms ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Assessment Method ◽  
Specific Model ◽  
Effective Manner ◽  
Injury Assessment ◽  
The Cost

ABSTRACT One challenge for trustees in a natural resource damage assessment (NRDA) is to adequately quantify natural resource injuries in a cost-effective manner. This is particularly true for smaller spills, where the cost of more expansive and more expensive injury assessment studies could dwarf the cost of the restoration actions to compensate for those injuries. The need for cost-effective assessments must he balanced against the need for the assessment methods to be technically defensible and useful in identifying and scaling appropriate restoration actions. In this paper, it is shown how the injury assessment results from the Lake Barre oil spill of May 1997 (which released 6,561 barrels of crude oil) were used to help inform trustees about the likely magnitude of injury for two smaller crude oil spills in Louisiana. For the Lake Barre spill, the trustees developed an incident-specific model—adapted from the Type A model—to quantify injury to birds and aquatic fauna. The results of this model were used to evaluate a restoration offer as compensation for these injuries from the responsible party (RP). Subsequently, the results of the Lake Barre assessment were used to help quantify injury to birds and aquatic organisms for the September 1998 release of up to 1,500 barrels of crude oil from a well blowout into Lake Grande Ecaille. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) again used the Lake Barre results to quantify injury to water column organisms for a November 1999 release of 850 barrels of crude oil from a pipeline in Four-Bayou Pass. Estimating injury by extrapolation from one spill to similar spills represents one cost-effective approach toward quantifying injury for small incidents, and should be considered as a potential injury assessment method for those spills where it is impractical or otherwise difficult to justify conducting large incident-specific injury studies. This technique can be done quickly, potentially speeding the settlement and restoration implementation process, thereby compensating the public in an expeditious manner.

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