Mission - What We Do and How We Do It

The mission of the U.S. Department of the Interior's (DOI) Natural Resource Damage Assessment and Restoration Program (NRDA Restoration Program) is to restore natural resources injured as a result of oil spills or hazardous substance releases into the environment. In partnership with affected state, tribal and federal trustee agencies, the NRDA Restoration Program conducts damage assessments which are the first step toward resource restoration and used to provide the basis for determining restoration needs that address the public's loss and use of natural resources.

Once the damages are assessed, the NRDA Restoration Program negotiates legal settlements or takes other legal actions against the responsible parties for the spill or release. Funds from these settlements are then used to restore the injured resources at no expense to the taxpayer. Settlements often include the recovery of the costs incurred in assessing the damages. These funds may also be used to fund damage assessments in future incidents. All actions taken by the NRDA Restoration Program on behalf of citizens of the United States are done with the goal of restoring injured natural resources.

This web site is designed as a guide to information about the Department's NRDA Restoration Program:

  • Organizational makeup;
  • Authorities that govern the program;
  • Damage assessment cases;
  • Restoration projects;
  • Program overview;
  • Informational library containing tools and links to sources of information for the field of natural resource damage assessment and restoration.

Further Reading

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