EPA's National Response Team Legally Responsible for Oil Spill Clean Up

Climate Audit ^ | June 2, 2010 | Steve McIntyre

[HonestConservative]

EPA and the “National Contingency Plan” Did any of you know that the US supposedly has a National Contingency Plan for dealing with very large oil spills? And that EPA has legal responsibility for maintaining readiness for such an eventuality? Who knew? I’ve watched hours of coverage and this hasn’t been mentioned anywhere. The National Oil and Hazardous Substances Contingency Plan Act was signed into law in 1994 (superceding previous legislation that went back to the 1969 Torrey Canyon oil spill.) Laws and regulations are collated here. The EPA has an online book describing the National Continency Plan.

[HonestConservative]

See for example http://www.epa.gov/oem/docs/oil/edu/oilspill_book/chap7.pdf (change the number to get other chapters.) The EPA manual says: WHEN A MAJOR oil spill occurs in the United States, coordinated teams of local, state, and national personnel are called upon to help contain the spill, clean it up, and ensure that damage to human health and the environment is minimized. Without careful planning and clear organization, efforts to deal with large oil spills could be slow, ineffective, and potentially harmful to response personnel and the environment. In the United States, the system for organizing responses to major oil spills is called the National Response System. One of the principles of the National Contingency Plan is that an effective and prompt response is a national priority. The chair and vice-chair of the National Response Team are to come from EPA and the Coast Guard. The EPA manual says: AFTER THE PLAN is developed, it is important to test it to see if it works as anticipated. Testing usually takes the form of an exercise or drill to practice responding to a spill. Also, in a first reading, the presumption of the legislation is that dealing with major problems is a national interest and the government will take charge. The idea behind the plan is that there will be national readiness to deal with oil spills and that EPA will lead the national readiness. Section 3.1.1 (h) states: Direct planning and preparedness responsibilities of NRT [national Response team] include: (1) Maintaining national preparedness to respond to a major discharge of oil that is beyond regional capabilities. MMS, who have borne the brunt of criticism of government activities, play little to no role in the National Contingency Plan – based on my initial reading – and definitely a very minor role relative to EPA. MMS does not appear to be a member of the National Response Team (though 300.175 notes that MMS may have useful information and can be called on through the Dept of Interior representative). I’ve noticed EPA involvement in worrying about dispersant toxicity, but otherwise EPA seems to have been surprisingly invisible given the prominent role assigned to them in the National Contingency Plan. I’ve only browsed the legislation and manuals and it’s not an area about which I speak authoritatively. I invite readers to look through the Act, regulations and manuals and comment on the degree to which EPA and other agencies have met their statutory obligations. Please do so in relatively technical terms and avoid the temptation to hyperventilate.

[EmilyGeiger]

Right now they are in hiding, crafting a cap and trade bill!

[HonestConservative]

Key Point:

“The idea behind the plan is that there will be national readiness to deal with oil spills and that EPA will lead the national readiness. Section 3.1.1 (h) states: Direct planning and preparedness responsibilities of NRT [national Response team] include: (1) Maintaining national preparedness to respond to a major discharge of oil that is beyond regional capabilities”.

My hat is off to Mr. Steve McIntyre of Climate Audit for his important work.
Go there, bookmark it!

[HonestConservative]

And killing the coal industry.

[pingman]

They probably pissed the money allocated for this future effort down the federal spending rabbit-hole many moons ago...

[HonestConservative]

It went to Acorn and to Union Pension Funds; you know important national security things like that. /s

[steelyourfaith]

 

Beam me to Planet Gore !

The Competitive Enterprise Institute will bestow the Julian Simon Award on Steve McIntyre and Ross McKitrick for their efforts in debunking Mann's hockey stick at CEI's 2010 Dinner, June 17 at Hyatt Regency Capitol Hill 400 New Jersey Ave. NW Washington, DC 20001.

[HonestConservative]

Wow thanks!

[phockthis]

now use it against these b—tards

[dblshot]

We have MSRC Marine Spill Response Corporation Vessels standing by for oil spill response. See www.msrc.org. Here's what they have going on this so far.
MSRC - Oil spill response in the Gulf of Mexico during the Deepwater Horizon incident 5 May 2010
As you know, we have an unprecedented response going on in the Gulf of Mexico. Currently, we have eight Responder Class vessels from their normal home ports from Delaware Bay to Corpus Christi, Texas actively involved. All are in skimming operations near the incident site with the better weather now after several days of poor overall off-shore conditions. This also includes three of our off-shore barges for lightering the Responder Class vessels. We have also activated the Maine Responder and the New Jersey Responder which are in transit to the Gulf. Additionally, we have both of our dispersant program aircraft, the C130 and the King Air 90 operating and MSRC is acting as overall coordinator for two additional C130s from the Air Force, one additional commercial C130 and five additional spotter King Air 90. We are also overseeing over 1,000 contractor personnel providing shoreline support. Three of our Emergency Communications Packages have also been deployed.
We recognize that all of you are concerned about MSRC's ability to meet your planning requirements throughout our Operating Area. As you can appreciate, this has been a very dynamic situation and we have worked many hours with the USCG in addition to California OSPR and Washington DOE.
So it's not like there isn't a plan in place but...and it's a big but...The vessels can skim oil from the surface but not from beneath the surface and EPA's dispersent spraying just disperses oil so it can't be corraled with booms and skimmed up. Same problem is going to effect Kevin Costner's centrifuges which is actually old technology based on water being heavier than oil you can spin oily water and the out side of the spinning wheel will be water and the inside oil. Costner says one centrifuge can handle 200,000 gallons a day but that counts the water and is a literal drop in the bucket compared to the Gulf of Mexico. might have some use in harbors but dispersants will also negatively effect centrifuges if they are still present.

