United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
EPA-600/9-80-063
December 1980
Research and Development
Emergency Spills
Research Strategy
1980-1984
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EPA-600/9-80-063
December 1980
Emergency Spills Research Strategy
1980-1984
Prepared jointly by:
Office of Water and Waste Management
and
Office of Research and Development
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Washington, DC 20460
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Preface
Beginning in 1977, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) undertook
a comprehensive review of its research planning and management and
reported its findings to the Congress, submitting The Planning and Manage-
ment of Research and Development in June, 1978. To address some of the
problems identified, a pilot project was initiated to examine the feasibility of
planning research and development programs by committees representing
the Agency's primary organizational elements. This project was the first at-
tempt within EPA at a major joint planning effort between its research,
regulatory, and operational components. Research committees were formed
to plan programs in five areas—drinking water, industrial wastewater,
pesticides, mobile source air pollution and paniculate air pollution. Each
committee was co-chaired by the Office of Research and Development
(ORD) and the appropriate regulatory organization—the Office of Water
and Waste Management; the Office of Air, Noise and Radiation; or the Of-
fice of Pesticides and Toxic Substances.
The Municipal Wastewater and Spills Prevention Research Committee
was established in mid-1979 and charged with the responsibility, among
others, to develop a research and development strategy for oil and hazardous
materials spills and municipal wastewater. In view of the considerable dif-
ferences between the technologies and Agency focus for municipal
wastewater and spills, the committee decided to develop two strategies, one
for Municipal Wastewater R&D and one for Spills Prevention R&D. This
document deals only with the latter. The strategy reflects the current
perspectives of Agency research requirements and research capabilities. The
document will serve as the basis for detailed planning in those ORD
laboratories implementing research on emergency spills prevention and con-
trol. To be properly responsive to evolving regulatory priorities and emerg-
ing scientific finding, however, the strategy will be subject to at least one an-
nual revision, in concert with EPA's planning and budgeting cycle.
Stephen J. Gage / Eckardt C. Beck
Assistant Administrator for Assistant Administrator for
Research and Development Water and Waste Management
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Contents
1.0 Executive Summary 1
2.0 Introduction 3
3.0 Organization 5
4.0 Research Plan 7
Background 7
Hazardous Substance Spill Program 10
Oil Spill Program 14
Monitoring Systems and Quality Assurance 17
Summary of Resource Distribution 19
List of Tables
1 Spill Technology Developed by ORD 8
2 Spill Program History of Resources 10
3 Hazardous Substance Spill Manuals 14
4 Schedule of Subobjective Outputs for Hazardous
Substances Spills 15
5 Hazardous Substance Spill Program Resource Allocation 16
6 Oil Spill Manuals 17
7 Schedule of Subobjective Outputs for Oil Spills 18
8 Oil Spill Program Resource Allocation 19
9 Schedule of Subobjective Outputs for Monitoring Systems
and Quality Assurance 20
10 Resource Summary for ORD Spill Program 20
111
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1.0 Executive Summary
This paper presents the results of the planning efforts
of the EPA Municipal Wastewater and Spill Preven-
tion Research Committee on emergency spills
research and development required by the Agency. In
order to be responsive to the needs of the Agency, the
committee includes representatives from the Office
of Research and Development, Office of Water and
Waste Management, Office of Enforcement, Office
of Toxic Substances, Office of Planning and
Management, EPA Regions I, II, and V, and the
various ORD laboratories.
The research strategy addresses the prevention and
control of the spillage of oils and hazardous
substances. Coordination with the Solid Waste
Research Committee has been maintained
throughout this effort to establish areas of respon-
sibility for R&D historically performed through the
solid waste decision unit. Responsibility for uncon-
trolled waste site R&D is in the solid waste decision
unit. A decision was made between these two com-
mittees, with program office concurrence, to place
responsibility for risk assessment and incineration at
sea R&D in the purview of the Solid Waste Commit-
tee also. This affects program planning for fiscal year
1982.
The purpose of the emergency spills R&D program
is to provide technical information to prevent the
release of oil and hazardous substances to the en-
vironment and to mitigate the environmental effects
of such" a release. Specifically, the program "concen-
trates on the development of technology and techni-
ques for preventing, controlling, removing, and
ultimately disposing of oil and hazardous substances
released to the environment. It also provides an
assessment of the ecological and health impacts from
such a release, and technology and techniques for the
restoration of the environment.
The scientific activities needed by the program of-
fices, as provided by their committee representatives,
are described in three program areas: hazardous
substances spills, oil spills, and monitoring systems
and quality assurance.
The objective of the R&D performed under the
monitoring systems and quality assurance program
element is to provide specialized analytical support,
overhead monitoring, chemical and biological
laboratory field support, and quality assurance to the
investigations of spills. These technical services will
be available for emergency support, as well as
cleanup and enforcement activities. The ORD ac-
tivities in this area utilize a limited number of in-
house experts, supported by contracts and interagen-
cy agreements, to offer unique capabilities to the pro-
gram and regional offices.
The objectives of the R&D performed under the oil
and hazardous substances spills areas are to develop,
evaluate, and demonstrate new or improved equip-
ment, devices, and systems for the prevention, detec-
tion, identification, containment, control, and
removal of oil and hazardous substances released to
the environment. The development of this hardware
is carried beyond the prototype stage to the point
where it is ready for field implementation by the
commercial community. The program also defines
techniques for the redevelopment and restoration of
ecosystems that have been biologically damaged as a
result of pollutant releases. The methodology for
mitigating the effects of these releases is also iden-
tified.
The ORD resources allocated to the emergency
spills R&D program were $2,472,000 and 16 PFT in
fiscal year 1980. The resources requested in the fiscal
year 1981 budget are $2,799,500 and 16 PFT. Present
plans call for a small increase in funding for 1982 and
subsequent years. The additional funding and per-
sonnel will be programmed primarily to hazardous
substances spills R&D. This is in line with the
established priorities of the Agency and the needs of
the program offices.
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2.0 Introduction
This paper presents the results of the planning efforts
of the EPA Municipal Wastewater and Spill Preven-
tion Research Committee on spills research and
development required by the Agency. The committee
includes representatives from the Office of Research
and Development, Office of Water and Waste
Management, Office of Enforcement, Office of Tox-
ic Substances, Office of Planning and Management,
EPA Regions I, II, and V, and the various ORD
laboratories.
This research strategy addresses the spillage of
hazardous substances and oils. The National Con-
tingency Plan promulgated by the Council on En-
vironmental Quality (CEQ) under the mandate of the
Clean Water Act requires EPA and the U.S. Coast
Guard to respond to spills as defined in the Act. EPA
is responsible for the containment and cleanup of
spills of oils or hazardous substances in or proximate
to (so as to endanger) the waters of the U.S. in inland
areas, while the Coast Guard has the responsibilities
for coastal areas and the Great Lakes. The dividing
line between agency jurisdictions is specifically de-
fined in Regional Contingency Plans. Because of the
broad applicability of the legislative definitions and
the similarity of response, the EPA program offices
have included the response to uncontrolled waste
sites in their planning for oil and hazardous
substances spills response. Uncontrolled waste sites
containing hazardous materials which pose an im-
mediate threat to the health and welfare of the public
are not addressed in this strategy except to mention
areas of possible technology transfer from the spills
program.
The spill problem in the U.S. is enormous. The ac-
tual annual number of spills in the U.S. is difficult to
assess, although it is estimated that it is well in excess
of the 15,000 spills reported. Vast sums of money
and manpower are being expended throughout
government and industry in an effort to prevent spills
and, when they occur, to minimize environmental
degradation. A spill generally contaminates all three
environmental media—the air, land, and
water—whenever a spill occurs. The problems are ex-
tremely diverse, involving a multidimensional matrix
of thousands of substances and mixtures, volume
spilled, location and condition of the spill site, and
weather. The number of spills requiring response ac-
tion is expected to increase because of: 1) the increas-
ing quantity of hazardous materials being handled,
and 2) the recently promulgated regulations requiring
that spills of hazardous substances be reported.
The Agency does not have sufficient manpower or
equipment to respond to all these spills. It is an-
ticipated that the use of contractors for spill removal
will continue into the indefinite future. Also, state
participation is expected to increase as public
pressure demands immediate action at the scene of a
spill and, in fact, state response personnel often ar-
rive on the scene prior to EPA due to travel time.
However, the Federal Water Pollution Control Act
(FWPCA) requirement to provide an On-Scene
Coordinator (OSC) at a spill site cannot be delegated.
Therefore, qualified personnel must be available to
perform this very necessary response function. In
areas of EPA jurisdiction, it is the headquarters pro-
gram office, in coordination with the EPA Regional
Offices, that is required to pro vide this on-scene sup-
port.
