Testimony of
Sally Yozell
Deputy Assistant Secretary
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
U.S. Department of Commerce
before the
Subcommittee on Water Resources and the Environment
Committee on Transportation & Infrastructure
House of Representatives
February 9, 2000
Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee. Thank you for inviting me to appear before you today to discuss FY2001 plans and priorities for NOAA's programs under the jurisdiction of this subcommittee. My name is Sally Yozell and I am the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce. I will discuss two categories of NOAA programs today – programs to fulfill NOAA's role as trustee for coastal natural resources under several Federal statutes, and programs related to the prevention and control of polluted runoff that impacts coastal waters. These programs make a real difference to our citizens' quality of life, both environmentally and economically, through the protection and restoration of our Nation's vital coastal and marine natural resources.
NOAA's Natural Resource Trustee Programs
NOAA's natural resource trustee responsibilities are integral to the agency's broad stewardship responsibilities for the Nation's marine and coastal resources. As the lead federal trustee for coastal and marine resources, NOAA ensures effective stewardship of: living marine resources, including all fishery resources in the Exclusive Economic Zone and continental shelf; anadromous species throughout their ranges; endangered and threatened marine species; marine mammals; the resources of National Marine Sanctuaries and National Estuarine Research Reserves; and tidal wetlands and other significant coastal and marine habitats.
Federal officials have been designated by the President to act on behalf of the public as trustees for natural resources, with the Secretary of Commerce being assigned responsibility for coastal and marine resources. NOAA fulfills the Secretary of Commerce's mandates under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA or Superfund), the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA), the Clean Water Act, and the National Marine Sanctuaries Act (NMSA). In response to specific directives contained in these laws, NOAA protects and restores coastal resources when they are injured by releases of oil and other hazardous materials. More specifically, when the Nation's natural resources are injured, these Federal statutes authorize trustees to ensure that cleanup actions protect those resources from further injury; restore the injured resources; and obtain compensation for the public for the injury or loss of natural resources.
Two NOAA programs have proven to be highly effective in fulfilling our mandate to protect and restore coastal and marine resources injured by releases of oil and hazardous materials: the Coastal Protection and Restoration Program (CPR) (formerly the Coastal Resource Coordination program) and the Damage Assessment and Restoration Program (DARP). The CPR program is implemented through activities conducted by the National Ocean Service (NOS), and the DARP program is implemented through activities conducted by both NOS, which has lead responsibility for the assessment of injuries, and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), which has the lead responsibility for restoration implementation.
In recognition of the important contributions made by these natural resource trustee programs to NOAA's coastal stewardship mission, NOS created an Office of Response and Restoration (OR&R) to provide a focal point for NOAA's responsibilities for responding to environmental threats. OR&R's responsibilities range from preventing oil spills and hazardous material releases, assisting in response to such incidents to restoring injured coastal resources. OR&R carries out these responsibilities through a number of programs, including DARP's Damage Assessment Center and the Coastal Protection and Restoration program.
The Damage Assessment and Restoration Program (DARP)
NOAA's Damage Assessment and Restoration Program (DARP) conducts
natural resource damage assessments and restoration for oil spills,
chronic discharges of hazardous materials, and injuries to sanctuary
resources. Since its inception in 1990, DARP and its partners
have secured more than $260 million in restoration funding for
injured natural resources from those responsible for the harm.
More than 30 restoration projects are underway around the Nation's
coast as a result of NOAA's successes with state, tribal, and
federal partners. For example, hundreds of thousands of pounds
of quahogs have been transplanted to two 100 acre ‘spawner
sanctuaries' in Narragansett Bay; over 150 acres of marsh and
wetlands have been created in Galveston Bay in the wake of a 1990
oil spill; an 11 acre parcel of wetlands will improve water quality
and habitat in Tampa Bay; and almost 10 acres near Tacoma, Washington
are being converted to marsh and wildlife habitat. NOAA has accomplished
these successes through the efforts of dedicated teams of scientists,
economists and lawyers working together to evaluate toxic releases,
assess and quantify injuries, recover damages through negotiation
or litigation, develop restoration alternatives, implement restoration
projects, and evaluate the effectiveness of restoration projects.
DARP's accomplishments depend on strong partnerships between
the Damage Assessment Center in NOS, the Restoration Center within
NMFS, and the Office of General Counsel for Natural Resources.
