OIL SPILL PLANNING AND RESPONSE IN A TERRORIST ENVIRONMENT REAL LIFE EXPERIENCES1

2005 ◽  
Vol 2005 (1) ◽  
pp. 953-955
Author(s):  
Daniel Chan Kok Peng
Keyword(s):  
Oil Spill ◽  
Global Economy ◽  
Oil Spills ◽  
Terrorist Attack ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Major Incident ◽  
Environmental Damage ◽  
Incident Command ◽  
Security Issues ◽  
Oil Spill Response

ABSTRACT The world's perspective on security issues had greatly changed after the events of the 9/11 incident. Great strides to enhance maritime security were made following that incident. We see nations working together for a safer environment as seen in the rapid adoption and implementation of the International Ship and Port Facility Security (ISPS) Code in July 2004. Historically, most oil spill response activities took place in coastal waters and coastlines due to collision and grounding of vessels. We must now also consider the possibility of oil spills occurring in ‘non traditional’ areas due to terrorism and piracies. The threat of terrorism is very real. The “USS Cole” at Aden, Yemen on October 2000 and “MT Limburg” off the coast of Yemen on October 2002 were examples. Many regions of the world with high maritime traffic are considered hot spots for such terrorist and piracy activities. For instance, certain parts of the Malacca Strait are known for piracy and sea robberies. These activities may well lead to major oil spills. Vessels are considered “soft targets” for a terrorist attack. These incidents will generate high publicity and may create devastating environmental damage. The consequences are too severe for us to ignore as the economic impact may cripple the global economy. Oil spill responses are complex and each incident presents their own challenges. Oil spill response organizations have little exposure when dealing with an incident resulting from a terrorist attack. What considerations are given to the oil spill responder's safety? Oil spill response organisations must factor in such scenarios into their contingency plans. In the bigger picture of a major incident the role of the oil spill responder may not be the primary focus of an incident command. They have to be proactive to make necessary preparations and security arrangements with government agencies and security providers. The author will use the case history of the ‘Limburg,’ to which the Alliance responded, as an example to illustrate the response and responder security issues that arise during such an event.

Oil Spill Dispersants

1999 ◽  
Vol 71 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert J. Fiocco ◽  
Alun Lewis
Keyword(s):  
Oil Spill ◽  
Oil Spills ◽  
Environmental Damage ◽  
Limited Extent ◽  
Practical Application ◽  
Naturally Occurring ◽  
Dispersed Oil ◽  
Application Techniques ◽  
Oil Spill Response ◽  
Oil Spill Dispersants

Introduction: The purpose of any oil spill response is to minimise the damage that could be caused by the spill. Dispersants are one of the limited number of practical responses that are available to respond to oil spills at sea.When oil is spilled at sea, a small proportion will be naturally dispersed by the mixing action caused by waves. This process can be slow and proceed to only a limited extent for most situations. Dispersants are used to accelerate the removal of oil from the surface of the sea by greatly enhancing the rate of natural dispersion of oil and thus prevent it from coming ashore. Dispersed oil will also be more rapidly biodegraded by naturally occurring microorganisms. The rationale for dispersant use is that dispersed oil is likely to have less overall environmental impact than oil that persists on the surface of the sea, drifts and eventually contaminates the shoreline. The development of modern dispersants began after the Torrey Canyon oil spill in 1967. Many lessons have been learned since that spill, and consequently the modern dispersants and application techniques in use today have become an effective way of responding to an oil spill. For example, the dispersant response to the Sea Empress spill in 1996 demonstrated that dispersants can be very effective and prevent a much greater amount of environmental damage from being caused (6). This chapter describes the chemistry and physics of dispersants, planning and decision-making considerations, and finally their practical application and operational use in oil spill response.