In the past, the OSC has found that expertise in
state-of-the-art spill technology is available at the
ORD research.laboratories. These laboratories have
developed equipment and techniques specifically
designed to assist the OSC at a spill. Much of this
equipment has been thoroughly demonstrated and is
now commercially available.
The task of this research committee is to recom-
mend the direction of the future R&D program in the
area of spill prevention, response, and assessment.
This document analyzes each of these areas and
recommends an allocation of Agency resources to
perform the proposed R&D.
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3.0 Organization
The Office of Research and Development (ORD)
program for spills is administered primarily by two
offices. The Office of Environmental Engineering
and Technology (OEET) is responsible for the ma-
jority of spill response-related R&D, while the Office
of Monitoring and Technical Support (OMTS) is
responsible for aerial surveillance and quality
assurance. Additional spill-related R&D is ad-
ministered by the Office of Health Research (health
effects) and the Office of Environmental Processes
and Effects Research (ecological effects). Each pro-
gram is described separately and all are necessary to
ORD support of the program offices: the Office of
Water and Waste Management (OWWM) and the
Office of Enforcement (OE). The OEET administers
the oil spill and hazardous substance spill program
under two separate decision units. Under the research
committee system of program planning, former deci-
sion units have been consolidated under the commit-
tees for fiscal year 1982. The oil spills and hazardous
substances spills programs will remain in two deci-
sion units, energy and nonenergy, that include
monitoring systems and quality assurance, and risk
assessment R&D.
The third portion of the spills R&D program is ad-
ministered by the Office of Monitoring and
Technical Support (OMTS) and provides the pro-
gram offices with aerial surveillance and support
which they consider absolutely necessary in the per-
formance of their obligations under Section 311 of
the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (as amend-
ed). Additional monitoring systems and quality
assurance R&D is not oriented toward spills at this
time but rather is directed toward measurement of
the consent decree pollutants. The benefit to the spill
program is indirect in that 122 of the 299 designated
hazardous substances are also consent decree toxic
pollutants. Also, the quality assurance program is ex-
pected to expand in the future to analytical methods
for industrial discharges.
Health effects R&D is currently administered by
the Office of Health Research. No current work is
specifically directed toward spills or emergency
response. Current spills-related R&D is directed
toward determining the health effects of con-
taminated drinking water and the health impacts of
wastewater treatment and sludge management.
Because spills can and do contaminate drinking
water, this research is indirectly related to spills. The
results of this type of research are available to the
On-Scene Coordinator through the Office of Drink-
ing Water's "Suggested No Adverse Response
Level" (SNARL) System.
Ecological effects R&D is administered by the
Ecological Effects Division of the Office of En-
vironmental Processes and Effects Research under
several decision units. None of these specifically ad-
dress the effects of spills. However, several are in-
directly related in a manner similar to the health ef-
fects R&D. The ecological effects program includes
effects of toxic substances in fresh and marine water.
Bioassay R&D for aquatic toxicity may be of
assistance in decision making in the use of disper-
sants, determining the point of termination of
cleanup efforts, or for designating substances as
hazardous. This office is responsible for the ongoing
aquatic monitoring program called "Mussel
Watch." The data from this program may be useful
as a baseline, prespill assessment of the spill environ-
ment.
Research and development efforts directed toward
finding a solution to the problem of uncontrolled
waste sites is administered from the solid waste deci-
sion unit. This decision unit includes all the Agency
R&D efforts in solid waste: municipal, mining, and
industrial. These efforts are in direct support of the
program office requirements to meet the legislative
mandates of the Resource Conservation and
Recovery Act of 1976 (RCRA) and include a com-
prehensive health and ecological risk assessment
R&D program. Because initial response to uncon-
trolled hazardous waste sites is similar to spills
response, the Municipal Wastewater and Spill
Prevention Committee is closely coordinating R&D
planning efforts with the Solid Waste Research Com-
mittee.
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4.0 Research Plan
This section presents the recommended research and
development plan for oil spills and hazardous
substance spills for the period fiscal year 1980 to
1984. The format of the section highlights specific
problems that have been identified by the program
offices and ORD and then presents the proposed
ORD support in the problem area. The order of
discussion of the program does not indicate priorities
but rather follows a logical progression of analyzing
a spill situation. The program presented here does
not specifically address the problems at uncontrolled
waste sites. This area is considered in the solid waste
research strategy. The fact that the use of many of
the techniques and guidelines being developed for
spill response will be useful to the program offices
and to the response personnel at these sites has been
recognized by both research committees.
