How DOI Aims To Modernize Resource Damage Assessments

Brian Ferrasci-O'Malley recently authored the article “How DOI Aims To Modernize Resource Damage Assessments” for Law360. In the article, Brian provides an overview of how on “Jan. 5, the U.S. Department of the Interior issued a notice of proposed rulemaking to completely redesign its Type A rule for conducting natural resource damage assessment and restoration, or NRDAR, activities…” and how the “proposed revisions are the first significant changes in over 15 years to Interior's NRDAR regulations for responding under the Clean Water Act and the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, or CERCLA — also known as the Superfund law — to releases of hazardous substances that injure natural resources.”

Brian further examines how this development “could lead to a more streamlined assessment process that benefits both natural resource trustees such as government agencies, by getting restoration on the ground more quickly, and potentially responsible parties, or PRPs, by reducing the significant time and costs involved in the NRDAR process.”