Strategic use of Gulf restoration funds: Comparing benefits and costs for investing in coastal wetlands, hypoxia, oyster reefs, refuges, or island beaches

Abstract

Large oil spills, such as the 2010 BP spill in the Gulf of Mexico, cause damage to ecosystems and to wildlife that takes many years for recovery. Recognizing the time lags and the impossibility of restoring each damaged site, the Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA) process specifies that responsible parties' restoration funding may be spent on compensatory restoration projects elsewhere, not just at damaged sites, as long as these projects benefit the area affected by the oil spill (Jones and Pease 1997). Federal trustees seek restoration services “of the same type and quality and of comparable value” as those ecosystem services lost in the oil spill.