[Matchett-PI]

Obama’s Katrina

McIntyre:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/bloggers/2505164/posts?page=203#203

[HonestConservative]

Good to know more that the Old School and dying media is NOT reporting.

Thank you.

If only the president (achem) could come out like a man and explain the issues and what needs to be done, as well as you have here, instead of setting up his buddies for their future lawsuits against BP.

He wanted to be president, but he didn’t want the responsibility, clearly.

As far as Mr. Cosner is concerned, he isn’t a scientist, but he must have stayed at a Holiday Inn last night.

[HonestConservative]

Thank you, clearly I never saw it.

[SueRae]

Great post!!! bookmark.

[HonestConservative]

Looking at it now.

Love the post turtle comment of yours! There is a great many terrific posts there.

Thanks again.

Trying to reach Mr. McIntyre......

[HonestConservative]

More:

http://www.openmarket.org/2010/06/04/obama-uses-bp-oil-spill-to-push-corporate-welfare-filled-global-warming-bill-that-bp-once-lobbied-for/print/

Obama Uses BP Oil Spill to Push Corporate-Welfare-Filled Global Warming Bill That BP Once Lobbied For
Posted By Hans Bader On June 4, 2010 @ 7:22 pm In Agriculture, Deregulate to Stimulate, Economy, Employment, Energy, Environment, Ethanol, Global Warming, Health and Illness, International, Legal, Mobility, Natural Resources, Politics as Usual, Precaution & Risk, Regulation, Sanctimony, Trade, Zeitgeist | 1 Comment

Talk about chutzpah. President Obama, the biggest recipient [1] of campaign cash from BP, is using BP’s oil spill [2] to push for a global warming bill that is chock full of corporate welfare [1] and environment-destroying ethanol subsidies [3]. And the bill is one crafted by lobbyists for big companies like BP [4]: “For years, BP has lobbied for climate change legislation, until recently running around with the U.S. Climate Action Partnership.”

The Obama Administration has done little [1] about the oil spill, even though “BP’s oil gusher is in federal waters, on seabed leased [4] from the federal government,” giving the government the moral responsibility to do something to stop the spill. Instead, it is adding insult to injury for suffering Gulf Coast residents by imposing a ban on oil drilling that will wipe out at least 20,000 jobs [5] in the Gulf, and perhaps more, according to Louisiana’s governor.

The ban doesn’t apply just to BP, a company with an unusually bad safety record which has been described as a “serial environmental criminal [1].” Instead, it applies to the oil industry generally, including the vast majority of oil companies that make safety a priority in drilling (and whose oil wells did not spill even during hurricanes).

Democratic strategist James Carville, who was raised in Louisiana, called Obama’s handling of the oil spill “lackadaisical [6]“ and “unbelievable [6]“ in its “stupidity [6].”

Until recently, the Obama administration ignored the pleas of Louisiana’s governor to allow Louisiana to build barrier islands [7] to contain the damage from the oil spill, citing bureaucratic procedures. Yet the Obama administration granted BP a waiver [8] from environmental regulations in April 2009. ABC News reports that [9] the “top recipient of BP-related donations during the 2008 cycle was President Barack Obama himself, who collected $71,000.”

The global warming legislation backed by President Obama would also drive jobs overseas, since it would impose a costly cap-and-trade carbon rationing scheme on American industry, while leaving foreign plants operated by multinational corporations unregulated. Companies with plants overseas are lobbying for the global-warming legislation [10], which would give them an advantage over American competitors. The legislation Obama backs may perversely increase pollution [11] by driving industry overseas to places with fewer environmental regulations.

[HonestConservative]

If you have contact info for Mr. McIntyre, please freepmail me.

[Incorrigible]

Steve McIntyre is a North American hero.

[Enterprise]

I'm shocked. All this time there has been a plan for just this type of disaster, and when it happens, the Government fails. They might have well have appointed Ray Nagin as head of the EPA for all the good the EPA has done. As for Carol Browner it bears repeating:

"You're doing a heck of a job Brownie."

[Caipirabob]

Raid the EPA, seize all their assets and confiscate the passports of all their major officials prior to the audit and investigation.

Then have congress cut their fundings to ZERO, the IQ of the President.