NOAA and the US Fish & Wildlife Service have signed agreements with 23 companies to cooperatively assess the lower 17 miles of the Passaic River and develop and implement a restoration plan to restore damaged habitat.
“It’s a first, for New Jersey, that such a diverse group of companies came together with federal agencies to restore natural resources,” said John H. Dunnigan, NOAA's assistant administrator of the National Ocean Service. “These agreements provide the framework to cooperatively assess injury to, and initiate restoration of, natural resources for the Passaic, from Dundee Dam to Newark Bay.”
"This is the first significant step for federal trustees to work together with these 23 companies. Other potentially responsible parties will have opportunities to join discussions in the future,” said Regional Director Marvin E. Moriarty of the US Fish and Wildlife Service's Northeast Region. "We will be seeking common understandings of fish and wildlife injuries, of lost recreational services, and of early restoration options that will ultimately benefit fish, wildlife, and residents of the local communities along the 17 mile Lower Passaic River below Dundee Dam."
The highly industrialised and urbanised region surrounding the Lower Passaic River has a long history of degraded water quality, sediment contamination, loss of wetlands, and abandoned or underused properties along its shores. Dioxins, polychlorinated biphenyls, and other contaminants in this ecosystem have impaired fish, shellfish, and wildlife, as well as their habitats and human use of these resources.
These agreements provide USD600,000 for payment of a portion of NOAA and DOI/USFWS past assessment costs, as well as up to USD1 million for future efforts.
As a principal trustee for the public’s coastal natural resources, NOAA’s Damage Assessment, Remediation, and Restoration Program restores habitats and communities that have been harmed by oil spills, hazardous substance releases, and ship groundings. Through the program, NOAA works with other agencies, industry, and communities to protect and restore these coastal and marine resources. Since its inception in 1992, the program has successfully protected natural resources at more than 500 waste sites. As of 2008, the program had settled almost 200 natural resource damage assessment cases, generating almost USD450 million for restoration projects.
The DOI/USFWS is a principal trustee under the federal Superfund law for the public’s natural resources, including DOI-managed lands, as well as migratory birds, threatened and endangered species, inter-jurisdictional fishes and certain marine mammals. When hazardous substances enter the environment, fish, wildlife, and other natural resources can be injured. The Department of the Interior, along with State, Tribal and other federal partners, act as “trustees” for these resources. DOI/USFWS works to identify the natural resources injured, determines the extent of the injuries, recovers damages from those responsible, and carries out restoration activities, through its Natural Resource Damage Assessment and Restoration Program.
NOAA understands and predicts changes in the Earth's environment, from the depths of the ocean to the surface of the sun, and conserves and manages our coastal and marine resources.
