Natural Resource Damage Assessment
and the
Incident Command System
Frank Csulak
NOAA
Emergency Response Division
September 16, 2009
RRTIII Meeting
Gettysburg, PA
Why is this a hot topic?
Mandated Response
-Responsible Party
-Federal agencies
-State agencies
Mandated Damage
Assessment
-Responsible Party
-Federal agencies
-State agencies
-Tribes
Pollution
Incident
•Share data and information?
•Coordinate logistics and operations?
•Gain efficiency through shared resources?
•Mutual support in media and Congressional
interactions?
•Overall reduce environmental and economic
losses through response and restoration?
Views from Trustees on How It’s Working
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Notification generally works OK
Not clear to trustees or Command how trustees
should approach the response organization
Sometimes trustees encounter resistance to
coordination – or just lack of interest
Confusion exists about the relationship
between NRDA and response (e.g., Is NRDA
part of the response? Who is making NRDA
decisions? What are Command’s
responsibilities to NRDA?)
Topics for Today


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Who are the natural resource trustees?
What are the trustees thinking?
Provisions for coordination in the IMH
How can we make it work better?
Who are the natural resource trustees?


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Federal agencies
 DOI and DOC for natural resources subject to
agency management or control
 USDA, DOE, DOD, DOC, and DOI for natural
resources on lands that are owned or
managed by the agency
State agencies designated by the state governor
Tribes
What are the trustees thinking?

NRDA(R) Mandate:
 “…restore, rehabilitate, replace, or acquire
the equivalent of injured natural resources
and services.”
 Applies to both
oil and chemical
releases
What are the trustees thinking?

Basic NRDA principles
 It’s about restoring natural resources
 It’s not about taking punitive action
 All recovered damages must be used to
restore natural resources or reimburse
assessment costs
 It can best be done without litigation
What are the trustees thinking?
Resource
Services
Benefits of
Active Restoration
Interim Lost
Resource Services
A
Incident
Primary
Restoration
Begins
Baseline
Service
Level
B
Time
Full Recovery
with Active Restoration
Full
Natural
Recovery
Graphical Representation of
Habitat Equivalency Analysis
Provisions for Coordination in Incident
Management Handbook
Command
NRDA Team
Planning
Negotiating with RP
Command Staff
- Information Officer
Collecting Data
- Safety Officer
Media Relations
NRDA Rep
Operations
Section
Planning
Section
- Liaison Officer
Logistics
Section
Finance/Admin
Section
Discussion Items for LO and NRDA Rep


Review guidelines on IMH page 19-11
Priority Items to Clarify
 Trustee compliance with Safety Plan
 Timely information on NRDA
activities for UC
 Timely flow of information on response to
Trustee representatives
 Attendance/participation in scheduled ICS
planning meetings
 Location of NRDA offices
Priority Items to Clarify (cont.)


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Sharing information and data
Coordinating trustee ops in area of response
operations
Using response logistical capacity for NRDA
(under what circumstances might this be possible, and how would
that be determined?)


Embedding NRDA staff in ICS to facilitate
coordination
Coordination of media and Congressional
messages; joint media events, releases, etc.
Linkages Between Response and NRDA
NRDA activities should not be conducted without
contact and updates from response team.
NRDA team should be diligent in communicating
with response team that can provide how, when,
and where response actions are implemented.
How, when, and where response actions are
implemented may affect (a) injury to natural
resources, (b) the natural recovery process, and
/or (c) restoration activities.
Linkages Between Response and NRDA
NRDA team maybe able to advise response team on
priorities and even procedures to minimize
natural resource injuries or effects on
restoration.
Successful response activities will minimize
restoration costs by reducing natural resource
injuries and foregone services.
Effective response actions can also lower damage
assessment costs by reducing the number and/or
type of injuries and service losses from a release.
Communications

The Lead Administrative NRDA Trustee (LAT)
should identify a person to serve as the
coordinator between response and NRDA teams.
The LAT should have the most complete
overview of the NRDA team’s activities. If, in a
major release, the NRDA Manager may need to
delegate the day-to-day activities to another
team member.
Communications

The NRDA LAT should be responsible for monitoring,
evaluating, preparing and/or coordinating information
that may directly or indirectly influence information
exchange with the response team.
 Monitor public concerns and perceptions about
sensitivity of and injury to natural resources;
 Arrange for providing information to public, RP and
response team; and
 Provide response team with technical information as
needed or requested.
Action Items
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
Initial Briefing – Upon arrival at Command Post obtain a
briefing from OSC or NOAA SSC to receive description of
release, containment, and clean-up activities. Focus of
type and size of release, degree and distribution of
released substance, past and on-going response actions,
names of other Federal and state agencies involved, any
natural resource issues identified, and any other issues.
Obtain Maps, Charts, Photos – Need to include
information on location of resources, extent of
contamination, and access points. Coordinate with
NOAA SSC.
Action Items
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
Reconnaissance of Affected Area – Appropriate NRDA
Team members need to get overview of geography,
natural resources, distribution of contamination,
logistical issues, access areas and other factors that may
affect the NRDA sampling activities. This action is a high
priority, especially during the first several days following
an incident. NOAA SSC to either provide or coordinate.
Establish an NRDA Command Post near the OSC’s
Command Post, if feasible. Make sure that OSC knows
that an NRDA Team has been established and location of
NRDA Command Post.
Action Items
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NRDA Leader needs to assign one person the task of
collecting and sharing information with OSC and/or
NOAA SSC.
Field Sampling – This is often the most significant task
that the NRDA Team will manage or implement during
the first few days following a spill. NRDA Manager needs
to brief OSC and/or SSC that Trustees will be
implementing field sampling activities, collecting and
analyzing chemical, sediment, and biological samples.
Responsibility of NRDA Manager to coordinate with OSC
and/or NOAA SSC for use of various platforms (boats,
helicopters) to conduct NRDA activities.
Action Items
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Collecting Background and Baseline Data - NRDA
Manager needs to brief OSC and/or SSC that Trustees
will be initiating these efforts.
Documenting Injured or Dead Wildlife as NRDA Evidence
– NRDA Trustees need to coordinate quickly and
thoroughly with OSC on the assessment, collection, and
chain-of-custody of samples. Wildlife recovery and
rehabilitation is a response activity.
NRDA Manager needs to make arrangements to obtain
situation reports, be invited to briefings and public
forums to keep informed and to inform others about the
NRDA response.
Questions?