Background
EPA is required to perform three functions dealing
with emergency spills under the mandate of the
Federal Water Pollution Control Act (FWPCA), as
amended, and the National Contingency Plan pro-
mulgated under its authority:
• promulgate regulations and guidelines for the
prevention, designation, control, removal, and
disposal of oil and hazardous substance spills
• provide enforcement of these regulations and the
penalty provisions of FWPCA
• provide On-Scene Coordinators (OSCs), specially
trained and equipped, to monitor and advise in the
control, removal, and disposal of spilled materials
and restoration of areas damaged by the release of
oil or designated hazardous substances
ORD has provided support to the program offices to
meet these legislative mandates since FY 70.
EPA has promulgated regulations under the
authority of Section 311 of the FWPCA dealing with
the spillage of oil or hazardous substances including
the spill prevention, control and countermeasure
(SPCC) requirements (40CFR112), the designation
of hazardous polluting substances (40CFR116), the
determination of reportable quantities of hazardous
substances (40CFR117), and the penalty provisions
for discharges (40CFR114). The Office of Research
and Development (ORD) has supported the program
offices in the past by providing data to substantiate
these regulations. Examples of how ORD support is
reflected in regulations include an historical analysis
of spill accidents to determine where SPCC re-
quirements would.be most effective, and the use of
aquatic toxicity data supplied by the ORD En-
vironmental Research Laboratories at Narragansett,
RI, and Gulf Breeze, FL, to determine what
substances are to be designated as hazardous.
In addition to regulations, EPA has prepared
guidelines to assist both industry and government to
plan for and respond to spill situations. These
guidelines are prepared by ORD at the Oil and Haz-
ardous Materials Spills (OHMS) Branch (Edison,
NJ) of the Municipal Environmental Research
Laboratory (MERL) at Cincinnati, OH, as well as
the Environmental Monitoring and Systems
Laboratory at Las Vegas, NV. The guidelines pro-
vide suggested methods for responding to, clean up
of, and mitigation of effects of spills. ORD also pro-
vides support at the scene of a spill by offering
technical assistance personnel for on-site response,
cleanup, aerial surveillance, analytical support, and
mitigation.
The development of new techniques and equip-
ment has traditionally been an ORD function in sup-
port of the program offices and industry in general.
These developments enhance the solid technical data
support for regulations by providing industry with
newly developed technologies. Industry acceptance
of these technologies for commercialization is one
objective of the federal R&D program. The oil spill
and hazardous substance spill program has an ex-
cellent record in this regard.
Past Successes
There are a number of technologies that have been
developed by ORD for use in the event of a spill.
Many of these technologies have been developed and
demonstrated, some have been made commercially
available by industry or private contractors. Table 1
lists the spills equipment developed by ORD, in-
cluding equipment available for field use from in-
dustry or private contractors.
There are additional, one-of-a-kind devices that
are ready for field use. This equipment has been
developed by ORD but has not yet been commer-
cialized by the private sector. All these devices are
currently available to an OSC on request, often ac-
companied by technical assistance from the En-
vironmental Emergency Response Unit (EERU). The
EERU is a concept originated at the MERL that was
designed to form a model nationwide spill response
and control capability for situations where the use of
complex cleanup equipment and techniques are in-
volved. The EERU, a group of contractor and EPA
personnel, has capabilities for the shakedown and
field demonstration of prototype equipment and
techniques that have been developed under EPA
sponsorship arid direction by various grantees and
contractors. The following equipment, on standby
and ready for field use, is in addition to the pro-
totypes of the units available commercially. This
equipment is also listed in Table 1.
