Archive for Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA)
86% of Louisiana voters support adoption of 2012 Coastal Master Plan
April 3, 2012 | Posted by Delta Dispatches in 2012 Coastal Master Plan, BP Oil Disaster, Media Resources, Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA), RESTORE Gulf Coast States ActOverwhelming majorities agree coast vital to future and can be saved
(Baton Rouge, La.—April 3, 2012) Eighty-six percent of Louisiana voters say they want their legislators to approve the state’s 2012 Coastal Master Plan, according to a new poll released today. The plan lays out a 50-year vision for protecting and restoring the coast, including increased hurricane risk reduction for coastal communities and reconnecting the Mississippi River with disappearing coastal wetlands. Overwhelming majorities of the voters surveyed in the poll believe the state’s coastal areas and wetlands are important to the state’s future and express optimism that the coast can be restored, despite decades of decline.
Nearly all respondents, both in coastal and non-coastal areas of the state, feel that Louisiana’s coastal areas and wetlands are very important to the future of Louisiana.
“This poll shows Louisiana voters feel strongly that our state’s coastal areas and wetlands are crucial to our future,” said Buster McKenzie, president of Baton Rouge-based Southern Media & Opinion Research, Inc., which conducted the poll. “An overwhelming majority of voters want their legislators to approve the 2012 Coastal Master Plan because they agree that coastal Louisiana can be saved if the projects in the master plan are implemented.”
The state’s Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority unanimously approved the 2012 Coastal Master Plan Mar. 21 and sent it to the state legislature Mar. 26. The legislature must approve the plan for it to take effect.
The poll found extremely high agreement statewide that Louisiana’s coastal areas and wetlands are “very important” to the state’s future:
- 91 percent of voters statewide,
- 98 percent of coastal voters,
- 87 percent of non-coastal voters (with an additional 11 percent saying “somewhat important”).
Additionally, the poll found that 88 percent of respondents express optimism that when adequate funding becomes available, coastal areas can in fact be saved. Two potential sources of funding include Natural Resource Damage Assessment dollars from the Deepwater Horizon oil disaster and legislation in Congress that would dedicate 80 percent of expected billions in penalties from the disaster to Gulf Coast restoration, including in Louisiana. Both houses of Congress have approved similar versions of the legislation, the RESTORE the Gulf Coast States Act. However, Congress still needs to resolve the differences between the two bills and get a final bill to the president’s desk before it can become law.
“Voters clearly realize that the state master plan is critically important to saving Louisiana as we know it because it will protect jobs, communities, fisheries and wildlife. That’s why it’s no surprise that such an overwhelming majority of voters in the state believe that coastal areas and wetlands can — and must — be saved,” said a joint statement by the Coalition To Restore Coastal Louisiana, Environmental Defense Fund, Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation, Louisiana Wildlife Federation, National Audubon Society, National Wildlife Federation and The Nature Conservancy. “The message is clear: Let’s pass the 2012 Coastal Master Plan and get this vital work underway as soon as possible.”
The statewide telephone poll was conducted between Mar. 23 and Mar. 27, 2012. It sampled 801 registered, likely Louisiana voters, based on previous voting patterns.
The poll was funded by the National Audubon Society and has a margin of error of ± 4.0 percent.
Contacts:
Buster McKenzie, Southern Media & Opinion Research, 225-383-4509, mckenzie@smor.com
David J. Ringer, National Audubon Society, 601-642-7058, dringer@audubon.org
Scott Madere, Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana, 225-767-4181, scottm@crcl.org
Sean Crowley, Environmental Defense Fund, 202-550-6524, scrowley@edf.org
John Lopez, Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation, 504-421-7348, johnlopez@pobox.com
Chris Macaluso, Louisiana Wildlife Federation, 225-344-6707, chris@lawildlifefed.org
Emily Guidry Schatzel, National Wildlife Federation, 225-253-9781, guidrye@nwf.org
Karen Gautreaux, The Nature Conservancy, 225-788-4525, kgautreaux@tnc.org
Show your love (for the Gulf): NRDA public comment period ends Feb. 14
January 26, 2012 | Posted by Delta Dispatches in BP Oil Disaster, Clean Water Act, Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA), Restoration ProjectsBy Whit Remer, Environmental Defense Fund
Valentine’s Day is an opportunity to tell loved ones how much they are cherished. For residents of the Gulf Coast, Feb. 14 is the last day to tell the Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA) trustees how much meaningful restoration in the Gulf means to you.
