Oil Spill Response Organizations News

Oil spills into ocean waters, subject to winds and tides and spreading swiftly over wide areas, are difficult to clean up.The 3,000-barrel weekend spill off the coast of southern California is nowhere near as disastrous as mega-spills like the Deepwater Horizon explosion that sent millions of barrels of oil into U.S. waters of the Gulf of Mexico. But swift movement of the liquids can kill wildlife and foul beaches before cleanup teams are deployed. Federal and state responders begin fighting oil spills by deploying diving teams…

Congress enacted the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA 90) a mere 17 months after the disastrous oil spill following the grounding of the tanker Exxon Valdez in Prince William Sound. Among the many provisions in the voluminous bill was a detailed planning requirement. For the first time, tank vessels and facilities handling oil in bulk were required to develop extensive plans for responding to a worst case discharge of oil into waters of the United States. As regards vessels and marine-transportation-related facilities, the U.S.

Emerging spill response trends fit into two big categories: technology and a combination of economic and social forces. Both will shape what comes next.Florida’s stunning Tampa Bay stands out as exactly the kind of place where you have to think about hazardous materials emergencies. It was 25 years ago, on August 10, 1993, that a freighter collided with two barges near the entrance of Tampa Bay, causing a fire and spilling over 32,000 gallons of jet fuel, diesel, and gasoline and about 330,000 gallons of heavy fuel, devastating beaches, wildlife and habitat.

Eight vessels with a combination of skimming packages, boom and absorbents have been deployed in response to an oil spill on the Mississippi River near Gramercy, La. The U.S. Coast Guard said it received a report Thursday morning from the National Response Center of stating oil was discharged from Petroleum Fuel and Terminal Mt. Airy during a transfer from the facility to a barge at mile marker 144.6 on the Mississippi River. Officials estimate that 2,500 gallons has been spilled. The Coast Guard conducted two overflights and deployed multiple teams to assess impacts. Oil spill response organizations OMI Environmental Solutions and Environmental Safety and Health are also responding, while the Center for Toxicology & Environmental Health LLC is conducting air monitoring.

The National Oil Spill Response Research and Renewable Energy Test Facility has been an integral part of the spill response community for more than three and a half decades. Tucked away on the shores of the Sandy Hook Bay in central New Jersey resides Ohmsett – The National Oil Spill Response Research and Renewable Energy Test Facility. It has been an integral part of the spill response community for more than three and a half decades. Government agencies, private industry, and oil spill response organizations from around the world have visited the facility for testing, research and training.

DA WEST is a USA Woman Owned Small Business, manufacturing diesel powered equipment to a diverse client base. All products are listed on the GSA ADVANTAGE schedule. The firm provides products to the military, NOAA, Tug and Barge Companies and oil-spill response organizations. DA West builds portable diesel equipment solutions using only the best and toughest components. The firm manufactures diesel trash pumps, fire pumps, air compressors, generators and hydraulic power packs. All of their equipment can be built to meet tier 4 emissions standards.

The U.S. Coast Guard is investigating a report of an oil spill in the Los Angeles Harbor, Thursday morning. Watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector Los Angeles/Long Beach command center received a report at 10:48 a.m. of an unknown quantity of oily-water mixture coming from a holding tank residing on the Vopak Terminal. Coast Guard investigators from Sector Los Angeles/Long Beach are currently investigating the report. A majority of the oil released has been reported as being contained on the pier, however, some of the oil water mixture entered the water. Oil spill response organizations including the National Response Corporation, Ocean Blue, and Patriot Environmental are conducting clean-up operations using oil skimmers and absorbent pads.

Last month Maritime Reporter had the good fortune to receive insights from a trio of maritime salvage leaders – Paul Hankins, Tim Beaver & Jim Elliott – garnering insights on one of the most challenging and ever-changing sectors of the maritime market. It was recently written “salvors have become more closely tied to Oil Spill Response Organizations (OSROs).” Why? Hankins The Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA90) defines how all stakeholders will respond to potential or actual oil spill responses.

The Coast Guard Marine Industry Training Program offers incredible opportunities for Coast Guard employees to intimately learn specific facets of the marine industry. Participants of the program work directly for industry partners for up to 1 year. In addition to building superior government/industry working relationships, the program affords industry sponsors an opportunity to share detailed business considerations and limitations, so that Coast Guard regulatory activities most effectively promote safety, while limiting undue burden on the maritime industry.

Joe Farrell needs no introduction to the marine salvage community or, for that matter, MarineNews readers. Originally from the Boston, Mass., area, he began by enlisting in the United States Coast Guard, eventually attending the U.S. Navy diver school, becoming a ship’s diver. After two years at sea and diving in Arctic waters, he volunteered for service and became an explosives advisor, offloading ammunition ships in Vietnam. Eventually, Farrell became a civilian diver at the U.S.

