Spill Prevention — Phase II

Since the enactment of the Water Quality Improvement Act of 1970 considerable progress has been made in contingency planning and spill response. Of the estimated 10,000 oil spills which occur annually, actions have been taken in the majority of the cases to remove the spilled oil from the environment. However, the actual amount recovered is still small compared with the estimated spillage rate of ten million gallons per year. Improved cleanup technology can reduce the amount of oil remaining in the environment but only through implementation of Phase II — Spill Prevention will the number of incidents be reduced.

This paper discusses the EPA prevention program as it relates to national oil spill problems. The national program revolves around the spill prevention, control and countermeasure (SPCC) concept which incorporates contingency planning, spill response and prevention into one single comprehensive program. This approach permits flexibility in design and encourages innovation so that each facility may develop an optimum plan to eliminate spills. It is recognized that a facility's age, location and function must be evaluated to determine the best balance between prevention measures and effective spill response. The first phase of this program has been initiated through special provisions of the Refuse Act Permit Program. The program will be expanded with the promulgation of the oil prevention regulation which is being developed in accordance with Section 11(j)(l)(C) of the FWPC^* Act as amended.