On Dec. 14, 2011, the trustees released a Draft Phase I Early Restoration Plan/Environmental Assessment that proposes two restoration projects in Louisiana. The public comment period opened Dec. 14 and continues for 60 days, closing Feb. 14, 2012.
Researchers assess the oiling of marshes in Barataria Bay, La. (Credit: www.gulfspillrestoration.noaa.gov)
The opportunity for public comment is an important part of any government activity that affects citizens near a project. Under the Oil Pollution Act, trustees must provide at least 30 days for public input and must adequately consider all comments. While commenting is not limited to Gulf Coast residents, they certainly have a lot at stake. The Louisiana projects selected by the trustees include seeding 800 acres of public oyster grounds and revitalizing 104 new acres of marsh in St. Bernard Parish. Commenting on these projects is important for a variety of reasons, from improving the individual proposals to increasing the accountability and transparency of the process. It also helps inform the trustees about whether they are meeting restoration goals in the eyes of the public — after all, it’s the fishermen, bird watchers and oyster lovers who will be the ones reporting firsthand about how recovery is progressing.
On Dec. 14, 2011, the trustees released a Draft Phase I Early Restoration Plan/Environmental Assessmentthat proposes two restoration projects in Louisiana. The public comment period opened Dec. 14 and continues for 60 days, closing Feb. 14, 2012. (Photo credit: www.gulfspillrestoration.noaa.gov)
Commenting on the projects does not require any special tools or expertise, and anyone can comment either online or by mail. The comments can be as simple as letting the trustees know they are doing a good job, or contain more critical comments regarding project selection and prioritization. Our coalition, for example, developed Core Principles and Selection Criteria that we believe the trustees should consider when selecting projects. Feel free to review these Principles and Criteria here.
There are other organizations also working in the Gulf to support citizens’ participation in these processes and ability to write meaningful and productive comments. For example, the Environmental Law Institute (ELI) has developed a series of programs designed specifically to support community and stakeholder engagement in Gulf restoration and recovery.
In fall 2010, ELI began working with local partners to develop and host a series of workshops in the Gulf to help community members engage in the NRDA process. To supplement the workshops, ELI created fact sheets (available in English, Vietnamese and Spanish) that describe the efforts to address economic and natural resource damages. ELI is expanding this work in 2012 with new workshops and fact sheets that clarify the relationships between the various ongoing processes, as well as other materials about how things may develop. You can access ELI’s resources on Gulf restoration here.
While the trustees may enjoy chocolate and candy hearts, save those for your loved ones!
3 CommentsScientists suggest evaluating ecosystem services to better understand Gulf oil spill impacts
December 21, 2011 | Posted by Delta Dispatches in BP Oil Disaster, Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA), ReportsBy Alisha Renfro, Ph.D., National Wildlife Federation
On April 20, 2010, the Deepwater Horizon platform exploded, resulting in a spill of 200 million gallons of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico (GoM). Under the U.S. Oil Pollution Act of 1990, this oil spill triggered the Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA) process, which determines the extent and severity of the injury to natural resources. The complexity of the GoM ecosystem—coupled with the scale of the event—poses a serious challenge to NRDA, which historically has been applied to smaller, shallow-water events.
Dr. Brian Stacy, NOAA veterinarian, prepares to clean an oiled Kemp’s Ridley turtle. Credit: NOAA and Georgia Department of Natural Resources.
In recognition of these challenges, members of the U.S. Congress requested a study by the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) to assess oil spill’s impacts on Gulf natural resources and to provide advice to federal agencies during preparation of the NRDA.
Recently, the 16-member committee released an interim report on their findings, “Approaches for Ecosystem Services Valuation for the Gulf of Mexico After the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill,” and a final report will be delivered in spring 2013. The interim report focuses on three key questions:
- What are the methods available for identifying and quantifying ecosystem services?
- What information and methods are available that can be used to approximate baselines for determining the oil spill’s effects on ecosystem services?
