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ARRT proposes new dispersant procedures Revised plan for oil spill response would include an area around Alaska coast where use of dispersants would be pre-authorized Alan Bailey Petroleum News
The Alaska Regional Response Team, or ARRT, the advisory board to the U.S. Coast Guard oil spill response on-scene commander, is proposing changes to guidelines for the use of oil dispersants in the event of an oil spill offshore Alaska. The most significant component of the changes, which would bring the Alaska plan into line with the national oil spill contingency plan, is the inclusion of a zone offshore southern Alaska, the Alaska Peninsula and the Aleutian Islands where the use of dispersants would be pre-approved.
The U.S. Coast Guard is conducting a series of public outreach meetings and meetings with Alaska tribal government representatives, to explain the proposals and gather comments. The proposed plan changes must go through a 90-day public review period, ending Feb. 14, after which the ARRT will take into consideration the comments it receives before publishing a final version of the plan.
The potential for the use of dispersants in response to an Alaska offshore oil spill is a subject that has caused controversy in the state, with some people claiming that dispersant use would cause irreparable environmental damage while others say that dispersants can prevent the oiling of shorelines and other environmental impacts.
Dispersants accelerate the rate of bacterial decomposition of oil 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.
Needed in toolkit Lt. Veronica Colbath, external affairs officer for the U.S. Coast Guard, told Petroleum News Nov.18 that the preferred method of dealing with an oil slick after an oil spill is the mechanical recovery of oil from the water but that dispersants provide another tool that might have to be used if necessary.
“It’s important to have every tool available and dispersants is one of those tools,” Colbath said.
Mark Everett, the Coast Guard co-chair for the ARRT, told Petroleum News that the revised guidelines address concerns about the possibility of an oil tanker accident, especially in the Cook Inlet and Prince William Sound regions or on the international sea route that passes close to the Aleutians. Under federal regulations the inclusion of a dispersant pre-authorization zone in the Alaska contingency plan will mandate industry to maintain a stock of dispersant and dispersant application equipment, at the ready in case of a tanker accident. At present industry does maintain a stock of dispersants in Alaska but does so on a voluntary basis, Everett said.
Currently, if an offshore oil spill occurs in Alaska waters, the federal on-scene commander for the spill response makes a decision on whether to use dispersants, following a request for dispersant use by the entity that is responsible for the spill. But state authorities and the Environmental Protection Agency must concur with the on-scene commander’s decision and must also conduct consultations with the National Marine Fisheries Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service before a final decision is made, Everett explained.
Decision must be reviewed If an oil spill were to occur in the proposed dispersant pre-authorization zone, the federal on-scene commander’s decision would still have to be reviewed by the state and the Environmental Protection Agency, but a pre-approved decision process would improve the efficiency with which a decision could be finalized, Everett said. And a requirement to conduct testing of dispersant use before full-scale dispersant application would continue to be part of the regulations, he said.
Additionally, under the proposed new guidelines, stakeholders in the Alaska oil spill contingency plan will have 24 months after approval of the revised plan in which to identify any areas within the dispersant pre-approval zone where dispersants use should be avoided.
Everett also emphasized that, apart for the process for reviewing the proposed plan changes, Alaska residents can express views or concerns about any element of spill response planning through participation in Alaska subarea contingency planning committees. And the proposed new guidelines encourage the greater involvement of multiple stakeholders in the decision making process during a spill response, Everett said.
Tribal involvement Review of the proposed new guidelines includes consultation with Alaska tribal governments and the guidelines would require the involvement of federally recognized tribes in the dispersant decision-making process during a spill response. However, the Alaska Intertribal Council, an organization that advocates for Alaska tribal governments, has issued a statement claiming that the proposed procedure undermines required consultations with tribal governments by allowing dispersant use during a spill response without the agreement of tribal authorities.
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