Interior Approves New Streamlined Natural Resource Damage Assessment Process

On July 13, 2026, the Department of the Interior (Interior) issued a long-awaited final rule creating a streamlined pathway within Interior’s natural resource damage (NRD) assessment and restoration regulations. Interior expects the new “Type A” regulations to reduce the cost of an average NRD assessment for private parties by more than 75% and support faster settlements.

At its core, an NRD assessment is a process used by “Trustees” — government agencies that hold natural resources “in trust” for the public — to quantify harm to natural resources after a release or spill of hazardous substances into the environment. Trustees use the NRD assessment to identify what natural resources were harmed (e.g., fish, birds, habitat, groundwater, etc.), determine how severely those resources were harmed and evaluate what restoration is needed to return the natural resources to pre-release conditions and to compensate the public for interim losses of associated ecological services.