Oil spill planning

The recommendation requires that owner/operators develop realistic plans for responding to worst-case situations. (One of the more embarrassing features of the Deepwater Horizon incident was the cookie-cutter nature of the oil-spill plans... 

Nordvik, A.B. 1999. Time window-of-opportunity strategies for oil spill planning and response. Pure and applied chemistry 71(1) 5-16. 

Oil spill contingency planning tool intended to improve notiHcation of federal and state agencies and improve response and reporting capabilities. 

J. P. Fraser. Advance planning for dispersant use/non-use. In Proceedings Volume, pages 429-432.9th Bien API et al Oil Spill (Prev, Behav, Contr, Cleanup) Conf (Los Angeles, CA, 2/25-2/28), 1985. 

The Oil Pollution Act of 1924 was the first federal statute prohibiting pollution of waters strictly by oil. As indicated earlier, the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (FWPCA) of 1972 provided a comprehensive plan for the cleanup of waters polluted by oil spills and intentional or accidental release of oil into the water. The subsequent laws, including the Clean Water Act of 1977 and with its later amendments, provide for regulation of pollution of waters by oil spills and other forms of discharges. These legislations also incorporate certain provisions of the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899, which was intended to prevent any obstruction to the use of navigable waters for interstate commerce. 

The OPA was passed in the aftermath of the Exxon Valdez oil spill in the Prince William Sound in Alaska. It created a tax on oil to cover the cost of responding to major spills when the responsible party is unwilling or unable to do so. The limits on liability for causing oil spills are clearly laid out in the law, and oil shippers and storage facilities are required to submit plans for responding to a large spill to the EPA. 

Chapter 2 deals with planning the response to an oil spill and the functions of oil spill response organizations in industry and government. Topics covered include contingency plans, training, the structure of response organizations, the duties of the on-scene commander and response team, oil spill cooperatives, and the role of other organizations and contractors in oil spill cleanup. 

Studies of several major oil spills in the early 1970s showed that response to these spills suffered not only from a lack of equipment and specialized techniques, but also from a lack of organization and expertise to deal with such emergencies. Since then, contingency plans have evolved and today often cover wide areas and pool national and even international resources and expertise. 

It is now recognized that oil spills vary in size and impact and require different levels of response. Contingency plans can be developed for a particular facility, such as a bulk storage terminal, which would include organizations and resources from the immediate area, with escalating plans for spills of greater impact. Contingency... 

Most contingency plans define the structure of the response organization so that roles and command sequences are fully understood before any incident occurs. The On-Scene Commander (OSC) is the head of the response effort and should be experienced in oil spill response operations. The OSC is responsible for making all major decisions on actions taken. This person ensures that the various aspects of the operation are coordinated and sequenced and that a good communications system is in place. 

Photo 16 Contingency plans should include members of the media, who are often among the first to arrive at the scene of a spill. (Oil Spill Response Limited)... 

A procedure for performing a site assessment survey using a Shoreline Cleanup Assessment Team (SCAT) has been documented in the literature, including a number of SCAT Manuals for different areas of Canada published by Environment Canada. The SCAT concept was developed during the cleanup of the Exxon Valdez spill in 1989. It is a systematic and comprehensive method of data collection that can be used to evaluate shoreline oil conditions if a spill occurs and assist cleanup personnel to develop and plan response actions. The SCAT team usually includes an oil-spill geomorphologist, an ecologist, and an archeologist or land-use specialist. 

Damage assessment is a new activity recently started in several countries. It involves a formal, structured examination of an oiled environment to determine how many of each species was affected by the oil spill. The objectives are to quantify the damage to the environment as much as possible and assess the total effects of a particular spill. Data are used to develop long-term restoration or cleanup plans if necessary, to assess costs, and to provide a database of spill damage. Damage assessment involves a thorough re-examination of the site through counts of plants and animals and comparison to the pre-spill condition. If information on the prespill condition is not available, the site is compared to a similar unoiled site nearby. 

Contingency plan — This is an action plan prepared in anticipation of an oil spill. This plan usually consists of guidelines developed for a specific industrial facility or an entire region to increase the effectiveness, efficiency, and speed of cleanup operations in the event of an oil spill and at the same time protect areas of biological, social, and economic importance. 

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