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Natural Resource Damage Assessment and Restoration

The Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA) program is a process in which state, federal, and Tribal agencies (Trustees) oversee the compensation and restoration of injured natural resources (plants, animals, surface water, and groundwater) during pollution events and practices. The NRDA program provides a scientific and socioeconomic process to seek compensation to restore damaged natural resources for the public’s benefit.

BRI staff have supported Trustees on NRDAs for more than 30 years. This support includes every aspect of NRDA, including injury assessment, damage determination, restoration planning, and litigation strategy. We provide support to tribal, state and federal trustees as well as to outside counsel representing these trustees. In addition to our NRDA work that falls under the federal Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA, 1980) and the Oil Pollution Act (OPA, 1990), we provide support for environmental litigation pursuant to state and tribal statutes.

The NRDA Consulting Group provides expertise in environmental toxicology, contaminant fate and transport, hydrology and hydrogeology, ecosystem services, and ecological restoration. Our services also include support for ecological risk assessments, and our work covers both field and laboratory research.

Staff:

Key Skills

The NRDA Consulting Group comprises environmental scientists who specialize in ecotoxicology, contaminant fate and transport analyses, surface and groundwater assessments, environmental impact assessments, and natural resource restoration planning. Other key skills and research areas include:

  • Environmental assessment and restoration support to Indigenous communities
  • Hydrological and hydrogeological transport of contaminants
  • Groundwater damage assessment
  • Water, soil, sediment, and biota sampling
  • Laboratory and in situ toxicity testing
  • Trophic transfer modeling
  • Habitat equivalency analysis (HEA) and resource equivalency analysis (REA)

Photo Credits: Header photo © sorn340, iStock