The Portland Harbor Natural Resource Trustee Council (Trustee Council) is excited to announce their first use of settlement funds to support on-the-ground restoration at Portland Harbor - the ultimate goal of the natural resource damage assessment (NRDA) and restoration process! This significant milestone involved purchasing ecological habitat credits from two Portland Harbor restoration banks: PGE/Harborton and Alder Creek.
For decades, natural resources in Portland Harbor, such as fish and wildlife, have been injured by contamination. Under Federal law, the Trustee Council has been evaluating how the contamination has harmed these natural resources and seeking compensation (damages) from polluters for that harm. Recent cash settlements with polluters that were undergoing bankruptcy provided the Trustee Council with funds to implement this action.
The Trustee Council’s 2021 Restoration Plan concludes that restoration banks will achieve the Council’s restoration goals for early settlements for the Portland Harbor NRDA. Restoration banks are large-scale projects built by commercial developers and other entities that restore a mix of habitat types and support a wide variety of native plants and animals found in and along the Willamette River. Each project generates a specific number of ecological credits that can be purchased to resolve natural resource damages liability. These credits can be purchased by the Trustee Council using funds from cash settlements, or the Trustee Council can accept credits purchased directly from a restoration bank by potentially responsible parties interested in settling their liability.
Using $2 million in bankruptcy funds, the Trustee Council worked with an auction company, Procurex, to run a reverse auction - a competitive process that achieves a fair market price for ecological credits at the time of the auction (noting that the price restoration bank developers charge may change over time). To participate in the auction, restoration banks had to meet several criteria to ensure their projects followed Trustee Council habitat and performance requirements. Ultimately, the Trustee Council purchased 20.97 credits from the Wildlands Alder Creek project for $62,000 per credit and 11.29 credits from the PGE Harborton project for $62,001 per credit.
The Trustee Council is pleased to have taken this important step in compensating the public by supporting restoration that benefits fish and wildlife injured by contamination in Portland Harbor.
You can find more information, including the benefits of restoration banking, what is a reverse auction, and more in the Trustee Council’s Frequently Asked Questions about the credit purchase.
Wildlands Alder Creek
PGE Harborton
Additional Information can be found here:
