[20010108]RS20772_超级基金和自然资源损害.pdf

1 P.L. 96-510 (December 11, 1980; 42 U.S.C. 9601-9675)2 In this paper “damages” refers to financial compensation, and does not mean “injury” or “harm.”3 The Oil Pollution Act also provides for the recovery of natural resource damages, as do certain statelaws.Congressional Research Service ? The Library of CongressCRS Report for CongressReceived through the CRS WebOrder Code RS20772January 8, 2001Superfund and Natural Resource DamagesMark ReischAnalyst in Environmental PolicyResources, Science, and Industry DivisionSummaryThe Superfund law gives government agencies that serve as natural resourcetrustees the authority to require responsible parties to make good the environmental harmthey caused by restoring or replacing the injured natural resources, and by payingdamages for the lost use of publicly owned resources. This is in addition to EPAsauthority to require the cleanup of spills and contamination from hazardous substancereleases. Natural resource damages (NRD) has become an issue because of very largeclaims that have been filed, and because of the prospect of more of them. Key questionsare: (1) what costs should be included and how they should be measured; (2) who shouldbear th