Presentation
Scaling Restoration for Impacts to Sediment Resources Following an Oil Spill
DescriptionOn July 23, 2008, the M/V Tintomara collided with the Barge DM-932 on the Mississippi River near River Mile 98 in New Orleans, Louisiana. The collision resulted in the discharge of approximately 6,734 barrels of number 6 fuel oil. Shortly after the spill, the Trustees and Responsible Party representatives initiated a cooperative natural resource damage assessment (NRDA). The assessment focused on potential injuries related to birds, aquatic organisms, shoreline/batture, sediments, and recreation. Service-to-service scaling methods were utilized in the injury assessment for environmental resources, and the approach for each impacted resource was relatively straightforward—with the exception of sediments. Two marsh restoration initiatives were underway at the time of the release that involved using dredged sediments to restore and create emergent marsh. These projects were either delayed or cancelled due to concerns related to oil in the sediments. This paper evaluates alternative approaches to compensating for impacts to sediment that was intended for use as beneficial fill material and summarizes compensatory scaling for this injury.
Authors
Event Type
Paper
TimeThursday, May 16th1:10pm - 1:30pm CDT
Location291-292
Restoration