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Table 1
Spill Technology Developed by ORD
Commercially Available
• Mobile physical/chemical treatment system using granular activated carbon (built by O.K. Materials, Inc., Findlay,
OH)
• Cyclic colorimeter for detection of heavy metals in water (marketed by Calspan Corp., Buffalo, NY)
• Hazardous materials detection kit to detect and monitor the location of chemical spills in water when the identity of
the chemical is known (marketed by Hach Co., Ames, IA)
• Organo-phosphate pesticide detection and warning system (manufactured by Midwest Research Institute, Kansas
City, MO)
• Foam dike system which provides an "instant dike" from a portable backpack apparatus for the emergency
containment of spilled hazardous substances (marketed by MSA Research Corp., Evans City, PA)
• Acoustic emission earth dam spill alert device, a passive device for determining the stability of earthen dams
containing hazardous chemicals (supplied by two U.S. firms and a British firm)
• Dynamic inclined plane skimming system—a vessel for removing spilled oil from choppy harbor waters at 2 knot
currents (marketed by J.B.F. Scientific Corp., Burlington, MA)
Field-Tested Prototype
• Mobile Chemical Laboratory—consisting of a^sophisticated complement of instruments (GC, IR, AA, etc.) for
performing analyses at oil spills and chemical emergency situations in remote field locations
• Spill Assessment Laboratory—consisting of a self-propelled laboratory, equipped to perform in-field treatability
studies for cleanup of hazardous material spills and industrial dumpsites
• Safety/Decontamination/Office Trailer—a mobile field office and safety station to provide office space for the EPA
On-Scene Coordinator at a cleanup, a storage location for safety and communications equipment, and emergency
shower for spill site personnel
• Mobile Stream Diversion System—a trailer-mounted pumping and piping system for the diversion (up to 3000 feet) of
small (up to 12.5 CFS) streams that have been contaminated by spills for the purpose of isolating the contaminated
segment of the stream to facilitate cleanup operations
• Mobile Froth Flotation System—a trailer-mounted froth flotation system to clean oil contaminated beach sand
• Pump/Collection Bag System—a pallet-mounted emergency collection bag and pumping system, consisting of a
7000-gallon furled teflon-coated urethane bag and battery-powered or explosion-proof gasoline motor-driven pumps,
for temporarily storing spilled hazardous chemicals
• Gelling Agent System—a trailer-mounted multi-purpose gelling-agent system for solidifying and immobilizing spilled
hazardous liquids and preventing their penetration through the soil into groundwater supplies
• Spill Alarm System—an in-stream warning system consisting of a number of individual probes and sensors (TOC,
conductivity, UV absorption, etc.) for the continuous detection of a broad variety of spilled hazardous materials in
water
• Enviro-pod Aerial Monitoring and Surveillance—a compact reconnaissance system designed to be secured to a
widely available aircraft to provide vertical and forward-looking photographic images to high resolution
• Water Jet Boom System—a system capable of moving spilled oil horizontally relative to the water it floats on (even
in the presense of waves) for either diverting the oil in high water currents or increasing the effective encounter
width of skimming equipment
• Oil Dispersant Application System—a system of port and starboard spray booms and associated pumps, hoses, and
fittings, designed to be installed on a vessel for the application of oil-dispersing chemicals to an oil spill at a rate of
268 acres per day
• Mobile Decontamination Station—a semitrailer van designed to support the personnel decontamination needs of
cleanup activities involving highly toxic materials
Prototype Undergoing Operational Testing
• Powdered Activated Carbon System—a mobile physical/chemical treatment system designed to use powdered
carbon, and including provision for flash mixing with chemical addition, flocculation, settling (with sludge
dewatering), mixed-media filtration, and associated support equipment
• Mobile Carbon Regenerator—a mobile carbon reactivator system, designed for field use in reactivating carbons used
on environmentally sensitive compounds such as Kepone, dioxin, or PCBs which cannot be either transported or
commercially reactivated; system consists of kiln, fume incinerator, quench section, and scrubber section
• Mobile Soils Grouting/Detoxification System—a soil treatment system designed to inject grout, chemicals, or
microbiological materials into soils for the purpose of reducing groundwater movement or in-place washing or
detoxification of soils that have become contaminated with spilled hazardous materials or leachates from
uncontrolled industrial waste sites
Under Development
• Mobile Incinerator—a system consisting of three semitrailers equipped with a rotary kiln, an afterburner and an air
pollution control train for the incineration of toxic organic compounds
• Mobile Soils Washing System—a soils cleaning system designed to separate spilled PCBs or other compounds from
soils on-site
8
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In addition, there are three prototypes undergoing
operational testing that will soon be ready for field
use. These devices are listed in Table 1. These include
a powdered activated carbon system, a mobile car-
bon regenerator, and a mobile soils grouting/detox-
ification system.
Finally, equipment for spill control, removal, and
disposal that are currently under development in-
clude a mobile incinerator and a mobile soils washing
system. The mobile incinerator is a prototype system
for the incineration of compounds such as Kepone or
dioxin at spills or uncontrolled hazardous waste sites;
the system consists of three semitrailers equipped
with a rotary kiln, an afterburner, and an air pollu-
tion control train. The mobile soils washing system is
a prototype system designed to separate spilled PCBs
or other compounds from soils at the scene of spills
and at uncontrolled waste sites.
