The State of Hawaii has provided notice to the U.S. Navy that it will be seeking natural resource damages for coral reefs harmed by the grounding of the USS Port Royal, news here.
The State's letter can be downloaded here. The letter is not a claim letter per se but rather implores the Navy to begin restoration and mitigation work on the corals damaged by the Port Royal grounding:
The State intends to seek both mitigation and restoration assistance from the U.S. Navy and damages for loss of natural resources. At this time the State is only requesting assistance from the U.S. Navy for the purpose of minimizing the amount of primary damage resulting from the grounding incident and to prevent potentially devastating secondary damage that could be aggravated by the upcoming summer swells.
One to watch for sure. The State has increased its use of natural resource damage assessments for damage to coral reefs and it will be interesting to see the State's use of such assessments against the federal government.
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