Generally, BERR staff is responsible for national program coordination and representation of the Service on intradepartmental workgroups. For example, our national spill response coordinator is responsible for keeping the Service’s National Spill Response Contingency Plan updated. We also work with various workgroups within the Department of the Interior on emergency response issues. For example, we have worked extensively with the Department’s Office of Environmental Policy and Compliance to ensure that the Department of Homeland Security’s new National Response Plan adequately addresses ecological and natural resource issues.

In the area of Natural Resource Damage Assessment and Restoration (NRDAR), BERR staff represents the Service on the Department of the Interior’s NRDAR workgroup. This workgroup develops damage assessment and restoration policy and prioritizes damage assessment casework and funding levels for all of the Department’s bureaus that have natural resource trusteeship.

Our National Superfund Technical Liaison Program places senior technical staff in EPA headquarters and regional offices to advise EPA on a wide range of ecological and natural resource issues. In particular, these individuals have considerable expertise in conducting and evaluating ecological risk assessments performed at hazardous waste sites. A national Interagency Agreement between EPA and the Service for technical support on hazardous waste site remediation is also administered through BERR and provides a funding mechanism through which EPA can receive ecological technical support from Service Environmental Contaminants Specialists in the field.

For further information about BERR, please contact Mark Huston at (703) 358-2148.