Improving the capability to cleanup oil spills in US waters

Journal Article · Thu Feb 01 04:00:00 EST 1973 · Undersea Technol.; (United States)

OSTI ID:6987017

In spite of the application of federal and industrial dollars, the operator that actually cleans up oil spills today still has basically the same capability that existed before this money was spent. This is a paradox brought about by the nature of the oil spill cleanup business, rather than by the level of technology. The reasons for this paradox are contained in the nature of the business--who does the research, who spills the oil, and who cleans it up. While directly, or indirectly, involved in many of the oil spills (8,736 spills in the U.S.) the oil companies, by their actions, have demonstrated that they do not intend to get physically involved in cleaning up spills. What they have done is to form cooperatives the concentrate the resources in their region to improve the response capability and to minimize the impact of the spills. Almost every spill in the U.S. is cleaned up by a third-party cleanup company.

• OSTI ID: 6987017
• Journal Information: Undersea Technol.; (United States), Journal Name: Undersea Technol.; (United States) Vol. 14:2; ISSN UNTEA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

02 PETROLEUM
020900* -- Petroleum-- Environmental Aspects
520200 -- Environment
Aquatic-- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport-- (-1989)
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
CLEANING
CONTROL
COOPERATION
INDUSTRY
NORTH AMERICA
OIL SPILLS
PETROLEUM INDUSTRY
POLLUTION CONTROL
REGIONAL COOPERATION
REMOVAL
USA
WATER POLLUTION CONTROL