Different sources of data on past oil spill incidents contain different kinds of information about each incident and different degrees of accuracy. The appropriate data can be used to develop spill statistics and spill rate relationships. This paper examines data on reported oil spills that have occurred in the United States. Characteristics studied include the number of spills, spill sizes, spill sources, and the types of oil spilled. Studying characteristics of past spills can help government and industry to determine the scope of oil spill prevention policies and response planning methods. The main data sources used for this paper include the Oil Spill Intelligence Report's International Oil Spill Statistics annual summaries and the National Response Center online database. This report provides a discussion of the accuracy of information from sources of oil spill data, to help support the development of spill statistics and spill rate relationships.

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Author notes

1 Opinions and assertions expressed in this paper are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the U.S. government.