- Which evaluation methods are most appropriate for measuring the recovery of ecosystem services over time?
It is important to understand the spatial and temporally variability, complex linkages, and interactions between various components of the GoM system to fully quantify the impacts of the oil spill. Past events that prompted the NRDA process have used the Habitat Equivalency Analysis (HEA) and the Resource Equivalency Analysis (REA), which measure an event’s effect on the number of acres damaged in terms of how many acres of habitat need to be restored, and measures injury to specific organisms in terms of how many numbers of a particular wildlife need to be reintroduced. However, the GoM has complex, long time-scale interactions and using these methods requires they be broadened to include an ecosystem services approach that would better consider the benefits to the public from the affected area or resource.
The NRDA process is currently underway with data being gathered to assess the damage caused by the BP oil disaster on the vital GoM ecosystem. The long-term effects and impacts of this event may not be fully understood for years, but the effort is underway to estimate the value of these damages so that appropriate restoration efforts can be developed and implemented. The NAS’s interim report concludes that an ecosystem services approach would complement the current NRDA processes. Understanding the ecosystem services value and usefulness of a resource to the public would improve the understanding of the oil spill’s impacts and increase the options for achieving meaningful efforts for restoration of the critical services provided by the Gulf of Mexico ecosystem.
No CommentsTrustees Take First Step Towards Gulf Restoration in Release of Draft Early Restoration Plan
December 15, 2011 | Posted by Delta Dispatches in BP Oil Disaster, Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA)By Whit Remer, Environmental Defense Fund
On Wednesday (Dec. 14), the Deepwater Horizon Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA) Trustees released a draft restoration plan laying out the first phase of early projects funded under BP’s $1 billion dollar down payment to restore the Gulf. The draft plan (known as DERP/EA or “Draft Early Restoration Plan/Environmental Assessment) includes a total of eight projects that will be built across four states: Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. The public will have 60 days to review and comment on the DERP/EA, and a series of meetings for public input are scheduled in January and February.
Louisiana has negotiated two projects that total just under $30 million of their initial $100 million allotment from the down payment. The first project will create 104 acres of brackish marsh in Plaquemines Parish, La. The project, known as the Lake Hermitage Marsh Creation project, was originally developed and funded under the Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection and Restoration Act (CWPPRA)–Louisiana’s state and federally funded restoration program–but was scaled back due to funding restraints.
Under the proposed plan, sediment would be dredged from the Mississippi River and transported via pipeline to the new marsh area. David Muth from the National Wildlife Federation says that “In general, getting sediment from the river rather than from adjacent borrow sources is a more effective and sustainable method of marsh creation since it increases the net amount of sediment in the deltaic system, and rescues sediment before it is lost to the gulf.” As the sediment settles and land slowly builds, native marsh vegetation will be planted. The hope is that new land and vegetation will reduce shoreline erosion, prevent breaching into the interior marsh, and recreate marsh in areas that are now open water.
The second project actually contains two parts which aim to restore Louisiana’s oyster harvest. Louisiana’s harvest was severely reduced during the freshwater releases that were ordered during the oil spill in an attempt to push back oil from the inland marshes. The first part of this project will fund the placement of oyster cultch into nearly 850 acres of public oyster seed grounds throughout Louisiana. The second part of the project will fund the construction of an 8,400 square foot oyster hatchery facility that will produce supplemental larvae and seed.
Down the road, BP will be awarded credits by the NRDA Trustees for funding these projects through Natural Resource Damage Offsets. Offsets are used in the NRDA process to assess the progress of the Responsible Party (RP) in terms of fulfilling its restoration obligations. We will continue to monitor the progress of the DERP/EA and encourage the public to review and comment on the projects.
