NANA Oilfield Services broke oil spill rules; will pay $37,500 penalty

North Slope fuel distributer NANA Oilfield Services has settled with the EPA, or Environmental Protections Agency, over multiple violations of the Clean Water Act spill prevention rules and spill response requirements at the company’s Deadhorse fuel storage and distribution facility, EPA announced Dec. 8.

“Companies that store large amounts of fuel must be prepared to prevent and respond to fuel spills to protect people’s health and the environment,” said Jeff Kenknight, manager of EPA Region 10 wastewater permits compliance unit when announcing the violations. “Companies must have comprehensive oil spill prevention and response plans in place and available to facility staff so they will be prepared if a spill occurs.”

Apparently EPA inspectors found that, while the Deadhorse facility had a required spill prevention and response plan, NANA had not filed a more detailed facility response plan with EPA. That more detailed plan is a legal requirement for a facility such as the one at Deadhorse that can store 1 million or more gallons of fuel, EPA said. The response planning rules are designed to prevent the discharge of oil-based materials into navigable waters and adjacent shorelines, and to demonstrate a facility’s capability to respond to a worst case spill - a facility response plan addresses the higher risk associated with a larger capacity facility, EPA said.

EPA also said that its inspectors had noted that NANA personnel were not properly trained in oil spill response and could not answer basic questions about spill response at the facility. In addition, a jet fuel pipeline running from the facility to an adjacent airstrip did not have required secondary spill containment arrangements, the agency said.

NANA has agreed to a $37,500 penalty for the infringements and has now come into compliance with spill prevention, control and countermeasures regulations, EPA said.

- Alan Bailey