Oil Spill

NRDA

The Oil Spill Section is responsible for planning, response, and Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA) activities resulting from oil spill incidents that occur in the Louisiana Coastal Zone.

Under the Oil Pollution Act (33 USC 2706[b]) and the National Contingency Plan (40 CFR 300.600), certain federal and state agencies and tribal authorities are designated natural resource trustees for trust resources and services injured by a discharge or substantial threat of a discharge of oil.  To guide these efforts, the cooperating parties follow the NRDA process.

As a Louisiana state natural resource trustee, LDNR is responsible for conservation, management, and development of water, minerals, and other such natural resources of the state, including coastal restoration and management, except timber, fish, and wildlife. LDNR works to manage, protect, and preserve the State’s nonrenewable natural resources, consisting of oil, gas, groundwater, wind, and wetlands to fulfill their statutory responsibilities as a natural resource trustee for the State of Louisiana.

The OPA, 33 USC 2701 et seq. and the Louisiana Oil Spill Prevention and Response Act of 1991 (OSPRA), La. Rev. Stat. 30:2451 et seq., are the principal federal and state statutes, respectively, authorizing federal and state agencies and tribal officials to act as natural resource trustees for the recovery of damages for injuries to natural resources and services resulting from incidents in Louisiana

On the state level, the trustees include:

Louisiana Oil Spill Coordinator’s Office (LOSCO, Lead Administrative Trustee)
Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ)
Louisiana Department of Natural Resources (LDNR)
Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF)  

The federally designated natural resource trustees include:

U.S. Department of Commerce (USDOC)/ National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
U.S. Department of the Interior (USDOI)
U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)
U.S. Department of Energy (USDOE)
U.S. Department of Defense (USDOD)
Federally recognized tribes

RRP

Federal and Louisiana natural resource trustees have developed a statewide Louisiana Regional Restoration Planning Program (RRP Program) to assist the natural resource trustees in carrying out their NRDA responsibilities for discharges or substantial threats of discharges of oil. The goals of this statewide RRP Program are to expedite and reduce the cost of the NRDA process, provide for consistency and predictability by describing in detail the NRDA process, thereby increasing understanding of the process by the public and industry, and increase restoration of lost trust resources and services.  Attainment of these goals will serve to make the NRDA process as a whole more efficient in Louisiana.  The Louisiana RRP Program Final Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement was published in 2007 in coordination with other Louisiana state and federal natural resource trustee agencies. The trustee agencies continue to develop tools and procedures under the RRP Program framework to expedite the NRDA process in Louisiana.