The Natural Resource Trustee Program's mission is to fulfill the
TCEQ's natural resource trustee role of evaluating injury to
natural resources as a result of discharges of oil or releases of
hazardous substances and to seek restoration of the injured
resources when appropriate.
A clear direction on how natural resources damage assessment
should be practiced in Texas was provided by the Texas Legislature
when it passed the Oil Spill Prevention and Response Act. The 1991
act required that natural resource damage assessment rules be
jointly developed between the three state trustee agencies (Texas
Natural Resource Conservation Commission, Texas General Land Office
and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department), industry
representatives and the public. The act also required that
responsible parties be invited to fully participate in all phases
of natural resource damage assessment, and that data be shared
fully between the parties. The act further specified that all
claims go through a mediation process prior to litigation. This
approach to natural resource damage assessment has since been
applied with great success to both oil spills and Comprehensive
Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA)
sites in Texas.
The key to successful natural resource damage assessment in
Texas revolves around coordination and cooperation among the
trustees, responsible parties and response agencies, and a
commitment to cooperative restoration-based assessments. The state
and federal trustees in Texas work closely with responsible parties
and response agencies to implement habitat restoration projects
rather than seeking monetary damages in litigation. To the maximum
extent possible, natural resource damage assessment data gathering
is incorporated into remedial investigations, and restoration is
integrated into - or performed concurrently with - response
actions. Innovative assessment techniques (such as habitat
equivalency analysis, which utilizes an ecological currency rather
than money) are used to develop cost-effective restoration
alternatives.
The goal is to make the environment and public whole for
injuries to natural resources and natural resource services
resulting from an incident involving a discharge or substantial
threat of a discharge of oil or hazardous substances. This goal is
achieved through returning injured natural resources and services
to baseline and compensating for interim losses of such natural
resources and services through the restoration, rehabilitation,
replacement or acquisition of equivalent natural resources and/or
services.
The NRTP works cooperatively with other participating state and
federal agencies and responsible persons to restore lost natural
resources and their services on behalf of the public. Natural
resources are defined in the Comprehensive Environmental Response
and Liability Act (CERCLA) 42 U.S.C.
§101(16) and the Federal Oil Pollution Act of 1990 33 U.S.C.
§1001(20) as land, fish, wildlife, biota, air, water,
groundwater, drinking water supplies, and other resources belonging
to, managed by, held in trust by, appertaining to, or otherwise
controlled by the United States, any state or local government or
Indian tribe.
The NRTP's authority to seek restoration of natural resources
injured by releases of oil or hazardous substances is derived from
the following statutes and regulations:
The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and
Liability Act (CERCLA)and the Oil
Pollution Act of 1990 require the U.S. president and each state
governor to designate federal and state officials who will act on
behalf of the public as trustees for natural resources. In Texas, a
federal/state memorandum of agreement (executed in 1995) has been
developed between two of the five federal agencies, the U.S.
Department of Interior (DoI) and the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the three State of Texas
trustee agencies, which outlines procedures for a cooperative
working alliance for the determination of natural resource injuries
and subsequent restoration activities.
The Texas trustees recognize a role as advisors to responsible
parties and response agencies on the natural resource damage
assessment liability associated with different remedial strategies
at CERCLA sites. This cooperative relationship allows the
responsible party to evaluate the most cost-effective remedial
alternative and provides a measure of certainty on total CERCLA
liability. A memorandum of understanding between the trustee
agencies regarding coordination under the Texas Risk Reduction
rules has been adopted by rule. The text of the
memorandum of understanding may be viewed or downloaded from
this link to the Texas Secretary of State web site.
Links to the following web sites are provided as a courtesy to give
a more complete picture of natural resource trustee activity in
Texas.
For more information on natural resource trustee activity in
Texas, contact Richard Seiler at 512/239-2523, or call toll free
1-800-633-9363. For email inquiries please click on Comments here, or at the
end of this page, and use the pre-addressed form.
The TCEQ has designated its NRTP staff to serve as trustee for
natural resources of Texas by acting on behalf of the public to
restore natural resources that have been injured, lost, or
destroyed as a result of discharges of oil or releases of hazardous
substances. The NRTP staff and the other trustees may take the
following action:
Since the program's inception, natural resource restoration
projects valued at more than $32 million have been implemented or
are planned on behalf of the public as a result of NRDA settlements
for the restoration of injured natural resources.
The program has increased the scope and value of its restoration
projects through partnering to obtain matching or in-kind funding
worth approximately $3.24 million.
The NRTP program has completed 33 natural resource damage
assessment settlements and has developed an additional 5 agreements
in principal pending final settlement. The program has initiated or
completed construction on 48 separate restoration projects.
The Trustees in Texas currently have about $2.7 million in
funding available to implement additional wetlands, bird habitat,
and beach use projects.
The NRTP is currently involved in 43 natural resource damage
assessment cases (involving both oil spills and releases of
hazardous substances) in varying stages of assessment and
restoration.
Some notable restoration projects completed or underway
include:
- the acquisition and preservation of Shamrock Island, a
sensitive 110 acre bird rookery island in Corpus Christi Bay;
- construction of the Baytown Nature Center, a 60 acre nature
park and wetlands construction project in Baytown;
- a 35 acre fresh and saltwater marsh project in Pasadena along
the Houston Ship Channel;
- the rebuilding of the lost estuarine marsh in the San Jacinto
Monument State Park;
- the rebuilding of the lost estuarine marsh in the Galveston
Island State Park;
- restoration of Swan Lake in lower Galveston Bay;
- acquisition of valuable bottom land hardwoods forests and their
preservation through placement into the Big Thicket National
Preserve;
- extensive restoration of subsided wetlands in the Nelda Stark
Unit of the Lower Neches River Wildlfe Management Area;
- construction of a water control structure to protect and
restore marshes in the Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge;
- addition of bottomlands hardwoods forests to the Sheldon
Reservoir State Park;
- restoration of native Prairie in the Maddin Prairie Preserve
and Clymer Meadows Prairie Preserve;
- restoration and protection of riparian habitats along the
Colorado River near Colorado City;
- construction of 11 acres of oyster reefs in Lavaca Bay;
- preservation of 729 acres of wetlands, coastal prairie and
shrublands through transfer to the Aransas National Wildlife
Refuge, and construction of 70 acres of intertidal salt marsh
within and adjacent to the Refuge;
- construction of 3 fishing piers and enhancement of 3 boat ramps
to increase recreational fishing opportunities in Lavaca Bay;
- construction of 85 acres of estuarine marsh and 30 acres of wet
prairie in the Old River South Unit of the Lower Neches Wildlife
Management Area;
- construction of water control structures to enhance nearly 1600
acres of coastal wet prairie in the J.D. Murphree Wildlife
Management Area, near Port Arthur, and
- restoration of scarce freshwater wetlands in urban bayous of
Harris County.
Completed and planned projects have resulted in the following
accomplishments listed by habitat type:
Estuarine Wetlands:
- 739 acres constructed
- 865 acres enhanced
- 322 acres acquired and protected in perpetuity
Freshwater Wetlands:
- 46 acres constructed
- 605 acres enhanced
- 499 acres acquired and protected in perpetuity
Riparian and Bottomland Forests:
- 51 acres constructed
- 1076 acres protected in perpetuity
Oyster Reefs:
Prairie Habitat:
- 385 acres restored
- 277 acres acquired and protected in perpetuity
Recreational/Human Use Projects :
- 3 boat ramps
- 3 fishing piers
- $1.17 million for future projects
