Natural Resource Damages for Hazardous Substances

This final rule amends certain parts of the natural resource damage assessment regulations for hazardous substances. The regulations provide procedures that natural resource trustees may use to evaluate the need for and means of restoring, replacing, or acquiring the equivalent of public natural resources that are injured or destroyed as a result of releases of hazardous substances. The Department of the Interior has previously developed two types of natural resource damage assessment regulations: Standard procedures for simplified assessments requiring minimal field observation (the Type A Rule); and site- specific procedures for detailed assessments in individual cases (the Type B Rule). This final rule revises the Type B Rule to emphasize resource restoration over economic damages. It also responds to two court decisions addressing the regulations: State of Ohio v. U.S. Department of the Interior, 880 F.2d 432 (DC Cir. 1989) (Ohio v. Interior); and Kennecott Utah Copper Corp. v. U.S. Department of the Interior, 88 F.3d 1191 (DC Cir. 1996) (Kennecott v. Interior), and includes a technical revision to resolve an apparent inconsistency in the timing provisions for the assessment process set out in the rule.