Spill Response and NRDA

Our environmental response specialists provide strategic leadership, management, and scientific advisory support to our clients (responsible parties) during emergency response to oil/chemical spills. Our toxicologists, biologists, ecologists, and economists frequently fill key roles as leaders and technical specialists within the Incident Command System (ICS) including environmental unit lead, Shoreline Cleanup Assessment Technique (SCAT) coordinator, sampling coordinator, and wildlife reconnaissance lead. SWCA’s geographically distributed team of natural resource and cultural resources experts, with support from our geospatial data acquisition team, gather the field data needed to guide the response and to ensure that information is documented for use in future regulatory and litigation-driven processes.

We have experience responding to releases of crude oil and other petroleum products, drilling fluids and produced water, chemicals, and bioproducts. After a response is finished, we continue to work with our clients until administrative and legal processes are complete and environmental liabilities are resolved. Over the years, we have seen response decisions shape public perception, the natural resource damage assessment (NRDA) process, administrative penalties, and third-party lawsuits, for better and for worse. SWCA integrates our knowledge of response operations, natural resource sensitivity, chemical fate and effects, regulatory processes, and liability claims to help our clients move efficiently and strategically through the full life-cycle of an incident from initial response to final resolution.

Oil spills and unplanned releases of other hazardous materials can result in significant environmental liability and may require studies to address penalties, natural resource damage claims, and third-party litigation. SWCA scientists are recognized leaders in natural resource damage assessments (NRDA).

SWCA’s toxicologists, biologists, ecologists, and economists have been working together for more than 20 years to help responsible parties resolve natural resource damage claims under both the Oil Pollution Act (OPA) and the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA). We provide comprehensive, full-life-cycle technical and strategic support through all phases of the Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA) process beginning with emergency response or site characterization, during injury quantification and restoration scaling, through cooperative resolution via restoration, cash settlement, or litigation.

We have worked cooperatively with natural resource trustees in 42 states and territories and participated in more than 25% of NRDA settlements reached under OPA. Our team has successfully resolved injuries related to: habitats including forests, forested floodplains, freshwater creeks and rivers, inland and coastal wetlands, mangroves, and contaminated sediments; populations of fish, shellfish, marine mammals, sea turtles, birds, and bats; and human-use activities including boating, fishing, hunting, beachgoing, and hiking.

The right level of planning helps reduce the risk of accidental releases while limiting potential impacts on public and natural resources—plus, it helps preserve our clients’ reputations if a release does occur.

Having responded to more than 100 releases and participated in 25% of all natural resource damage assessments under the Oil Pollution Act (OPA), our team is intimately familiar with the value of implementing preventative measures to reduce the risk posed by accidental releases. We leverage that experience to provide clients with valuable insights into the implications of a release, how best to be prepared, and how to mitigate the effects of spills and the ensuing response efforts.

SWCA’s spill response planning and preparedness team helps clients manage release-related risks while satisfying regulatory requirements. We offer a full suite of response planning services to limit environmental liability exposure and help clients avoid costly mistakes made by others in the past.