The NRDA is used in environmental restoration to repair or compensate for natural resource losses and injuries caused by oil or hazardous substances released into the environment. Natural resources include land, air, surface and ground water, fish and wildlife.

The NRDA is a multi-step process that begins with a Pre-Assessment Screen (PAS). The PAS is a review of site-specific data to determine whether a release of contaminants may have injured natural resources and to determine how easily data needed to perform an assessment can be obtained.

Due to the presence of uncontrolled waste and other contami-nation at the soil surface at various locations throughout the portion of the site nearest the Embarras river, the screening criteria were met. The Natural Resource Trustees (Trustees) will now assess injuries to natural resources, which may then be evaluated and converted to actual damages in the damage determination phase.

Next, the Trustees will evaluate a restoration plan that outlines a number of alternatives to adequately address the resource damages. This will be made available for public comment. The final step is to implement the plan and to ensure its success.

In a typical RI, information is not specific enough to adequately address NRDA concerns. However, at the former Indian Refining/Texaco Superfund site, the Trustees and Chevron Texaco Corporation are working together to address both investigations simultaneously. As a result of this integration, some biological studies necessary for the conduct of the NRDA will be collected during the RI process. This will be the first time that this level of coordination has been achieved in Illinois.

The benefit of coordinating the collection of the data is that it results in increased efficiency and reduced costs and effort for both the natural resource agencies and ChevronTexaco.

The state and federal Trustees completed a Pre-Assessment Screen (PAS) in 2004. The PAS evaluated what natural resources may have been affected by oil and hazardous waste on the former refinery property and the surrounding area, including the Embarras River.

The data collected for the RI and the PAS will be used to determine the extent of natural resource injuries to wildlife habitats, including wetlands.

Once injuries have been determined and damages evaluated, a plan will be developed to compensate for the injuries. The Trustees will evaluate all possible alternatives for long-term land reuse, including restoration of natural resources for use as parks, recreational areas or conservation areas. The Trustees will select an alternative based on regulatory criteria and public input.

Many factors, such as the type of resource injured, the extent of the cleanup, the cost, public comments, landowners’ intentions for the property, and community land-use plans go into the development and selection of restoration plan options.

Examples of habitat improvements to local lands might be: purchasing floodplain farmland to be planted in trees to replace lost floodplain forest, or making improvements on a local stream by installing ripple pools to aid fish spawning and water quality.

Yes. The Natural Resource Trustees will host a public availability session in the spring (2005). The Trustees will be available to answer questions about the Natural Resource Damage Assessment process, and Illinois EPA staff will respond to questions about the ongoing RI/FS-related site work. A flyer announcing this public meeting will be sent to the site mailing list. If you are not on the mailing list, but would like to be, please contact Carol Fuller by phone or e-mail (see below).

Documents from the NRDA investigation, such as the PAS Report and the Funding and Participation Agreement, will be added to the public repository at the Lawrence Public Library at 814 Twelfth St. in Lawrenceville.