In addition to the field use equipment, procedures,
and guidelines, there are two fixed facilities, ad-
ministered by MERL, that have been proven to be
successes: the Oil and Hazardous Materials
Simulated Environmental Test Tank (OHMSETT)
and a highly sophisticated analytical laboratory
facility. OHMSETT, located near Edison, NJ, is the
major fixed facility of the spills program. It consists
of a pile-supported concrete tank with surface dimen-
sions of 667 feet long and 65 feet wide, filled with
water to a depth of 8 feet. It provides an environmen-
tally safe place to conduct testing and development
of devices and techniques for the containment and
cleanup of spilled oil and hazardous pollutants. The
facility has been used by EPA, the Coast Guard,
Navy, Army, Department of Energy and others, in-
cluding the recent testing of Russian equipment.
The analytical laboratory provides an in-house
capability for conducting studies to develop and
evaluate methods and techniques for the identifica-
tion, detection, and quantification of spilled oil and
hazardous substances. The laboratory is also used to
conduct pilot plant studies on small-scale models of
full-scale field cleanup equipment. Examples of the
past successes with this laboratory are the following
new analytical methods and procedures developed to
provide quick response to the immediate needs of
response personnel in the field. These analytical
methods are effective and essential during emergency
incidents but are not official or approved EPA
methods:
• a new technique for monitoring parts per million
(ppm) levels of hazardous substances by nuclear
magnetic resonance spectrometry
• an improved technique for polychlorinated
biphenyl analysis by gas chromatography
• a new fluorescence spectroscopic method for the
direct quantification of hazardous materials in
water
• an analytical method for differentiating between
synthetic and petroleum-derived automotive lubri-
cating oils
• a new method for the rapid quantification of
petroleum oils and hazardous materials in sedi-
meuts by synchronous excitation fluorescence
spectroscopy
The aerial surveillance program operated from the
EPA Environmental Monitoring and Systems
Laboratory (EMSL) in Las Vegas, NV, is also sup-
ported by the ORD spills program. This program
provides on-scene personnel with aerial photographs
and analyses from contractor aircraft and Enviro-
pod support by the laboratories at Las Vegas, NV,
and the Environmental Photographic Interpretation
Center, Warrenton, VA, within 6 to 24 hours of a re-
quest. This assistance, particularly in the event of
spills that preclude the entry of personnel because of
hazardous conditions or terrain, is considered in-
valuable to the program offices and regions. In addi-
tion to the operational uses, this highly visible pro-
gram is used to inform the media as well as Congress
and other federal, state, and local authorities. It is
used by the Office of Enforcement in case prepara-
tion and evidence as well as by the Office of Water
and Waste Management for spill prevention,
response, and analysis, and locating and evaluating
uncontrolled waste sites. Aerial photography is also
used by the Office of Environmental Review in
reviewing impact statements. This very versatile tool
in the ORD spill program requires additional refine-
ment to improve its capabilities even further by
developing a real-time television and a thermal in-
frared capability in addition to the present
photographic capability.
There are numerous other pieces of equipment and
laboratory procedures that have been developed for
the EPA spills program. Each piece of equipment has
been developed to serve a specific purpose for a par-
ticular problem, and when taken as a group, can pro-
vide the OSC with broad coverage at most spill
events. This does not mean that the problems the
program offices .and Regional Offices face have been
solved. There are many problems that require further
analysis. The next portion of this background section
describes the resources which have been used to
develop this equipment and also outlines the current
spills program..
Current Spills Program
The current R&D program for oil and hazardous
substance spills was designed to develop, evaluate,
and demonstrate new or improved equipment,
devices, and systems for the prevention, detection,
identification, containment, control, removal,
cleanup, and recovery of spills or acute releases of oil
and hazardous polluting substances. The develop-
ment of hardware and techniques is carried beyond
the prototype stage to the point where it is ready for
field implementation by the commercial community.
Techniques are being developed for the redevelop-
ment and restoration of ecosystems that have been
biologically damaged as a result of spills, and
methods for mitigating the effects of discharges are
being identified. The objective of the spill program is
to demonstrate technology for protecting the water,
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land, and air from accidental releases and for identi-
fying environmentally sound methods for the
disposal of contaminated wastes associated with
cleanup operations.
The recent increased emphasis on spills of hazard-
ous substances is reflected in the program budget by
the relative funding in the oil spill and hazardous
substance spill areas. The needs of the Agency are
not reflected in the total spill program budget,
however, since the FY 79/80 budget is at an all-time
low at a time when the Agency has assigned the
highest priority to emergency spill response activities.
