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 SRP Publications Annual Reports 1998
I. Introduction
(cont.) Natural
resource damage settlements NJDEP's Office
of Natural Resource Damages settled six natural resource
damage cases in 1998 for a total of $1.6 million. Furthermore, using damage
recoveries from previous settlements, NJDEP expended more than $3.7 million
in 1998 for the purchase and protection of 658 acres of ecologically valuable
land, of which 53 degraded acres will be restored or rehabilitated to
ecologically valuable conditions.
The office works closely with the Site Remediation Program during oil
spills and remediation of hazardous sites in assessing natural resource
damages. In 1998, a task force with members from the Site Remediation
Program, Office of Natural Resource Damages, environmental community and
regulated community met throughout the year to prepare a guidance document
to assist those parties responsible for addressing site contamination
issues and spills that involve potential damages to natural resources.
The task force hopes to issue a final report in 1999.
NJDEP also provided $150,000 for research and management initiatives
to protect and restore wildlife resources injured during past oil spills
and $23,000 for a pilot project in which permanent boom anchors were constructed
at the mouth of three tributaries to Delaware Bay. These boom anchors
will allow rapid deployment of booms to this remote area during any future
oil spills, thus protecting hundreds of acres of salt marsh ecosystem.
The primary mission of NJDEP's natural resource damage effort is to provide
for the assessment of New Jersey's natural resources that have been injured
by the release of oil or other hazardous substances and to perform restoration
in coordination with other state and federal programs that oversee spill
and site response and in cooperation with responsible parties. Restoration
projects must have a demonstrable link to injuries caused by specific
releases. The office is under the Assistant Commissioner for Natural and
Historic Resources, working with the other natural resource agencies within
NJDEP, such as the Division
of Parks and Forestry, the Division
of Fish, Game and Wildlife, and the Green
Acres Program, in addition to the Site Remediation Program.
| 1998
Natural Resource Damage Settlements |
| Spills | Injury
Category | Damage
Recovery |
| Bouchard
Barge (B155) | Wetlands | $17,940
|
| Cynthia
M | Fisheries | $50,000
|
| Harrah's | Wetlands | 0.5
acre Wetland Restoration; monitoring
|
| Mystra | Fisheries | $15,964
|
| Contaminated
Sites | Injury
Category | Damage
Recovery |
| Helen
Kramer Landfill | Ground
water, Wetlands | $190,000;
purchase and protection of 151 acres of wetlands and upland forest
implemented by responsible party at $960,000
|
| Washington
Valley Auto | Ground
water | $342,000
|
NJDEP Installs Dual Purpose Anchor Poles for Spill Protection and Osprey
Nests
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| | Photo Descriptions: NJDEP installed dual-purpose
utility poles along the Delaware Bay's Nantuxent Cove to serve as
permanent anchors for oil spill protection and for osprey nests. Six
poles with connecting hardware were installed that will be used in
the event of oil spills to deploy booms more
quickly to protect the shoreline. Three creeks that feed into the
cove_the Nantuxent in Downe Township, the Back Creek in Fairfield
Township and the Cedar Creek in Lawrence Township—have been fitted
with two poles at their mouths so booms can be connected to prevent
oil from spreading upstream. The $15,000 for installation was funded
through a settlement negotiated by NJDEP's Office of Natural Resource
Damages with a barge owner who was responsible for an October 1996
oil spill at Bombay Hook that resulted in tar balls along the cove.
The installation was conducted for NJDEP by the U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers using its Delaware River barge, the Titan.
The nests were placed on top of the poles, which also will have predator
protection installed below the platforms to
keep raccoons and other wildlife away. |
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