LSI 2010 NRD Santa Fe final conference binder 072110.pdf

Angus Macbeth of Sidley Austin LLP Speaker 24b: 4
Parties seeking to resolve their NRD liability through settlement may be aided by the use of a
neutral third party, such as a mediator or facilitator. On November 28, 2005, the Director of the
Office of Management and Budget and the Chairman of the President’s Council on
Environmental Quality issued a Memorandum on Environmental Conflict Resolution (“ECR”).
The joint policy statement sets forth “Basic Principles for Agency Engagement in Environmental
Conflict Resolution and Collaborative Problem Solving” and directs federal agencies to increase
the effective use of ECR and their institutional capacity for collaborative problem solving. One
means of doing so is through the use of assisted negotiations using, for example, the U.S.
Institute for Environmental Conflict Resolution, the U.S. Department of Justice, or other
ECR/ADR organizations as appropriate. The EPA and the U.S. Institute for Environmental
Conflict Resolution jointly designed and initiated a National Roster of Environmental Dispute
Resolution and Consensus Building Professionals, 7 a list of individuals deemed qualified to
mediate or facilitate environmental disputes.
SURVEY OF SETTLEMENTS UNDER FEDERAL AND STATE NRD LAW
A. NOAA Settlements
NOAA’s Damage Assessment, Remediation, and Restoration Program (“DARRP”) is the federal
trustee for coastal and marine resources. The DARRP program was created in 1992 after the
1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill. Between 1992 and 2006, DARRP and state and federal trustees
generated approximately $437 million in NRD settlements in 179 cases. 8
7 http://www.ecr.gov/roster/index.htm.
8 Healing our Coasts / Protecting Our Future: NOAA Damage Assessment Remediation and Restoration Program
(April 2007). Available at: www.darrp.noaa.gov/. (Hereinafter “NOAA Accomplishments Report: 2007.”)
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Law Seminars International | Natural Resource Damages | 07/16/10 in Santa Fe, NM