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ARRT approves dispersant plan; new policy for Alaska oil response
During its Jan. 27 meeting the Alaska Regional Response Team approved the issue of a new plan for the use of dispersants in an Alaska offshore oil spill response. The ARRT is the advisory board to the U.S. Coast Guard oil spill response on-scene commander and coordinates government policies for responding to oil spills in Alaska.
A significant feature of the plan, which replaces an earlier plan dating from 1989, is the inclusion of a zone where the use of dispersants would be pre-approved, offshore southern Alaska, the Alaska Peninsula and the Aleutian Islands. A key concern that the new plan addresses is the possibility of a marine accident involving a crude-carrying oil tanker in transit off the Alaska Coast, Mark Everret, Coast Guard co-chair for the ARRT, told the ARRT meeting. The implementation of the pre-authorization zone requires industry to stage dispersant and dispersant application equipment at appropriate locations.
24 months to comply Industry now has 24 months to comply with the requirements of the pre-authorization zone, while the terms of other aspects of the plan go into immediate effect, Everret said.
Dispersants accelerate the rate of bacterial decomposition of oil in seawater by breaking the oil into tiny droplets and distributing the droplets through the water column, rather like the action of dish soap on greasy plates. Dispersants were used extensively in the response to the oil spill following the Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.
Dispersants can be controversial, with some people saying that the use of the technique can cause irreparable environmental damage while others say that dispersants can prevent the oiling of shorelines and other environmental impacts.
The U.S. Coast Guard has in the past taken a position that, although the mechanical recovery of oil is the preferred means of responding to an oil slick, dispersants provide another response tool that could be used if necessary.
Two years of review Everret told the ARRT meeting that publication of a final version of the Alaska dispersant use plan follows two years of review of a draft version of the plan, involving significant public outreach as well as consultations with tribal entities in Alaska. More than 500 public comments on the plan were submitted, and several changes were made to the plan as a result of points that were raised, he said.
Finally, the revised plan and the public and tribal comments were reviewed twice by all of the various state and federal agencies involved in the ARRT, Everret said.
The new plan includes greater inclusivity in decision making over the planning for and use of dispersants; is more comprehensive; and presents a more protective dispersant use policy than the plan it replaces, he said.
- ALAN BAILEY
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