NRDAR News

In the 1950s, hazardous chemicals known as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were released by paper companies into Wisconsin's Fox River/Green Bay ecosystem. This greatly impacted the water quality, native fish and wildlife, and the local community. PCBs are hazardous materials that can accumulate in the food chain, starting with fish and moving through the birds who consume those fish, often causing cancer, decreasing reproductive success and impacting nervous systems and immune systems.

North Breton Island is a barrier island located a 45-minute boat ride from Venice, Louisiana. For thousands of years the island, which is part of the Breton National Wildlife Refuge, has slowly eroded away due to natural conditions such as severe storms. The island’s lost shoreline has translated into lost habitat for numerous federally protected birds.Unfortunately, North Breton Island has suffered from man-made disasters, too. Like many other barrier islands in the Gulf of Mexico, it was negatively impacted by the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Fortunately, this disaster has come with a silver lining, of sorts -- funding for the island’s restoration paid for by BP, the company primarily responsible for the spill. 

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) in coordination with the State of Utah is seeking public comment on its Draft Restoration Plan and Environmental Assessment Addendum (RP/EA Addendum) proposing alternatives to restore natural resources injured by hazardous substances released from the Sharon Steel, Midvale Slag, and Portland Cement Sites pursuant to the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980, as amended, and the Department of the Interior Natural Resource Damage Assessment regulations (43 C.F.R. Part 11). 

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) is soliciting public comment on a Draft Restoration Plan (RP) proposing alternatives to restore natural resources injured by hazardous substances released from the Murray Smelter Site pursuant to the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980, as amended, and the Department of the Interior (DOI) Natural Resource Damage Assessment regulations (43 C.F.R. Part 11). 

The Office of Restoration and Damage Assessment (ORDA) is seeking comments and suggestions from State, Tribal, and Federal natural resource co-trustees, other affected parties, and the interested public on whether revisions to the regulations for conducting natural resource damage assessments and restoration (NRDAR) for hazardous substance releases are needed, and if so, what specific revisions should be considered.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in coordination with the State of Montana is seeking public comment on the State of Montana’s draft Wetlands/Riparian Areas Plan, which is designed to help address wetland and riparian area loss related to mining and smelting-related contamination in the Upper Clark Fork River Basin (UCFRB), Montana. 

The Natural Resource Trustees for the Bridger Poplar Pipeline oil spill have released a Draft Revised Partial Claim for Past and Future Assessment Costs for public review. On January 17, 2015, the Poplar Pipeline, which is owned and operated by Bridger Pipeline, LLC, of Casper, Wyoming, discharged at least 30,000 gallons of Bakken crude oil into the Yellowstone River just upstream of Glendive, Montana.  The Draft Claim describes the Trustees' proposed future Natural Resource Damage Assessment and Restoration (NRDAR) activities that will be needed in order to identify appropriate compensatory restoration projects for this spill.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) are considering a series of projects to restore and protect wildlife habitat and water quality and increase recreational opportunities at Onondaga Lake, as outlined in a draft restoration plan and environmental assessment released for public comment through June 2, 2017.

The Departments of Interior and Justice joined with the Commonwealth of Virginia to announce a proposed settlement with DuPont valued at approximately $50 million to resolve claims stemming from the release of mercury from the former E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company (DuPont) facility in Waynesboro, Virginia. Over 100 miles of river and associated floodplain have been contaminated by mercury in the South River and South Fork Shenandoah River watershed.

The Cat Islands, located in Lower Green Bay, eroded away in the mid-1970s due to severe storms and high water damage. A few wetlands remained, but much of the habitat for aquatic animals, shorebirds, and 13 different species of colonial nesting birds was lost.