Public's Habitat Preferences; An Analysis. Final Summary Report of the Cross-Habitat Study Focus Groups

摘要

Several statutes under which NOAAs Damage Assessment Center operates, including the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (more commonly known as Superfund), the Oil Pollution Act, and the National Marine Sanctuaries Act, call on designated official Trustees to assess and recover damages on behalf of the public for trust natural resources injured as the result of a discharge of oil, a release of a hazardous substance, or physical injury. Under these statutes, Trustees may seek compensatory restoration to compensate for interim losses of natural resources and services, pending their recovery to baseline conditions. Trustees first consider compensatory restoration that provides services of the same type, quality, and of comparable value as those injured (e.g. replacing lost salt marsh services with created salt marsh habitat). If Trustees cannot identify compensatory projects that provide natural resource services of the same type, quality, and comparable value, they attempt to identify actions that provide natural resource services of comparable type and quality as those provided by the injured natural resources.