TERRORISM, OIL SPILLS AND CRIMINAL SANCTIONS: THE HAMMER AND THE ANVIL

2005 ◽  
Vol 2005 (1) ◽  
pp. 949-952 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard H. Hobbie ◽  
Andrew J. Garger
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Oil Spill ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Oil Spills ◽  
Terrorist Attack ◽  
Criminal Liability ◽  
Hazardous Substances ◽  
Environmental Damage ◽  
Criminal Sanctions ◽  
National Newspaper

ABSTRACT The Water Quality Insurance Syndicate has offices in lower Manhattan in New York City, and the events of September 11th remain vivid. However, in its aftermath it was difficult to envision the broad reaching ripple effects resulting from the event. Among the effects is the clash of two major issues: the increasing use of criminal sanctions in reaction to spills of oil and hazardous substances, and the practical and emotional consequences of both possible and actual terrorist events. For the past several years, the responsible party and its insurer have faced the use of criminal sanctions when a spill occurs. Criminal sanctions are typically used to combat intentional environmental misconduct. In the realm of oil spills, common actions may include the deliberate dumping of oil and negligence or unintentional conduct leading to a spill. In the post 9–11 United States, the first question presented at an oil spill is not how much oil has been spilled, but rather was the spill caused by an act of terrorism?. Government officials may treat the location of an oil spill as a crime scene, which will transform and complicate a pollution event. A recent explosion on a gasoline barge at an oil and gas storage facility in Staten Island, New York illustrates the point. A leading national newspaper devoted the first five paragraphs of its lead story on the explosion to a discussion of whether or not there was a terrorist attack Was the clean up of that spill hampered because of the terrorism investigation? We will probably never know, because the gasoline that escaped from the barge quickly evaporated so the cleanup was minimal. The next spill, however, might be a crude oil spill where every minute in response time counts. While the shipowner is trying to minimize the spill, the F.B.I, might have already taken control of the spill scene to conduct an investigation and effectively locked out the spill responders and their equipment, greatly increasing the cost and complexity of the cleanup, the environmental damage that is done, and the possibility that the shipowner's actions are found to be insufficient, increasing the possibility of criminal sanctions. The threat of terrorism is real. But we must now work to integrate our response to the terrorism threat to our existing spill response infrastructure that has been developed under OPA, and not unnecessarily increase a shipowner's exposure to criminal liability.

THE OIL SPILL FIELD OPERATIONS GUIDE (FOG)-NEW AND IMPROVED1

2001 ◽  
Vol 2001 (2) ◽  
pp. 987-990
Author(s):  
Kristy Plourde ◽  
Jean R. Cameron ◽  
Vickie Huyck
Keyword(s):  
Oil Spill ◽  
Management System ◽  
Oil Spills ◽  
Task Force ◽  
Action Plan ◽  
Petroleum Industry ◽  
Incident Management ◽  
California Department ◽  
Incident Command ◽  
Oil Spill Response

ABSTRACT The original oil spill Field Operations Guide (FOG) was a product of the Standard Oil Spill Response Management System (STORMS) Task Force comprised of representatives of the U. S. Coast Guard, California Department of Fish and Game Office of Spill Prevention and Response (OSPR), other states, the petroleum industry, oil spill response organizations, and local government. The STORMS Task Force produced this first version of the “oilized” Incident Command System (ICS) FOG and Incident Action Plan (IAP) forms in 1994 and made subsequent revisions in 1995 and 1996. With 2 more years of ICS experience and facilitated by the States/British Columbia Oil Spill Task Force, a new group of representatives from federal and state governments, the petroleum industry, and oil spill response professionals met to review and update the 1996 FOG and IAP forms in October 1998. The overall goal was to remain consistent with the National Interagency Incident Management System (NIIMS) yet reflect the experience gained using ICS at actual oil spills and drills. The group met quarterly over an 18-month period, working collaboratively to reach a consensus on numerous changes. Some of the changes included adding an Environmental Unit to the Planning Section, revising the planning cycle diagram for the oil spill IAP process, and revising the IAP forms as appropriate to reflect the way oil spills are managed. All significant revisions/improvements will be highlighted in this paper and poster.

