(a) Comprehensive damage assessment. A comprehensive damage assessment is a method including sampling, modeling, and other appropriate scientific procedures to make a reasonable and rational determination of injury to natural resources resulting from an unauthorized discharge of oil.
(b) Time limit. The state trustees shall complete the comprehensive damage assessment within 20 months of the completion of response and cleanup activities. The state trustees may petition the commissioner for an extension of the time period for conducting an assessment.
(c) Study design and objectives. When the state trustees determine that incident-specific studies or surveys are required to determine injury, the extent of injury, and the valuation of injury, they shall include a statement of the objectives in the study design. The individual studies may focus on injury determination, injury quantification, and injury valuation including services and passive use values. The objectives shall specify the expected utility of the findings resulting from the study. The state trustees shall exercise their best professional judgment in determining which studies are cost-effective and technically feasible.
(d) The state trustees, in consultation with the responsible person, may decide to use a restoration project from the equivalent resource plan described in §20.36(e) of this title (relating to Equivalent Resource Plans) for the purpose of compensating for injuries to natural resources which are identified as the result of a comprehensive damage assessment conducted under this section.

Source Note: The provisions of this §20.34 adopted to be effective October 19, 1994, 19 TexReg 7911.