Oil spill prevention and response: How to comply with OPA and OSPRA
When there is a man-made catastrophic event that adversely affects environment or the health and safety of the public, the government steps in to make and enforce laws to help prevent the reoccurrence of such events. This is the case with the Oil Pollution Act (OPA) which was signed into law by President Bush in August of 1990. According to the EPA, the federal government received 42,000 notifications of oil discharges during the years of 1988 through 1990. In 1989, 38 spills exceeded 100,000 gallons including the infamous Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska`s Prince William Sound. The Federal government has not been alone in its interest with oil spill prevention and response. Many states have also enacted laws with the intent of protecting the environment from damage due to oil spills. The state of Texas enacted the Oil Spill Prevention and Response Act (OSPRA) of 1991 which compliments and expands on OPA. The most significant requirement of both of these laws is that of the Facility Response Plan (FRP). Both Federal and State agencies encourage the development of one plan for spill response and prevention. The use of one plan makes sense because this eliminates the opportunity for discrepancies land simplifies response during an actual spill. The purpose of this paper is to aid the petroleum industry in determining whether it is required to have a FRP, and if it is, how to develop a plan that will comply with both OPA and OSPRA.
- OSTI ID:
- 148122
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-950152-; TRN: 96:005834
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: Petro-Safe `95 conference and exhibition, Houston, TX (United States), 31 Jan - 2 Feb 1995; Other Information: PBD: 1995; Related Information: Is Part Of Petro-safe `95: 6. Annual environmental, safety and health conference and exhibition for the oil, gas and petrochemical industries. Book 1; PB: 590 p.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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