Restoration Planning for Natural Resource Damage Assessment Cases

by Mark Helvey, NOAA/Natl Marine Fisheries Service, Terminal Island, United States,



Document Type: Proceeding Paper

Part of: Coastal Zone '91

Abstract:

The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) of 1980, as amended, provides natural resource trustees authority for recovering compensatory damages from responsible parties for injuries to natural resources. The preferred basis for measuring the dollar value of damages is the cost of restoration, and monies recovered from responsible parties can only be used to restore, replace, or acquire equivalent resources. However, as specified in CERCLA, monies cannot be spent on any type of recovery action until a plan for that purpose is developed and adopted by the trustees. Whatever the procedures used in building such a plan, key elements, including the range of recovery actions, site characterization considerations, and evaluation criteria, must be addressed. The entire restoration planning process can be facilitated if resource managers become familiar with these elements early in the planning process.

Subject Headings: Natural resources | Recycling | Ecological restoration | Waste sites | Waste management | Site investigation | Managers

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