NOAA Damage Assessment, Remediation, and Restoration Program
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| NOAA Damage Assessment, Remediation, and Restoration Program | |
|---|---|
| Name | Damage Assessment, Remediation, and Restoration Program |
| Formation | 1972 |
| Headquarters | Silver Spring, Maryland |
| Parent organization | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration |
NOAA Damage Assessment, Remediation, and Restoration Program The Damage Assessment, Remediation, and Restoration Program operates within National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to quantify, remediate, and restore injuries to natural resources caused by releases of hazardous substances, oil spills, and other environmental incidents. The program integrates scientific expertise from National Marine Fisheries Service, Office of Response and Restoration, National Ocean Service, and collaborates with federal, state, tribal, and international partners including U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and International Maritime Organization to pursue restoration under statutes such as the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act and the Oil Pollution Act of 1990.
Overview and Mission
The program’s mission aligns with mandates from statutes, seeking to assess injuries to marine mammal populations, anadromous fish stocks, coastal wetlands, and migratory birds and to restore affected habitat through negotiated settlements and litigation when necessary. It marshals scientists from entities such as NOAA Fisheries and the National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science alongside legal staff from NOAA General Counsel and coordinates with resource managers at U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and state agencies like California Department of Fish and Wildlife and Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
Legal Authority and Policy Framework
The program derives authority from statutes including Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, Oil Pollution Act of 1990, Clean Water Act, and international instruments such as the International Convention on Civil Liability for Oil Pollution Damage. Policy guidance comes from instruments like the National Contingency Plan and legal precedents from courts including the U.S. Supreme Court, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and the United States Court of Federal Claims. The program applies legal doctrines developed in cases alongside agencies such as Department of Justice and consults settlement frameworks used by Natural Resource Damage Assessment trustees in states like Louisiana, Alaska, and Texas.
Damage Assessment Processes
Assessments deploy interdisciplinary teams including ecologists, toxicologists, economists, and GIS specialists from centers such as the Coastal Services Center and the Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory. Methods incorporate field sampling protocols used in incidents like Exxon Valdez oil spill, modeling approaches from NOAA's Office of Ocean Exploration and Research, population viability analyses referencing work by U.S. Geological Survey, and valuation techniques used in environmental economics literature from National Bureau of Economic Research. The process follows phases similar to reconnaissance, baseline characterization, injury quantification, and scaling to restoration using models developed with input from Pew Charitable Trusts and academic partners at institutions like Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, University of Washington, University of Alaska Fairbanks, and Harvard University.
Remediation and Restoration Activities
Restoration actions range from habitat rehabilitation projects in estuaries like Chesapeake Bay and San Francisco Bay to species-specific measures for Pacific salmon and sea turtles guided by recovery plans from National Marine Fisheries Service and the Endangered Species Act listings maintained by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Remediation collaborations include engineering firms and organizations such as U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and non-profits like The Nature Conservancy and Environmental Defense Fund to implement living shoreline projects, marsh creation in locations like Mississippi River Delta, and oyster reef restoration as seen in Chesapeake Bay Program efforts. Economic restoration components coordinate with state trustees such as Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority and tribal governments including Yurok Tribe and Hoonah Indian Association.
Coordination with Partners and Stakeholders
The program convenes trusteeship bodies with stakeholders from federal agencies like Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, state agencies including Washington Department of Ecology, tribal governments such as Aleut Community of St. Paul Island, industry representatives from Maritime industry and oil companies litigated in major cases like Deepwater Horizon oil spill, municipal governments, universities, and NGOs including Ocean Conservancy and National Audubon Society. International coordination occurs with entities like International Maritime Organization and bilateral mechanisms involving Canada and Mexico. Public engagement processes mirror practices used in the National Environmental Policy Act reviews and regional planning efforts like Gulf of Mexico Alliance.
Notable Cases and Outcomes
High-profile assessments include responses to the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Prince William Sound, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, and industrial contaminant cases in Puget Sound and Hudson River (New York). Outcomes have produced settlements funding large-scale restoration projects, such as wetland and marsh restoration in Louisiana after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and long-term monitoring programs in Alaska following Exxon Valdez oil spill settlements. Collaborations with legal entities including Department of Justice have yielded multimillion- and billion-dollar recovery funds supporting projects overseen by trustees from states like Florida and Alabama.
Challenges and Future Directions
The program faces scientific and policy challenges including climate-driven shifts in baseline conditions in regions such as the Arctic and Gulf of Mexico, cumulative impact assessment across multiple stressors studied by institutions like Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, and integrating traditional ecological knowledge from tribes including the Yup'ik and Tlingit. Future directions emphasize improving valuation methods used in cases influenced by economics research from Brookings Institution, enhancing restoration monitoring with remote sensing from NASA, advancing restoration science through partnerships with Smithsonian Institution and National Science Foundation, and expanding cooperative frameworks with state trustees and international partners such as European Environment Agency.