Page 24: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (December 1995)

OIL SPILL RESPONSE

Following the accomplishment of this objective, agency officials arrange negotiation with responsi- ble parties in preparation for liti- gation and settlement, and at last, supervise the implementation of cleanup plans. The execution of a natural resource damage assess- ment is therefore divided three major phases by thg^-NOAA: pre-assessment; restpj>gtuon plan- ning; and restoratif as-

Establishing New Guidelines

For Baseline Recovery

Natural resource damage sessments function in gauging whether spill-affected areas can be restored to their ""'finfl1

As state Lelton, the pri- cnallenge lies in answering the question, "Can we accelerate baseline recovery, and if so, how can we quantify the possibilities?"

Another cause for concern is estab- lishing techniques for scaling pro- jects in order to prevent overcom- pensation of natural loss. The 1995 NRDA standards have been designed with these concerns in minH flpr] yfith an pmphaaig on a

I I I nil Hill I III I III Hll> |||l ll lllll alternatives.

According to NOAA reports, the new assessment standards define injury as damage that is "measur- able and observable," and are not ••H Jr iVJQgs ACCURACY Or COhJlStOL J5

S . • l • 1—| 1 7 P

RK-KUJAIMT

O M M A N D jStork-Kwqnt B.V. Voltostroot 3 / P.O. Box 23 / 8600 AA SNEEK HOLLAND phone: OSlS^^MSi^^^^SOnMS^ax!^^^

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FAX (206) 621-9834 focused on punishing owners and operators, but instead, have a "strengthen(ed) focus on restora- tion." The agency will not release a statement as to a "standard of review." In fact, a range of injury assessment procedures will be jivailable, and targeted compensa- formulas will be devised for eachSiicident.

AssessingXflie Reality Of

NRDA Implementation

As explained by NOAA repre- sentative Mr. Helton in late fall, the agency "is\now responding to comments arid making final changes" to the proposed NRDA assessment guidelines. And while the approved standards will undoubtedly be formulated to posi- tively influence the recovery of nat- ural resources after spill incidents, the question remains as to whether the NOAA will be capable of carry- ing out the larga task of imple- menting these standards. The late days of 1995 in the 0.04th Congress have been characterized by an unrelenting budget!ax, which has threatened to cut miritime-related funds, especially thAse allotted to

NOAA. But according to Mr.

Helton, NOAA budapt cuts would not seriously affect the implemen- tation of the OPA B0-mandated

NRDA program: "The agency has a legal obligation to carry out pro- jects, so the agency, leven if dis- mantled, will be carrying out pro- jects many years into Ithe future," said the oil spill coordinator.

In order to review or offer com- ments on proposed NRDA regula- tions, contact Linda Burlington at NOAA, 1315 East-West High- way, SSM3 #3, Rm. 15132, Silver

Spring, Md. 20910, tel: '301) 713- 1217.

Masciarotfe To Serve

Managing Director

Dave Christensen, pr<] sident of

Christensen Shipyards, Iftd., has announced that

Mark Masciarotte will serve as manag- ing director of the company Mr.

Masciarotte moves to Christensen from

Diana Yacht Design,

Inc., where he has held the office of pres- ident since 1985. He has also served two terms as president of the Marine Industries Association of

Florida, an organization which rep- resents 1,200 marine businesses with annual revenues exceeding $5 billion. Mr. Masciarotte is also a former director of the Superyacht

Society, an internationally recog- nized marine industry organization.

For more information on

Christensen Shipyards, Ltd.

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