Transcript Oil Spill Response Plans A History Lesson PHMSA Review and Approval Alan Mayberry

U.S. Department of Transportation
Pipeline and Hazardous Materials
Safety Administration
Oil Spill Response Plans
A History Lesson
PHMSA Review and Approval
Alan Mayberry
July 12, 2012
U.S. Department of Transportation
Pipeline and Hazardous Materials
Safety Administration
What Law Requires Oil Spill Response
Plans?
• Plans are required by the Federal Water Pollution Control
Act, as amended by the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 - The
Clean Water Act (CWA)
– PHMSA reviews oil spill response plans for Onshore Oil
Pipelines
– U.S. Coast Guard reviews oil spill response plans for
vessels and onshore marine facilities
– U.S. EPA reviews oil spill response plans for nontransportation-related onshore facilities
– U.S. DOI / Bureau of Safety and Environmental
Enforcement reviews plans for offshore facilities
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U.S. Department of Transportation
Pipeline and Hazardous Materials
Safety Administration
What does the Clean Water Act*
Require?
• CWA assigned several oil spill related activities to the
President
– Oversight of oil handlers (Storage, transport, or use)
– Regulations that establish Spill Plan Requirements
– Spill Plan Review and Approval
• Compliance and Enforcement procedures
– Conduct Spill Response Drills, including unannounced
– Response Equipment Inspections
*Federal Water Pollution Control Act of 1972
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U.S. Department of Transportation
Pipeline and Hazardous Materials
Safety Administration
How are these requirements of the
CWA carried out?
• The CWA is silent about which agency/ies should
perform spill prevention and response duties.
• Executive Order 12777 of 1991 ordered DOT/
PHMSA to:
– Promulgate regulations requiring operators to
submit response plans
– Review and approve (qualified) spill response
plans for onshore oil pipelines
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U.S. Department of Transportation
Pipeline and Hazardous Materials
Safety Administration
How are these requirements of the
CWA carried out?
EO 12777, as amended by EO 13826, assigns the
following duties to the Coast Guard:
• conduct oil spill exercises
• inspect spill containment booms and removal
equipment.
• coordinate with other Departments and Agencies
to minimize the burden on its regulated industry.
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U.S. Department of Transportation
Pipeline and Hazardous Materials
Safety Administration
PHMSA Spill Response Plan Activity
History
• In the first years of plan review, two Federal employee
managers managed contractors, who performed:
– Technical Plan Review- ensuring plans contained all
required elements
– Spill drill design and evaluation
• After 2005, contractors were no longer used
– PHMSA FTEs undertook plan review, approval, and
record keeping functions
– PHMSA decided to discontinue discretionary spill drills
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U.S. Department of Transportation
Pipeline and Hazardous Materials
Safety Administration
What must be in a Spill Response Plan?
• The plan must:
– Certify consistency with requirements of the National
and Area Contingency Plans,
– Identify the qualified individual (QI) with full authority to
implement remove actions, and require communications
between the QI and appropriate Federal official,
– Identify and ensure the availability of private personnel
and equipment necessary to remove a worst case
discharge, and to mitigate a substantial threat of such a
discharge,
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U.S. Department of Transportation
Pipeline and Hazardous Materials
Safety Administration
What must be in a Spill Response Plan?
• The plan must describe:
• training,
• equipment testing,
• periodic unannounced drills, and
• response actions of facility personnel to mitigate or
prevent the discharge, or the substantial threat of a
discharge.
• The plan must:
– Be updated periodically, and resubmitted after each
significant change.
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U.S. Department of Transportation
Pipeline and Hazardous Materials
Safety Administration
What review does PHMSA perform?
• Plans for facilities that could leak oil and cause significant
and substantial harm to the environment must be
submitted for review
• For plans submitted by onshore oil pipeline operators,
PHMSA will:
– Review these plans promptly,
– Require amendments to any plan that does not meet the
requirements,
– Review each plan when resubmitted for review.
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U.S. Department of Transportation
Pipeline and Hazardous Materials
Safety Administration
The CWA and Part 194 do not provide
discretion for plan approval.
• The CWA states that the approving official, “shall . . .
approve any plan that meets the requirements” of 33 USC
1321. (Requirements identified in slides 7 and 8.)
