INTEGRATING PRIMARY AND COMPENSATORYRESTORATION FOR AN OIL SPILL THROUGHUSE OF HABITAT ENHANCEMENT

摘要

Natural resources along the shoreline of a tidal estuary wererninjured by oiling and physical disturbance following the accidentalrnrelease of No. 6 fuel oil from a power plant in New Jersey,rnUSA. Operation of heavy equipment on the shoreline during thernemergency response entrained oil into sediments and physicallyrndamaged shoreline vegetation dominated by the low-value speciernPhragmites australis.rnIn response to this incident, the New Jersey Department ofrnEnvironmental Protection (NJDEP) and the responsible partyrn(RP) conducted a cooperative natural resource damage assessmentrn(NRDA). During NRDA discussions, the NJDEP proposedrnthat compensatory restoration for injured natural resources bernprovided at a ratio of 3:1 (restored-to-injured) based on thernacreage of physically impacted vegetation. Since in-kind restorationrnof Phragmites was undesirable, native salt marsh vegetationrnwas planted instead, resulting in enhancement of the injured habitat.rnSince the primary restoration actions yielded improvementsrnbeyond the baseline condition, the RP successfully negotiated arn1:1 replacement ratio for components involving habitat enhancement.rnBy incorporating habitat enhancement into the design ofrnprimary restoration, the amount of the compensatory restorationrnwas reduced. By expanding the primary restoration to includernenhancement of adjoining degraded habitat that was not impactedrnby the incident, the RP was able to satisfy both primary and compensatoryrnrestoration obligations simultaneously by integratingrnthese components into a single restoration project. The combinedrnprimary and compensatory restoration project was then implementedrnas emergency restoration 4-5 months after the incident.rnThis integrated restoration approach enabled the RP to: (1) decreaserncompensatory restoration requirements by incorporatingrnhabitat enhancement into primary restoration; (2) reduce restorationrncosts by avoiding separate primary and compensatoryrnrestoration projects; and (3) expedite restoration by performingrnactions under the scope of emergency restoration. This strategyrnbenefited the trustees by simplifying the assessment and reducingrnoversight burdens. The public and the environment benefited byrnreceiving restoration on an accelerated timeframe.