The expertise provided by these offices makes DARP an essential
part of NOAA's stewardship mission through direct restoration
of injuries to coastal and marine resources paid for by the responsible
parties.
NOAA's FY 2001 funding request of $8.3M for DARP is included
in two places in the budget: within the total request of $20.1
million under the NOS Response and Restoration budget line; and
within the total request of $11.1 million under the NMFS Habitat
Conservation budget line. The FY 2001 request continues support
for fulfilling the responsibilities assigned to NOAA's DARP.
It should be noted that the Damage Assessment and Restoration Program has achieved considerable success through a relatively modest investment of base appropriations that leverage monies provided by responsible parties. Since its inception in 1990, appropriations of approximately $25 million for DARP have enabled the program and its partners to secure more than $260 million in restoration funding for injured natural resources from those responsible for the harm.
The 2001 request of $5.1M represents level funding for the Damage Assessment Center to sustain ongoing efforts to assess injury and restore coastal resources. The request supports existing partnerships with states and other trustees, like the work we are doing with New York to reverse decades of PCB contamination in the Hudson River. Ongoing damage assessment cases will continue, such as the one for the Palos Verdes shelf where NOAA is pursuing restoration of the natural resources injured by the world's largest deposit of DDT spread over 40 square kilometers of ocean bottom. The Damage Assessment Center's FY 2001 request will enable DARP to maintain its leadership role and continue support for a number of select activities that leverage the effectiveness of co-trustees. Continuing this funding will allow us to complete ongoing damage assessments, including commitments to assist state trustees for sites like the Calcasieu Estuary in Louisiana; continue to develop and share technical guidance on the natural resource damage assessment regulations under OPA; develop improved methodologies for identifying and quantifying natural resource injury and restoration needs; and provide for more public participation in restoration planning and decision making. The requested funding also supports a rapid response capability that allows NOAA to report to the scene of a spill within hours of notification and to assess damage in a more timely manner.
A requested increase of $1.7 million for the Restoration Center for a total funding level of $3.2M, will expedite implementation of restoration connected to natural resource damage assessments, insure the long-term efficacy of existing restoration, and foster efforts to restore coastal resources at the community level. The FY 2001 funding request for the Restoration Center will ensure that dedicated NOAA staff are available to manage and carry out restoration planning and construction, such as the emergency oyster reef restoration in Tampa Bay, Florida and restoration activities around Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island after the World Prodigy oil spill. In addition to restoring salt marsh, seagrass, and shellfish habitats, a cobble reef was constructed in Narragansett Bay to create habitat required by lobsters. Working in partnership with academia and other groups, the Restoration Center was able to supplement the new habitat with juvenile lobsters and study their growth and survival, providing the data necessary to evaluate the benefits and gauge the success of the project. Increased funding will allow the Restoration Center to continue to share its expertise and to leverage damage assessment recoveries for the most benefit to coastal habitat. While the DARP program has generated significant funding from responsible parties to conduct coastal restoration, base Restoration Center funding is essential to implementing restoration with recovered monies.
The Coastal Protection and Restoration Program
As part of the Office of Response and Restoration, the Coastal Protection and Restoration (formerly the Coastal Resource Coordination) program works within the remedial process at hazardous waste sites with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and other lead cleanup agencies to protect NOAA trust resources throughout the hazardous waste cleanup process; achieve protective remedies; and restore natural resources through negotiated settlements with responsible parties. Since 1985, the CPR program has been an integral part of interagency efforts to implement the Superfund program. The results of NOAA involvement at approximately 260 sites a year have been cleaner coastal habitats and healthier commercial and recreational fish stocks, in addition to addressing impacts on human health.
NOAA's FY 2001 request of $1.0M for the CPR program is included within the $20.1 million total request under the NOS Response and Restoration budget line item. The request represents an increase of $500,000 over FY 2000 enacted for the CPR program to ensure that cleanup actions which protect and restore fish, shellfish, wetlands, coastal waters, and other natural resources are conducted at hundreds of coastal hazardous waste sites. Coastal resources will be protected at Iron Mountain Mine in California, Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Maine, Nyanza Chemical in Massachusetts, the Hudson River PCB site in New York, Philadelphia Naval Shipyard in Pennsylvania, Diamond Alkali in New Jersey, Ashtabula River in Ohio, Lavaca Bay in Texas, Calcasieu Estuary in Louisiana and Commencement Bay in Washington. The request will help restore and protect valuable coastal waters that support billions of dollars of economic activity each year through tourism, recreation and commercial fishing.
