Spill Prevention

            Spills. We’ve all heard of chemical spills or oil spills happening somewhere in the country or across the globe. Oil spills being one of the most popular hearing about and also one of the most dangerous. In the United States, the Environmental Protection Agency or EPA, has made oil spills one of their main priorities after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill that occurred in 2010.

            The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, also known as the BP Oil Spill, began on April 20^th, 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico. This spill has been considered the largest accidental marine oil spill throughout the entire history of the oil industry. What happened is that an underwater explosion and the eventual sinking of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig caused the sea floor oil leak that dispensed oil for 87 straight days. As of 2016, BP has invested in the restoration of the environment along the Gulf. Back in October of 2015, settlement agreements were filed with the federal court in New Orleans to resolve any and all state and federal claims arising from the Deepwater Horizon accident and spill. The $18.7 billion settlement included an over $7 billion to address claims for natural resource damages.

Many don’t know that the EPA is the lead federal response force when oil spills occur in inland waters while the United States Coast Guard is the lead response force for spills in coastal waters or deepwater ports. The EPA’s oil spill prevention program includes the SPCC or Spill Prevention, Control, and Countermeasure and the FRP or Facility Response Plan rules.

            The SPCC helps facilities prevent a discharge of oil into navigable waters, adjoining shorelines, and containing the discharge of the oil. SPCC Plans establish the procedures, methods, and equipment requirements to prevent any oil pollution. There are also certain rules that a facility must follow to a SPCC applies to that individual facility. The first thing facilities must determine is if they are considered non-transportation related. The second thing is that if the facility is currently engaged in drilling, producing, gathering, storing, processing, refining, transferring, distributing, using or consuming oil. Thirdly, if the facility is reasonably to be expected to discharge oil in quantities that can be harmful, into navigable waters or shorelines. Next, if the total aggregate capacity of above ground oil storage containers are greater than 1,320 gallons of oil. Lastly, the total aggregate capacity of completely buried storage tanks is greater that 42,000 gallons of oil.

            The FRP rule requires that certain facilities to submit a response plan and prepare to respond to a worst case oil discharge or threat of a discharge. The FRP demonstrates a facility’s preparedness when it comes to responding to a worst case scenario. Facility Response Plans must be consistent with Nation Contingency Plans and applicable Area Contingency Plans. This means an individual needs to qualified and has full authority to implement removal actions and requires immediate communication between that person and the appropriate federal authorities and responders. It is also stated that facilities must be able to identify and ensure availability of resources to remove, at the maximum extent practical, a worst case discharge scenario.

https://www.epa.gov/oil-spills-prevention-and-preparedness-regulations

http://www.bp.com/en/global/corporate/sustainability/environment/oil-spill-preparedness-and-response.html