The use of habitat equivalency analysis in natural resource damage assessments

摘要: Abstract Federal and state government agencies Indian tribes, acting on behalf of the public as trustees, can recover damages to natural resources from companies responsible for oil spills or hazardous-substance releases. Habitat equivalency analysis (HEA) is a method estimating appropriate amount compensation interim losses resulting such HEA has several restrictive assumptions that are not met in many situations its input parameters often known with certainty, which lead substantial differences between results “true” Critical include preference same services were injured, fixed proportion habitat value, constant real value over time. also requires complex ecological expressed single metric incremental effect spills/releases estimated reliably Notwithstanding these important limitations, frequently used settle resource damage (NRD) claims two applications NRD have been upheld by courts. When properly structured applied, produce relatively reliable most simple cases involving Even when unmet and/or professional judgment respect results, be useful achieving an settlement variety situations. However, should only viewed framework provide general approximation any required restoration, substitute formal assessment