THE OILING OF ICS

1993 ◽  
Vol 1993 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steve Hunter
Keyword(s):  
Oil Spill ◽  
Oil Spills ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Role Of Government ◽  
The Public ◽  
Incident Command ◽  
Industry Standard ◽  
Oil Spill Response ◽  
Crisis Managers

ABSTRACT The incident command system (ICS) works for oil spills. It should be the industry standard and some will argue that it already is. But there are a number of temptations to fiddle with it. Fueling these inclinations is the fundamental difference between oil spills and natural disasters: Oil spills make the perpetrator fix the problem—under heavy oversight. Add to this difference the public outcry that attends oil spills and the dual role of government as both helper and prosecutor. From these conditions emerge adaptations of ICS which both weaken and strengthen it. The benefits of ICS are diminished by deputy incident commanders who block unified commanders from access to section chiefs, over-zealous crisis managers who displace command post decisions or its information office, separate press offices with party line slants, government law enforcement activity mixed into spill response, nonstandard operations terminology and structure involving “containment and cleanup” or “salvage,” and the commingling of public and private response funds. ICS's application to oil spill response is strengthened by the use of trained unified commanders, deputy incident commanders who operate as staff rather than line, crisis managers who support on-scene objectives, joint information centers, and heavy involvement of skilled, prepared environmental assessment teams in the planning section who generate priorities, strategies, and (operationally coordinated) tactics. Technically, not all these points constitute alterations of ICS, but most do and the others come close. This mixed bag of strengthening and weakening tweaks to oil spill ICS provides an opportunity to take a new look at this faithful friend to the crisis responder.

scholarly journals Swift Water Oil Spill Response Techniques

2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tim Gunter ◽  
Ty Farrell
Keyword(s):  
Best Practices ◽  
Oil Spill ◽  
Oil Spills ◽  
Safety Management ◽  
Action Plan ◽  
Organizational Structures ◽  
American Petroleum Institute ◽  
Hazard Identification ◽  
Incident Command ◽  
Oil Spill Response

ABSTRACT Swift water oil spill response (SWSR) has many different aspects that present more of a challenge than slow moving or static water oil spills. The American Petroleum Institute (API)/Association of Oil Pipelines (AOPL) Emergency Response Work Group's inland SWSR Guide will be a compilation of industry best practices describing initial spill response management and operational tactics in these uniquely challenging conditions. This paper will summarize the API Guide which focuses on the highest priorities of spill response including people, environment, and assets. The intended audience for this paper are responders that have baseline spill response knowledge. Operations managers will be able to use the API Guide to develop timely Incident Command System (ICS) 201 briefs, organizational structures, and Incident Action Plan (IAP) operational work assignments. Safety of responders will be emphasized, particularly site safety, and personal protective equipment (PPE). Site safety and job specific hazard identification best practices will inform responders, managers, and Incident Commanders of the important aspects of overall safety management. Site evaluation topics will cover the following areas: access, staging area, boat launches, shoreline composition, and wildlife considerations. Response strategies involving equipment for containment and recovery will be described for effective SWSR. Additional factors that must be considered include riverbed composition, current velocity, flow pattern, water depth, water course width, and obstructions. There is a limited amount of literature on the unique response techniques of SWSR developed by industry groups or governmental agencies.

ECOLOGICAL AND GEOMORPHOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT OF THE VULNERABILITY OF THE COASTS OF THE KARA SEA TO THE OIL SPILL

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Ermolov ◽  
Alexander Ermolov
Keyword(s):  
Oil Spill ◽  
Oil Spills ◽  
International System ◽  
Kara Sea ◽  
Coastal Protection ◽  
Sensitivity Index ◽  
Oil Spill Response ◽  
Expert Assessments ◽  
International Systems

International experience of oil spill response in the sea defines the priority of coastal protection and the need to identify as most valuable in ecological terms and the most vulnerable areas. Methodological approaches to the assessing the vulnerability of Arctic coasts to oil spills based on international systems of Environmental Sensitivity Index (ESI) and geomorphological zoning are considered in the article. The comprehensive environmental and geomorphological approach allowed us to form the morphodynamic basis for the classification of seacoasts and try to adapt the international system of indexes to the shores of the Kara Sea taking into account the specific natural conditions. This work has improved the expert assessments of the vulnerability and resilience of the seacoasts.

