NJDEP SRP - SRP Annual Report 1998

Governor Phil Murphy • Lt. Governor Tahesha Way

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SRP Publications Annual Reports 1998

I. Introduction (cont.)

98 SRP ANNUAL REPORT

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


			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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