Coast Guard

Technical Report · Thu Feb 01 04:00:00 EST 1990

OSTI ID:6468741

GAO found the situation in the Philadelphia and New York ports similar to that in Prince William Sound-neither industry nor the Coast Guard are prepared to respond to major oil spills. This report discusses how this unpreparedness is due to a lack of specificity in the industry and Coast Guard's plan on how to deal with spills of various sizes and Coast Guard authority to require ship owners and operators to have contingency plans or to require changes in existing plans. On the basic of recent experiences, GAO believes that prevention of oil spills rather than responding to them should be the main priority. Experiences in Price William Sound and in Philadelphia, however, show that much needs to be done to improve prevention measures like monitoring and guiding ship movements and using harbor pilots or vessel escorts.

• Research Organization: General Accounting Office, Washington, DC (USA). Resources, Community and Economic Development Div.
• OSTI ID: 6468741
• Report Number(s): GAO/RCED-90-83
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

02 PETROLEUM
020900* -- Petroleum-- Environmental Aspects
29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY
290300 -- Energy Planning & Policy-- Environment
Health
& Safety
ATLANTIC OCEAN
CONTROL
EMERGENCY PLANS
MANAGEMENT
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
OIL SPILLS
POLLUTION CONTROL
SEAS
SHIPS
SURFACE WATERS
TANKER SHIPS
US COAST GUARD
US DOT
US ORGANIZATIONS
WATER POLLUTION CONTROL