LSI 2010 NRD Santa Fe final conference binder 072110.pdf

Andrew O. Guglielmi of New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Speaker 8: 1
Cooperative NRD Assessments:
An Uneasy Marriage
Andrew O. Guglielmi
NYS Department of Environmental Conservation 1
I. Introduction
What are the attributes of a long and successful marriage? Several come to mind:
honesty, trust, open communication, ability to relate to and understand your partner’s feelings,
patience. Now, what are the attributes of a young or shaky marriage? Some are: a need for
control, insecurity, stubbornness, deceit, indifference.
What does marriage have with to do with cooperative assessment agreements? In my
mind, cooperative agreements are a lot like a marriage. They are voluntary, usually both sides
have no idea what they are getting into when they sign on, they are messy when one side wants
them to end, and they involve hard work on both sides to be successful.
Cooperative assessments are something unique. As much as natural resource trustees
(“Trustees”) – the United States, States and Indian tribes – would like to think of themselves as
environmental enforcers, Natural Resource Damage (“NRD”) practice is not enforcement. It is a
process to compensate the public under the polluter pays principle, but it is not a process to
penalize polluters and deter future conduct (although it might have that unintended
consequence). When Trustees enter cooperative agreements with Potentially Responsible Parties
(“PRPs”), they should acknowledge that they are giving up some things – full control over the
1 Mr. Guglielmi is a Senior Attorney in the Office of General Counsel of the New York State Department of
Environmental Conservation (DEC). The statements and opinions expressed herein are the author’s alone and do not
necessarily represent policies or positions of New York State or the DEC.
Law Seminars International | Natural Resource Damages | 07/15/10 in Santa Fe, NM
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