Applicable Law

OPA provides that the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund (OSLTF) is available to pay claims for 

uncompensated damages resulting from oil pollution incidents (33 U.S.C. §2712(a)(4)). 

Damages include loss of subsistence use of natural resources (33 U.S.C. §2702(b)(2)(C)) (i.e., 

resources relied upon for food). The regulations at 33 C.F.R. Part 136 include general claim 

requirements and requirements specific to lost subsistence use claims.

General Claim Requirements

Claims to the OSLTF must be: (a) in writing for a sum certain (33 C.F.R. §136.105(b)), (b) 

submitted to the NPFC within three years after the date on which the injury and its connection 

with the incident were reasonably discoverable (33 C.F.R. §136.101(a)), and (c) presented first to 

the RP or guarantor and that claim is denied or not settled by payment by any person within 90 

days after the date the claim was presented before presentment to the Fund (33 U.S.C. 

§2713(c)(2); except as noted in 33 C.F.R. §136.103(a)). 

Subsistence Use Loss Claim Requirements

The claims regulations (33 C.F.R. §§136.219-223) provide additional requirements for lost 

subsistence use claims. Specifically, each claim for loss of subsistence use of natural resources 

must: 

1) be for lost subsistence use and submitted by an eligible claimant;

2) identify and describe the actual subsistence use of each specific natural resource for 

which compensation is being claimed;

3) describe how and to what extent the claimant’s subsistence use was affected by injury to 

or loss of each specific natural resource;

4) describe efforts to mitigate the subsistence use loss;

5) be based on the reasonable cost to replace the lost subsistence use of natural resources; 

and

6) be reduced by the amount of all compensation made available to the claimant to 

compensate for the loss, all income which was derived by utilizing the time which 

otherwise would have been used to obtain the subsistence resources, and any avoided 

costs associated with the subsistence activity, such as gas for vehicles or boats, bait, and 

other overhead costs not incurred due to the spill.

NPFC has provided more detail about these claim requirements at: 

http://www.uscg.mil/npfc/Claims/DWH_faqs.asp. 

Claim Submission and Documentation

The NPFC received your Optional OSLTF Claim Form on 25 October 2011, which included 

your denial letter from the GCCF, copies of your 2009, 2010, and 2011 fishing licenses, a copy 

of your boat registration, and receipts and credit card statements that include purchases for gas 

for your boat before and after the spill. On 27 October 2011, the NPFC also received your fax 

indicating the claim was for lost subsistence use, exclusively. 

NPFC Determination
The NPFC finds that you have not met your burden of proving a subsistence use loss as defined 

by OPA (33 U.S.C. 2701 et seq.) and OPA claims regulations (33 C.F.R. Part 136). Your claim 

is denied because you have not:

1) established your pattern of subsistence use of natural resources (i.e., how often you fished 

and the amount that you regularly caught and consumed prior to the spill); nor

2) explained or documented how you determined your claimed loss of $15,000 (i.e., the 

period of your claimed loss and the actual costs incurred to replace your claimed loss or 

documentation to establish reasonable estimates of replacement costs based on your 

pattern of subsistence use). 1

Request for Reconsideration

Under OPA, you may ask the NPFC to reconsider this determination. Reconsideration requests 

must be received by the NPFC in writing within 60 days of the date of this letter, and will be 

based upon the additional factual or legal information that you provide with your request. A 

claim may be reconsidered only once, and written disposition of a reconsideration request 

constitutes final agency action. If the NPFC fails to issue a written decision within 90 days after 

receipt of a request for reconsideration, this determination, at the option of the claimant, shall be 

deemed final agency action. 

Should you choose to request NPFC reconsideration of this determination, please mail the 

request and additional claim information with the appropriate claim number (N10036-1528) to:

Chief (Cn)

National Pollution Funds Center

U.S. Coast Guard, Stop 7100

4200 Wilson Boulevard, Suite 1000

Arlington, VA 20598-7100

1 Note: Any compensation awarded by the NPFC must be reduced by overheads or other normal expenses of 

subsistence use not incurred as a result of the incident, such as fuel and bait.

 
If you have any questions about reconsideration, please feel free to contact the NPFC at the 

above address or by phone at 800-280-7118.

 

Sincerely,

Natural Resource Damage Claims Division

National Pollution Funds Center

U.S. Coast Guard