Editors' Summary: Large oil spills during 1989 in Alaska and elsewhere focused attention on the government's authority to recover compensation for natural resource damages. As if oil spills were not enough, in July 1989 the issue became hotter yet, when two decisions of the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia overturned key elements of the Interior Department's regulations for placing a value on the natural resources damaged. The court's decisions substantially increased corporations' liability for natural resource damages under CERCLA and the FWPCA, striking down several parts of the Interior Department rule that had the effect of biasing the measure of damages downward. Now, natural resource damage liability can easily be of the same magnitude as the more widely appreciated liability for response costs.
In this Article, the author, one of the lawyers who sued the Interior Department concerning the regulations, reviews what the court decisions mean in practical terms. He analyzes the administration of the natural resource damage program to date and recommends steps to improve it for the future.