Table 2 shows the historical resource levels of the
spill program separated into three parts: hazardous
substance spills, oil spills, and surveillance and
analysis. The program offices have expressed their
requirements in these areas and they believe it is im-
perative that the program support be continued.
Hazardous Substance Spill Program
The Agency hazardous spills R&D program supports
three functions of OWWM and OE:
• promulgation of regulations for the prevention,
control, and removal of spilled oil and designated
hazardous substances
• development of guidelines and technologies for the
control and removal of spilled substances and
demonstration of their effectiveness
• enforcement of the regulations
In addition, the efforts expended in support of the
Oil and Special Materials Control Division
(OSMCD) fill an important gap in technology and
protocol that the Regional Offices and the states need
for response and enforcement action in the event of a
spill. The Office of Solid Waste (OSW) will also
benefit from this program, as many of the
technologies developed can be used in the Agency
response to uncontrolled waste sites. Although the
responsibility has been transferred to OSMCD from
OSW, new techniques for sampling, monitoring, and
preventing leaching will be required to substantiate
the regulations promulgated by OSW under the
authority of the Resource Conservation and
Recovery Act of 1976. The areas of need in the hazar-
dous substance spill program encompass: informa-
tion transfer, prevention, prespill response planning,
spill site safety, spill assessment, containment and
confinement, separation and concentration, fate and
effects, and restoration. Specific program office
needs in each of these areas will be discussed in the
following paragraphs.
Spill Information Transfer and Prevention of
Hazardous Substance Spills
The OWWM has requested ORD assistance in the
following areas of information handling and spill
prevention, particularly in the pesticide application,
chemical manufacturing, transportation, and waste
disposal industries:
• determine the causes of past spills
• determine the feasibility and cost-effectiveness of
spill prevention through risk analysis
• develop spill prevention techniques and equipment
• provide aggressive, credible information transfer
through shakedown and demonstration of field
usable R&D techniques and equipment
The best method of reducing the impact of hazar-
dous substance spills on the environment is to pre-
vent the spills from occurring. An historical examina-
tion of accidents can indicate operating procedures
Table 2
Spill Program History of Resources
Fiscal Year
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
Oil Spills Program
extramural3
in-houseb
PFT<=
Hazardous Substance
Spills Program
extramural3
in-houseb
PFT<=
1720
400
8
1104
300
4
2054
400
8
988
300
5
616
400
6
955
300
5
1933
400
6
2065
300
6
1305
400
6
1452
300
6
833
600
4
1092
410
7
563
400
4
1135
470
7
310
274
4
1150
303
7
Subtotal ($K)
Surveillance and
Analysis
in-houseb'd
PFT<=
Total ($K)
PFTc
3524
not
3524
12
3742
available
3742
13
2271
2271
11
4698«
4698e
12
3457
250
3
3707
15
2735
250
3
2985
14
2568
250
3
2818
14
2037
435
5
2472
16
'Dollars In thousands
bEstimate
cProfesslonal, full-lime personnel working directly on spill program
''No extramural budget. Anticipate support to be on reimbursable (Section 311k) basis
"Includes transition quarter (5 quarters In FY 76)
10
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and equipment that led to the accident and can be
analyzed for the means of reducing the probability of
having a similar accident in the future. A portion of
the ORD spill program is dedicated to the develop-
ment of technology to reduce the number and severi-
ty of hazardous spill incidents. The Department of
Transportation has promulgated regulations directed
toward the safe transportation of hazardous
materials. The EPA program should develop
technologies and protocols for increasing safety at
impoundment areas, plants, loading sites, and
storage facilities. The Agency also should maintain
close coordination with the Department of Transpor-
tation to improve safety and reduce accidents during
the transportation of hazardous substances.
The output of the prevention portion of the hazar-
dous spill program will be used by manufacturers and
users of hazardous chemicals to select and install fail-
safe level gages, transfer lines, etc., and will allow
government and industry to more readily recognize
spill-prone situations. This research will also provide
the basis for mandated federal regulations on spill
prevention. The recommended program for FY 80-85
for the prevention of hazardous spills includes a pro-
gressive program to first statistically analyze
historical spill data and then, utilizing the results of
this analysis, develop and demonstrate fail-safe
devices for the prevention of spills in the areas of
greatest benefit. The analysis will take into con-
sideration not only the probability of occurrence, but
other aspects such as frequency, cause, volume, and
cleanup cost as well.
