Glossary and Acronyms

NRDA 101

CERCLA/Superfund: The acronym for the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980, as amended by the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (SARA) in 1986, often referred to as Superfund. The federal statute establishes liability for site cleanup, prescribes a procedure for identifying and ranking contaminated sites, provides a funding mechanism for site cleanups, reduces uncontrolled releases of hazardous substances, establishes cleanup procedures that provide protection for humans and the environment, and restores injured natural resources through provisions administered by the natural resource trustees.
Compensatory Restoration Projects: Projects to compensate for interim losses of natural resources and the services they provide-from the time of injury until recovery is completed.
CWA/Clean Water Act: The law (also called the Federal Water Pollution Control Act) that established the programmatic and regulatory framework for restoring and maintaining the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the nation's waters. The CWA generally prohibits discharges of oil and hazardous substances into coastal or ocean waters. The 1973 amendments mandated the development of a National Contingency Plan (NCP) that would "provide for efficient, coordinated, and effective action to minimize damage from oil and hazardous substances discharges, including containment, dispersal, and removal of oil and hazardous substances." The NCP governs the actions of all federal agencies and trustees involved in responding to oil and hazardous material releases.
EPA/U.S. Environmental Protection Agency: A federal agency with the mission to protect human health and safeguard the environment.
FWS/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service: An agency of the U.S. Department of the Interior with the mission to conserve, protect, and enhance fish, wildlife, and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of all people.
HEA/Habitat Equivalency Analysis: A method developed by NOAA for estimating how much restoration is needed to replace the loss of natural resources from the time they are injured until they are returned to the condition they would have been in had the release not occurred.
Hazardous substance: Substances identified as capable of posing "imminent and substantial danger to public health or the environment." CERCLA has identified more than 800 hazardous substances.
Injury: An observable or measurable adverse change including destruction, loss, and loss of use-in a natural resource or impairment of a natural resource service.
Injury Assessment and Restoration Planning: The second phase of a natural resource damage assessment. Trustees identify the injuries to natural resources and their services and use that information to determine the need for and amount of restoration.
MDEQ/Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality: Appointed by the Governor of Mississippi as the state trustee responsible for managing the NRDA process on behalf of the public in order to determine injury to, destruction of, loss of, or threat to natural resources as a result of a release of a hazardous substance or a discharge of oil.
MDMR/ Mississippi Department of Marine Resources: The agency responsible for the management of Marine Fisheries and wetlands permitting, seafood plant inspection and certification, coastal preservation management, marine law enforcement, licensing, management of the Grand Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve.
National Marine Sanctuaries: Marine areas identified for their biodiversity, ecological integrity, and cultural legacy that are protected by law.
National Marine Sanctuary Act: Legislation designed to identify, designate, and manage areas of the marine environment that are of special national significance due to their conservation, recreational, ecological, historical, scientific, educational, or aesthetic qualities.
Natural Resource Services: Ecological and human services provided by natural resources that may be injured after an oil spill or hazardous substance release. Ecological services include flood control, sediment stabilization, and habitat. Human services include fishing, beach going, and wildlife viewing.
Natural Resource Trustees/ Trustees: Government officials who act on behalf of the public when there is injury to, destruction of, loss of, or threat to natural resources as a result of a release of a hazardous substance or a discharge of oil. Trustees include the U.S. Departments of Commerce, Interior, Defense, Agriculture, and Energy; state agencies; and Native American tribes. NOAA is the lead federal trustee for coastal and marine resources.
NOAA/National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration: A U.S. Department of Commerce agency with the mission to describe and predict changes in the earth's environment and to conserve and manage the nation's coastal and marine resources.
NRDA/Natural Resource Damage Assessment: Investigation performed by trustees to identify and plan the restoration of natural resources injured by oil spills and hazardous substance releases. The goal of NRDA is to restore natural resources.
OPA/Oil Pollution Act of 1990: Legislation designed to prevent oil spills, ensure cleanup, and restore natural resources injured by these spills.
Preliminary Assessment: The first step in a Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA), in which trustees determine whether injury to public trust resources has occurred or is likely to occur.
Primary Restoration Projects: Projects to restore natural resources injured by oil or hazardous substance releases to the condition that would have existed if the incident had not occurred.
RAP/Rapid Assessment Program: A capability developed and supported by the Damage Assessment Remediation and Restoration Program (DARRP) to collect perishable data and readily available information to determine the need for a natural resource damage assessment.
Responsible Parties: The parties (e.g., individuals, companies, or government agencies) responsible for an oil spill or hazardous substance release.
Restoration: The goal of a natural resource damage assessment, which involves rehabilitating, replacing, or acquiring the equivalent of injured natural resources and the services they provided. Restoration includes both primary and compensatory restoration projects.
Settlement: An agreement between natural resource trustees and responsible parties that specifies the terms under which liability is resolved.
U.S. Coast Guard: A federal agency that responds to oil and hazardous substance releases and cleans up or contains the release in an effort to protect public health and the environment.
TWG: Technical Working Groups that have been established to study injury to various resources.