Submitting Comments: The public may submit comments on the DERP/EA by one of following methods:
- Via the Web: http://www.gulfspillrestoration.noaa.gov
- For electronic submission of comments containing attachments, email: Phase1DERPcomments@fws.gov
- U.S. Mail: c/o U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, P.O. Box 200, Fairhope, AL 36533
Gulf Oil Spill Natural Resource Damage Assessment Provides Restoration Opportunities
November 16, 2011 | Posted by Elizabeth Skree in BP Oil Disaster, Federal Policy, Meetings/Events, Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA)By Whit Remer, Environmental Defense Fund
Policymakers, scientists, and environmental advocates gathered earlier this month in Baltimore, Md. to explore the long-term impacts that oil from BP’s Deepwater Horizon may have on natural resources in the Gulf of Mexico. The symposium titled, “NRDA for the Gulf: Improving Our Ability to Quantify Chronic Damages,” highlighted both the challenges and opportunities of the Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA). NRDA is the scientific and legal process used by the government to restore natural resources following an oil spill. Perhaps the most encouraging take-away from the conference is that NRDA can serve as a catalyst for the long-term and large-scale ecosystem restoration desperately needed in the Gulf.
One of the primary purposes of NRDA is to restore natural resources and services to the condition they would be in if the injury—in this case, the Gulf oil spill—had not occurred. It is the job of the NRDA Trustees to guide the process of injury assessment and resource restoration (click here for more information about the NRDA Trustees and their responsibilities). The Trustees must use this disastrous oil spill as an opportunity to make the Gulf healthier and more resilient than the Gulf we knew before the Deepwater Horizon spill.
One opportunity that emerged from the symposium is the need to provide better science, research, and monitoring of the Gulf’s natural resources. This opportunity can help address scientific shortfalls, such as one identified by Oceana Senior Scientist Jacqueline Savitz: The lack of historic baseline data available in the Gulf prior to the BP oil spill.
EDF Coastal Scientist Angelina Freeman examines oil on a beach in Louisiana (2010). Credit: Yuki Kokubo, www.yukikokubo.com
NRDA is designed to return natural resources to their pre-injury state, but it’s difficult to do that, Savitz argues, without well-described historic baseline data. This data provides Trustees with the mark they must reach for restoring resources. Without a good baseline upon which to judge restoration efforts, the Trustees (and the public) are stuck using somewhat arbitrary benchmarks for measuring success, demonstrating the need for keeping a comprehensive inventory of natural resources. Moving forward, NRDA will provide scientists and policymakers with important data for the Gulf.
The second opportunity NRDA presents is jumpstarting long-term and large-scale ecosystem restoration efforts in the Gulf. The Trustees have the unique opportunity to fund projects that not only return resources to their pre-oiled state, but also begin long-term restoration activities that move the Gulf towards a healthier and self-sustaining ecosystem. This task is complicated by the fact the Gulf already was in decline decades before the spill. Years of mismanagement of the Mississippi River, oil and gas industry presence, and strain on natural resources has put the Gulf on the edge of collapse. Thankfully the Trustees can use NRDA—and the projects funded under it—as the starting point for reversing this decline.
Trustees for the Gulf certainly have a long and difficult road ahead. However, NRDA provides the legal framework to improve our scientific capacity and restoration efforts throughout the Gulf. While the Deepwater Horizon is still considered the nation’s worst environmental disaster, the Trustees must find opportunities to capitalize on advancing long-term and large-scale ecosystem restoration in the Gulf.
No CommentsNEWS RELEASE: Oil Spill Recovery Projects Proposed by Louisiana Deserve Prompt Review
July 11, 2011 | Posted by Ryan Rastegar in BP Oil Disaster, Media Resources, Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA), Restoration ProjectsContacts:
Steven Peyronnin, Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana, 225.413.6924, stevenp@crcl.org
Sean Crowley, Environmental Defense Fund, 202.550-6524-c, scrowley@edf.org
John Lopez, Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation, 504.421.7348, johnlopez@pobox.com
Chris Macaluso, Louisiana Wildlife Federation, 225-344-6707, chris@lawildlifefed.org
David J. Ringer, National Audubon Society, 601.642.7058, dringer@audubon.org
Emily Guidry Schatzel, National Wildlife Federation, 225.253.9781, guidrye@nwf.org
Karen Gautreaux, The Nature Conservancy, 225-788-4525, kgautreaux@tnc.org
Oil Spill Recovery Projects Proposed by Louisiana Deserve Prompt Review
Conservation groups say prompt review necessary so restoration can begin
(New Orleans–July 11, 2011) Conservation groups today expressed support for Louisiana’s swift action to identify and propose potential restoration projects that qualify for BP’s $1 billion down payment toward the Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA) stemming from the unprecedented Deepwater Horizon oil spill.. Louisiana’s release of its project list today is an important step toward getting restoration projects underway, but BP, federal and state trustees must approve the projects before the state can proceed.
