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GSI scientists provide expert services to meet the full range of issues central to each NRD case. Our teams include nationally recognized professionals in geology, hydrogeology, ecotoxicology, economics, and environmental engineering. We provide technical, expert witness, and other litigation support for cases involving natural resources in diverse ecosystems impacted by releases from oil spills, mining activities, landfills, and urban runoff.
GSI advised attorneys on settlement negotiations regarding trustees’ claims of natural resource injuries stemming from migration of PCBs in landfill leachate to the headwaters of the Delaware River basin. Key steps included conducting site reconnaissance surveys and analyzing historical data on groundwater monitoring, recreational fishing activity, and restoration activities in upland and in-stream habitats. Conducted habitat equivalency analysis and managed investigation of options for compensatory projects and conservation easements that provided cost-effective ecological service gains within the watershed. A favorable settlement agreement was reached in 2015.
A central issue of the NRD claim involved impairment of the terrestrial food web due to direct impacts to soil invertebrate population resulting from exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). GSI developed a new probabilistic framework for quantifying uncertainty in ecological injuries. Service loss estimates were reduced by using the full dose-response data rather than selected threshold levels, and integrating results across multiple studies and assessment endpoints.