Natural Resource Damage Assessments

概要

Section 1006(e)(1) requires the President, acting through the Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere, to promulgate regulations for the assessments of natural resource damages resulting from discharges of oil. By today's Notice, NOAA is seeking comments concerning the proposed rule. The proposed rule is for the use of authorized federal, state, and tribal officials referred to in the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA) as ``trustees,'' for the assessment of damages to natural resources and/or services from a discharge of oil. Natural resource damage assessments are not identical to response or remedial actions addressed by the larger statutory scheme of OPA. Assessments are not intended to replace response actions, which have as their primary purpose the protection of human health, but to supplement them, by providing a process for determining proper compensation to the public for injury to natural resources.