• 49 CFR § 194.119(d) states, “… OPS will approve the
response plan if OPS determines that the response plan
meets all requirements of this part.”
• If required elements are not present, PHMSA cannot
approve the plan. 49 CFR § 194.119(b).
• Once PHMSA identifies each required element, PHMSA must
approve the plan.
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U.S. Department of Transportation
Pipeline and Hazardous Materials
Safety Administration
Facilities must await PHMSA plan
approval prior to beginning operations
• An oil handling facility that could cause significant and
substantial harm to the environment:
– May not handle, store, or transport oil unless its
plan has been reviewed and approved,
– Must operate in compliance with the plan.
• An operator may operate a pipeline while awaiting approval
of a submitted response plan for up to 2 years IF the
operator certifies the availability of private personnel and
equipment necessary to respond to a worst case discharge
or a substantial threat of such a discharge. 49 CFR §§
194.7 and 194.119(e).
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U.S. Department of Transportation
Pipeline and Hazardous Materials
Safety Administration
What else does the CWA require to
prevent releases of oil into U.S.
waters?
• Periodic inspection of containment booms, skimmers, and
equipment to remove discharges
• Periodic drills of removal capability, without prior notice
• Executive Orders 12777 and 13826 assigned these duties
to the Secretary of DHS (U.S. Coast Guard).
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U.S. Department of Transportation
Pipeline and Hazardous Materials
Safety Administration
PHMSA has cooperated with other
12777 Agencies to reduce burden
• These efforts have aligned all of the agency requirements,
and minimized the burden for operators under more than
one agency’s regulations
– Preparedness for Response Exercise Program (PREP)
• Common Operator oil spill response exercise
requirements
• Credit granted across agencies when drills or real
spills are managed and properly documented
– The “One-Plan” Integrated Plan
• Common formatting and content across all agencies
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U.S. Department of Transportation
Pipeline and Hazardous Materials
Safety Administration
Lessons Learned
• Marshall, MI Incident demonstrated the need for
– Enhanced interagency coordination and communications
– Improvement of PHMSA’s plan review process and
procedures
• Differences among 12777 agencies requirements may have
affected some aspects of incident management
• Need better means to share plan information with
responders during incidents
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U.S. Department of Transportation
Pipeline and Hazardous Materials
Safety Administration
Actions Taken Since Marshall
• PHMSA:
– More staff now designated for plan-review activities
– Initiated An Internal Audit of plan-review activities
(requested last year and commenced last month)
– Designed and conducted a high-level table top oil
spill drill involving the Office of the Secretary
– Participating in an interagency revision of the PREP
Guidelines
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U.S. Department of Transportation
Pipeline and Hazardous Materials
Safety Administration
Actions Taken Since Marshall
• PHMSA:
– Developed secure, electronic means to pass Plan
Content to FOSC and incident personnel
– Met with Senior USCG officials and established an
interagency coordination group
– Joined a USCG / DOI BOEMRE* workgroup to improve
plan content review and utility
* Workgroup dealt with interagency plan issues
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U.S. Department of Transportation
Pipeline and Hazardous Materials
Safety Administration
PHMSA is changing its review process
• Recognized need for more resources in 2010
– Requested addition eight inspectors (FY12) for oil-spill
related duties
– Not approved by Congress
• PHMSA wishes to integrate spill response plan review with
the other inspection activities performed by regions
• Reassessed all existing plans
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U.S. Department of Transportation
Pipeline and Hazardous Materials
Safety Administration
PHMSA is changing its review process
• PHMSA issued an Advisory Bulletin to operators to ensure
response resources during the Deepwater Horizon incident.
Many operators responded with revised plans.
• PHMSA has revised its plan review criteria and procedures.
• PHMSA is integrating operator’s compliance officials into the
plan review process in addition to the plan preparer.
• PHMSA now considers an operator’s incident and accident
history in context with that plan review,
• PHMSA is doubling its participation in Operator drills and
will incorporate findings into the plan review process.
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U.S. Department of Transportation
Pipeline and Hazardous Materials
Safety Administration
Path Forward
• PHMSA will:
– Examine NTSB response plan findings and
recommendations.
– Continue improvement of plan review practices.
– Consider if better alignment with EPA and USCG plan
standards is needed.
– Better integrate oil spill plan responsibilities and Pipeline
Safety Inspection Program.
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