The CPR program is primarily funded with Superfund program money that is passed to NOAA through an interagency agreement with EPA. The nature of this funding limits the range, extent, and priorities of NOAA's stewardship efforts at coastal hazardous waste sites. Funding requested through the Clean Water Initiative will allow NOAA to expand its work to sites where states have the lead for cleanup activities, to industrial and military facilities and other non-Superfund sites, conduct site-specific research studies, and develop watershed mapping tools to improve remedial decision-making and restoration planning in partnership with states and other coastal resource managers. It will also allow the CPR program to continue to provide technical assistance directly to states and local communities to accelerate restoration of waste sites and brownfield sites. Specifically, CPR field staff and a multi-disciplinary team of experts work together to: describe the resources at risk, the contaminants of concern and the ways the contaminants could reach natural resources and people; design scientifically sound sampling strategies; measure and predict the effects of contaminants on natural resources; develop site specific cleanup levels; recommend cost-effective approaches for site assessment and cleanup, design monitoring programs to ensure the remedies are protective; and develop database and mapping tools to support improved remedial decision-making and restoration planning. Coastal areas where these activities have been initiated include Charles River, Hudson River, Newark Bay, Christina River, St. Andrew Bay, San Francisco Bay, Calcasieu Estuary, Willamette River and Puget Sound. These activities directly support NOAA's coastal stewardship responsibilities by promoting economic prosperity and environmental vitality in areas previously degraded by toxic pollutants.
Benefits of NOAA Natural Resource Trustee Efforts
As a result of the CPR and DARP programs over the past 15
years:
• Injured coastal resources continue to be protected and
restored with a minimal investment of taxpayer dollars.
• Remedial actions are more protective of the public's natural
coastal resources.
• Incentives have been created for responsible environmental
practices.
• Advances have been made in environmental science, law and
economics that benefit NOAA and the Nation.
• The transfer of technology and guidance for these applications
has helped other federal, state and tribal programs.
For example, expertise developed within the DARP program has
been applied to a precedent-setting effort to remove nine grounded
fishing vessels in American Samoa and restore the coral reefs
they injured. In August of 1999, NOAA initiated a complementary
effort to U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) response activities to restore
coral injured by the groundings and subsequent actions. After
receiving approval from the Coast Guard, NOAA initiates restoration
activities that are expected to continue through the end of FY
2000. We have placed a high priority on restoring the injured
coral reefs in Pago Pago harbor and believe this effort will provide
important insights into subsequent coral restoration activities.
The funding requested by NOAA in FY 2001 for these natural resource
trustee programs will ensure the agency's capabilities under the
authorities of CERCLA, OPA, and NMSA for protecting and restoring
injured coastal and marine resources.
The Problem of Polluted Runoff in Coastal Waters
We know we need to address polluted runoff, The number one source of pollution threatening our coastal resources. Polluted run off is contributing to the decline of coastal habitat and resources that affects the economic viability of coastal communities. The increasing incidence of harmful algal blooms and closed shellfish and fishing areas is linked to polluted runoff from our streets, lawns and farms. Polluted runoff is also linked to a variety of serious impacts on coastal resources, including the degradation of coastal habitat and coral reefs, the "dead zone" in the Gulf of Mexico, closed shellfish beds nationwide, loss of salmon fisheries in the Pacific Northwest, and outbreaks of Pfiesteria in the Chesapeake Bay.
Based on NOAA's recently released National Estuarine Eutrophication
Assessment (Assessment), we know that polluted runoff contributes
greatly to an overabundance of nutrients in coastal estuaries.
Nutrient pollution stimulates the growth of algae and results
in "eutrophication," leading to conditions where there
is no oxygen available for fish and insufficient sunlight for
submerged plants. NOAA's Assessment predicts that by the year
2020, eutrophication symptoms will worsen in two thirds of the
Nation's estuaries if appropriate management actions are not implemented.
Based on state water quality reports, urban runoff and storm
sewers are the most widespread source of pollution in the Nation's
surveyed estuarine waters. When state managers close or otherwise
restrict shellfish growing areas, they typically cite one or more
sources of fecal coliform bacteria and other potential contaminants
as the reason. In 1995, urban run off was the most common pollution
source cited,
contributing to shellfish bed closures.