An assessment of toxic metals content in the marine sediments of the Shuaiba Industrial Area, Kuwait, after the oil spill during the Gulf War

1996 ◽  
Vol 34 (7-8) ◽  
pp. 203-210 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Al-Muzaini ◽  
P. G. Jacob
Keyword(s):  
Oil Spill ◽  
Marine Sediment ◽  
Oil Spills ◽  
Industrial Area ◽  
Gulf War ◽  
Oil Wells ◽  
Environmental Damage ◽  
Base Line ◽  
Sampling Locations ◽  
Very High

A field study was carried out involving seven fixed sampling stations. The sampling locations were selected to cover the distribution of pollutants in the Shuaiba Industrial Area (SIA), which was contaminated with oil released from oil wells and broken pipelines and with a vast amount of burnt and unburnt crude oil from the burning and gushing oil wells. The samples were collected biweekly between July 1993 and July 1994. The concentrations of V, Ni, Cr, Cd and Pb were determined and compared with the previously collected baseline data to assess the degree of environmental damage caused due to the oil spills during the Gulf war. The average concentrations (mg/kg) of various elements in the marine sediment were 17.3 for V, 30.8 for Ni, 55.5 for Cr, 0.02 for Cd and 1.95 for Pb. Our results show that even after the heavy spillage of oil, associated metal concentrations were not very high compared with previously reported base line values.

scholarly journals Next-Generation Smart Response Web (NG-SRW): An Operational Spatial Decision Support System for Maritime Oil Spill Emergency Response in the Gulf of Finland (Baltic Sea)

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (12) ◽  
pp. 6585
Author(s):  
Mihhail Fetissov ◽  
Robert Aps ◽  
Floris Goerlandt ◽  
Holger Jänes ◽  
Jonne Kotta ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Baltic Sea ◽  
Oil Spill ◽  
Situational Awareness ◽  
Oil Spills ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Response Strategy ◽  
Spatial Decision Support System ◽  
Next Generation ◽  
Oil Spill Response ◽  
The Baltic

The Baltic Sea is a unique and sensitive brackish-water ecosystem vulnerable to damage from shipping activities. Despite high levels of maritime safety in the area, there is a continued risk of oil spills and associated harmful environmental impacts. Achieving common situational awareness between oil spill response decision makers and other actors, such as merchant vessel and Vessel Traffic Service center operators, is an important step to minimizing detrimental effects. This paper presents the Next-Generation Smart Response Web (NG-SRW), a web-based application to aid decision making concerning oil spill response. This tool aims to provide, dynamically and interactively, relevant information on oil spills. By integrating the analysis and visualization of dynamic spill features with the sensitivity of environmental elements and value of human uses, the benefits of potential response actions can be compared, helping to develop an appropriate response strategy. The oil spill process simulation enables the response authorities to judge better the complexity and dynamic behavior of the systems and processes behind the potential environmental impact assessment and thereby better control the oil combat action.

OIL SPILL PREPAREDNESS: THE OIL INDUSTRY AND THE NATIONAL ARRANGEMENTS

1995 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 830
Author(s):  
D.J. Blackmore
Keyword(s):  
Oil Spill ◽  
Oil Spills ◽  
Oil Industry ◽  
State Governments ◽  
National Plan ◽  
Effective Response ◽  
Current State ◽  
Oil Spill Response ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Definition Of

It is vital that there is a credible and well organised arrangement to deal with oil spills in Australia.The National Plan to Combat Pollution of the Sea by Oil, the umbrella oil spill response plan for Australia, is a combined effort by the Commonwealth and State Governments, the oil industry and the shipping industry.The Australian Marine Oil Spill Centre (AMOSC), formed in 1991, is an industry centre set up for rapid response with equipment and resources, together with a training and industry coordination role.A review of the National Plan in 1992, identified, amongst a number of issues, that the National Plan needed to be re-focussed, to ensure full integration of all government and industry activities for the first time. This has led to greatly improved understanding between government and industry and significant improvements to Australia's oil spill response preparedness. The National Plan review has also resulted in a clearer definition of the responsibilities for operational control, together with the organisational structure to deliver a successful response.The current state of Australia's National Plan is such that it does provide confidence that there is the capacity to deliver an effective response to oil spills in the marine environment. Nevertheless, there is more to be done, particularly in the areas of planning and exercises.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document