A new NOAA report that examines national oil pollution threat from shipwrecks has been presented to the U.S. Coast Guard. With as many as 20,000 recorded shipwrecks in NOAA’s database, the May 2013 report finds that just 36 sunken vessels scattered across the U.S. seafloor could pose an oil pollution threat to the nation’s coastal marine resources. Of those, 17 were recommended for further assessment and potential removal of both fuel oil and oil cargo. Based on vessel contents…

Not long after specialized tank ships were developed, enabling the carriage of large quantities of oil and petroleum products, groundings, collisions, and other casualties started causing significant oil spills. In those early days, there was no financial incentive to clean up such spills. To the extent that there was a response, it was often by Good Samaritans, a term derived from a parable found in the Bible at Luke 10:25-37 about a stranger from Samaria who, with no thought of reward, came to the aid of an injured robbery victim in Judah.

Oil Spill Response Limited (OSRL) and Clean Caribbean & Americas (CCA) join up to meet the needs for global oil spill response. Oil Spill Response Limited (OSRL) is an industry-owned cooperative which exists to respond effectively to oil spills anywhere, anytime. OSRL provides preparedness, response and subsea well intervention services and works closely with other industry organisations e.g. IMO and IPIECA to share expertise and develop knowledge. OSRL will acquire CCA’s assets and personnel, with CCA’s Fort Lauderdale base in Florida becoming a regional response base supporting OSRL’s global response capability. Members of CCA will become Members of OSRL and thus receive membership services from OSRL going forward.

Coast Guard, Response Agencies deploy equipment for oil-recovery training in Michigan waters. Members of the U.S. Coast Guard, Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, oil spill response organizations, Enbridge Energy Partners and several other agencies this week participated in a unique exercise out of St. Ignace, Mich., Monday through Wednesday, during which several techniques for recovering spilled oil and other hazardous materials from icy waterways were tested and evaluated.

Coast Guard Sector Los Angeles-Long Beach and California Fish and Game personnel are investigating the cause of an unintentional discharge of 710 gallons of diesel fuel oil from the Motor Tanker Aljalaa, during an internal transfer of diesel at Tesoro’s Terminal at Berth 84A in the Port of Long Beach, Feb. 21 at approximately 7:30 p.m. The USCG, DFG, and the vessel's emergency response management company, O’Brien’s Response Management, immediately established a Unified Command at the Tesoro Long Beach Terminal to provide an aggressive and timely response to the incident and to answer any media and general public calls. Several oil spill response organizations responded to contain and to recover discharged product, and to minimize environmental impacts.

(June 11, 9:00 a.m. MODERATOR: Good morning. Welcome to today’s briefing. We’ll follow the standard format today. Admiral [Thad] Allen will give the daily update and then we’ll take 10 minutes of questions from the floor and 10 minutes from the phone. Admiral? ADMIRAL ALLEN: Thank you. Good morning. Since it’s Friday, I thought I’d review some of the basic numbers of the response and talk a little bit about some strategic issues regarding the skimmers which are becoming increasingly important in this response as it spreads out (inaudible). Be glad to answer any questions you may have for me at that point. Just to summarize where we’re at on this Friday regarding people—about 25,000 are on the ground down there. This has become the largest oil spill response in our nation’s history.

In response to regulations enacted on March 1, 2010 on the Prevention and Control of Vessel-Induced Marine Environment Pollution, a Hong Kong based firm – OSRO China Ltd - has laid the foundation for a consortium of oil spill response contractors throughout China’s ports that fulfills China’s latest pollution control legislation. OSRO China was founded as a result of the Chinese Government’s recent approval of the Regulations of The People’s Republic of China on the Prevention and Control of Vessel Induced Marine Environment Pollution. Of particular concern to ship owners was the requirement for pollution control agreements to be executed with local Oil Spill Response Organizations for ships carrying hazardous substances or of greater than 10,000 Gross Tonnes (GRT).

The Office of the Governor of California said that Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed into law various bills to enhance oil spill prevention and response and to increase the oversight and accountability of state pilots. Among the bills are S.B. 1739 that requires oil spill response organizations to demonstrate deployment of response resources and S.B. 1627 that moves the Board of Pilot Commissioners under the oversight of the Business, Transportation, and Housing Agency. Source: HK Law

U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) last week called on the Coast Guard to strengthen standards for preparedness and recovery in the wake of the Cosco Busan oil spill. Senator Feinstein urged the Commandant of the Coast Guard to update the prepared contingency plan for the San Francisco area. Senator Feinstein also urged the Coast Guard to require that all ships carrying a large amount of fuel be double-hulled. Senator Feinstein’s letter comes in the wake of a disappointing preliminary report released by the Coast Guard last week, which analyzed the response to the Cosco Busan spill.

NRC Contractors, Adam Wilkison, Collin Potts and Ron Broadway, put up a barrier of think plastic to prevent fuel from escaping the containment area around a damaged tank at the BP Harbor Island Seattle Terminal Dec. 6. The Coast Guard, Washington Department of Ecology and BP worked with NRC contractors to keep any of the fuel from entering Puget Sound. NRC contractors meet to discuss their plans to keep diesel fuel from escaping a damaged tank and entering into Puget Sound at the BP Harbor Island Seattle Terminal Dec.