“We applaud the state of Louisiana’s efforts to move swiftly in assessing a long and complex list of restoration project proposals against early NRDA criteria,” said a joint statement by the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana, Environmental Defense Fund, Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation, Louisiana Wildlife Federation, National Audubon Society, National Wildlife Federation, and The Nature Conservancy. “We don’t have time to wait for restoration, so it’s imperative to expedite the evaluation of these projects to determine if they begin addressing damages from the unprecedented Deepwater Horizon oil spill. We’re very hopeful that the pace set by the state of Louisiana will continue as the selection process moves forward with the Natural Resource Trustees and other parties.”
“We support efforts to use early NRDA funding to advance projects that are ready to be implemented, as long they are based upon tested techniques that have had proven successful in achieving restoration goals for the Mississippi River Delta and for addressing damages caused by the spill,” the groups concluded.
###
No CommentsGulf Coast Task Force Sets Restoration Goals, Creates Citizens Advisory Committee
May 9, 2011 | Posted by Elizabeth Skree in BP Oil Disaster, Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Task Force, Meetings/Events, Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA)By Derek Brockbank, Environmental Defense Fund/National Audubon Society/National Wildlife Federation
On Friday May 6, the Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Task Force held a public meeting in Mobile, Al. President Obama assigned the task force to come up with a strategy for restoring the Gulf to make it better than it was to before the BP oil spill. It was the third public meeting in the Gulf for the task force, which previously had been held in Pensacola, Fl. and New Orleans, La. (two upcoming meetings will be in Texas and Mississippi).
The meeting began with Alabama Governor Bentley thanking the Obama administration for its support in responding to the recent devastation from the tornados, and recognition that Alabama has been through a lot in the past year, starting with the BP oil spill. He was very complementary of the work the states and federal agencies had done to secure $1 billion from BP as a down payment toward the Natural Resources Damage Assessment (NRDA). He emphasized the states needed to work together to secure the common goal of restoring the Gulf.
EPA administrator and Task Force Chair Lisa Jackson presided over the meeting and listened to a panel presentation on the four newly-announced areas that the task force will cover in their forthcoming strategy document. These areas include Community Resilience, Habitat Restoration, Ocean and Marine Conservation and Water Quality. She also announced the creation of a citizens advisory council to participate in the formation of the restoration strategy. Many local and national conservation groups had been asking for such an advisory council to ensure that local public input could not be ignored.
The task force will issue their final strategy paper by October 2011, but will likely release a draft sometime this summer. For the document to do more than join the long list of unfulfilled plans and pipedream goals, it must include specific actions with near-term deadlines and agencies assigned to the outcomes under existing authority. You can submit comments to the task force here.
No CommentsGulf Groups Applaud Landmark Agreement for $1 Billion Down Payment of Restoration Funds
April 22, 2011 | Posted by Delta Dispatches in BP Oil Disaster, Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA)
The NRDA down payment will help fund restoration projects in coastal Louisiana. (www.gulfspillrestoration.noaa.gov)
News broke yesterday that BP has agreed to provide $1 billion toward early restoration projects in the Gulf of Mexico under an unprecedented agreement announced today by the Natural Resource Trustees for the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. This Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA) down payment is a significant first step toward restoration in the Gulf. The Gulf Renewal Project – a coalition of environmental, economic and community groups – released the following statement:
“This is a good day for the Gulf and a welcome first step on the long road to recovery and restoration for the region’s environment and economy,” said the joint statement by the Environmental Defense Fund, National Audubon Society, National Wildlife Federation, Ocean Conservancy, Oxfam America and The Nature Conservancy. “The BP oil disaster was unprecedented and BP’s down payment toward Gulf restoration today is also unprecedented. Restoration of these threatened resources simply cannot wait. Combined with other potential sources of funding, the NRDA funds announced today provide the opportunity to build a strong foundation for lasting, meaningful restoration of the Gulf Coast.”
The Trustees involved are: Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, the Department of the Interior (DOI) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The Department of Justice provided assistance in reaching the agreement.
5 Comments