But polluted runoff impacts more than the coastal environment - it also impacts coastal economies through losses in seafood sales, tourism and coastal recreation. As a result of the Pfiesteria outbreak in 1997, the Maryland Sea Grant Program estimated a loss in seafood sales revenue of $43 million. In 1998, approximately one-third of 1,062 beaches reports had at least one advisory or closing, up from about 26 percent in 1997. If people can't swim at the beach, they're not going to visit coastal destinations and support coastal economic growth.
The Coastal Nonpoint Pollution Control Program
Established by the reauthorization amendments to the Coastal
Zone Act in 1990, the Coastal Nonpoint Program, Section 6217 of
these amendments, represents an approach that is working to marshal
all of the available programs we have to control polluted runoff.
As required by the law, coastal states have
to develop plans to address the full range of nonpoint pollution
sources that impact the coastal zone, including agriculture, forest
harvesting activities, urban runoff, marinas, construction and
maintenance of dams and channels, and other alterations of natural
systems. Once finished these programs will implement management
measures to reduce polluted runoff. NOAA administers this program
jointly with the Environmental Protection Agency, providing a
marriage of coastal and water quality expertise at the Federal
level. In addition, state coastal nonpoint programs draw on the
talents, experience and resources of other state and local agencies,
including state agriculture, transportation, water resource, and
forestry agencies and local soil and water conservation districts,
planning agencies, and watershed groups.
This is the 10th year since Congress established the Coastal Nonpoint Program. We're at a point now where, except for those states that are new to coastal management, the coastal states have developed the road map for what needs to be done to solve their coastal polluted runoff problems. It hasn't always been an easy road, but NOAA and EPA have worked cooperatively with the states, affording them the flexibility needed to design programs that accommodate their differences, while at the same time meeting necessary Federal requirements. I am pleased to report that we issued our first full program approval to the State of Maryland in December, establishing it as a model for other coastal states and territories to follow. Of the remaining twenty-eight coastal states that were initially required to develop coastal nonpoint programs under the 1990 legislation, they have all received conditional approval of their programs and are working hard to address those conditions. We anticipate several other states, such as Rhode Island and California, receiving full approval in the near future. NOAA and EPA are in the process of reviewing the Texas, Ohio and Georgia coastal nonpoint programs and Minnesota, the newest CZM state, is still developing their coastal nonpoint program.
Supporting Coastal States in Solving the Polluted Runoff Problem
In the ten years since Congress established the requirement for state coastal nonpoint programs, there has been a total of approximately $20.4 million appropriated to support efforts in 33 coastal states to date to develop their programs. Coastal states have leveraged additional dollars from other state agencies and partners. For this relatively minimal investment, coastal states have produced a set of comprehensive programs to attack coastal polluted runoff. They've used their experience in coastal management to establish a new way of doing business in the coastal zone that combines the skills and abilities of multiple agencies and programs to develop a strategy for solving problems.
In the President's budget for fiscal year 2001, NOAA is requesting $4.5 million, which we feel is the level of resources necessary to support state coastal management agencies in their continued effort to solve the problem of polluted runoff. NOAA is requesting $4.5 million, an increase of $2.0 million, to enable states to complete the coastal nonpoint program development process. These funds would largely be used to help states meet conditions placed on their coastal nonpoint program approvals, thereby shoring up existing efforts and ensuring adequate program capacity to solve coastal polluted runoff problems.
NOAA's request for funding of 6217 coastal nonpoint programs
should not be viewed alone - NOAA's funding will complement the
resources EPA and USDA are providing to their partners, the state
water quality and agriculture agencies, as part of the Administrations
overall Clean Water Action Plan, to provide a comprehensive program
that relies on the combined strength of all resource management
agencies. State coastal management programs are ready to implement
these programs and need these funds to play their appropriate
role in the efforts necessary to control coastal nonpoint pollution.
NOAA views this funding as critical for state coastal management
programs to participate in the efforts necessary to control coastal
nonpoint pollution.
Conclusion
These NOAA programs, which address natural resource trustee responsibilities
as well as reducing polluted runoff to ensure clean coastal waters,
are an integral part of NOAA's overall coastal stewardship mission.
Every program is a vital link in NOAA's and our partners ability
to ensure a healthy coastal environment and economy now and for
future generations. Our FY 2001 budget request reflects our commitment
to this vision.
Thank you again for inviting NOAA to participate in today's
hearing. At this time I would be pleased to respond to any questions.