A similar approach will be taken to analyze the
chemical manufacturing, transportation, and waste
disposal industries to ascertain the areas of greatest
cost-effectiveness for chemical and waste handling
technology. The results of this analysis will be used to
establish priorities for the development of prototype
spill prevention techniques and equipment for these
industries.
In the area of pesticide application, ORD expects
to complete a report on the prevention and control of
spillage from aerial and ground applications of
pesticides in FY 80. This report will provide the
background information for establishing guidelines
for industrial users of pesticides.
A unique feature of the hazardous spills program,
and one designed to aggressively implement tranfer
of technology from the R&D community to the com-
mercial user community, is the shakedown and
demonstration of new equipment and techniques
developed for improved control of hazardous
material spills. As mentioned above, the develop-
ment of new technology is carried from the concept
stage, through prototype or technique development,
to the final stage of field use or commercialization.
Frequently, devices and techniques are developed by
research organizations with limited field experiences,
but strong scientific and engineering backgrounds.
Such new developments may require modifications to
be actually "field-usable." A specific step is now be-
ing provided by the EERU, described above, to
"shake down" prototype equipment and experimen-
tal techniques at actual spill situations. This shake
down permits the Agency to gain firsthand ex-
perience in the new approach before EPA represents
to the user community that an improvement is actual-
ly available. EERU represents a transition between a
device undergoing development and one which is
"operationally ready" or available for potential
commercialization. The shakedown and demonstra-
tion activities of EERU, coupled with the extensive
technical assistance activities of OHMS Branch per-
sonnel, provide OWWM with a continuous flow of
credible new technologies. In addition, OWWM
gains a technically sound basis for response to and
control of unusual and nonroutine spill situations.
The above research and development has a goal of
providing the program offices with technical infor-
mation that will eventually lead to the promulgation
of guidelines for establishing a "standard of care."
This particular phrase encompasses not only spill
prevention, but control, removal, and site restoration
as well. The guidelines will provide the OSC with a
scale to assess the efforts made by a spiller when the
OSC must make a recommendation for enforcement
action and the assessment of penalties. At the same
time, these guidelines will provide an incentive for a
potential spiller to expend his best efforts at using
state-of-the-art measures to prevent spills, clean up
after a spill, and restore the spill site.
Prespill Reponse Planning, Safety, and Spill
Assessment
This portion of the hazardous spill program deals
with the development of techniques for effective in-
itial response to, and management of, spills. The pro-
gram offices have requested ORD support in the
following areas related to initial response and
management:
• prespill response planning
• protection of response personnel
• spill identification and detection
• impact prediction: air, surface water, ground-
water, and land
Past successes by ORD have resulted in commer-
cially available detection and identification kits and a
personal protective clothing ensemble. Additional
work is required to ensure that rapid notification and
proper response is made to any spill. The rapidity of
effective response has a direct bearing on controlling
the severity and extent of a spill incident. Effective
response to hazardous material spills by personnel
first-on-scene is most often the result of strong
prespill planning and coordination. Further, at the
time of the spill, responders need quick, accurate in-
formation on what was spilled and on the type of per-
sonal protection required. Experience shows that
dependence on bills of lading and placards is fre-
quently misleading and often dangerous. Firemen
and emergency personnel who first respond to spills,
officials who assess information and issue warnings
and alerts, and cleanup and response crews will all
make use of the equipment and procedures being
11
-------
developed under this portion of the hazardous spill
program. As a result, these individuals will be able to
plan for maximum effective use of local resources,
detect/identify the spilled material, track spill move-
ment (especially in waterways), predict arrival times,
assess countermeasures, and ensure the availability
and use of appropriate protective clothing and other
safety equipment. The spill movement prediction
work is being closely coordinated with the Coast
Guard Chemical Hazard Response Information
System (CHRIS) and, particularly, the modeling
system called Hazard-Assessment Computer System
(HACS).
A recommended program of R&D to meet the
needs of the program offices in this area of the
hazardous spill problem will develop and
demonstrate protective equipment, safety devices
and safety techniques for spill response personnel.
This effort is a continuation of the program that
developed the protective clothing ensemble.
Another objective of the R&D program is the
development of materials for use at the state and
local level to assist with the preparation of effective
contingency plans. Effective local-level first-on-scene
response depends upon prior planning to take max-
imum advantage of resources available through
police and fire organizations, civil defense organiza-
tions, and local industry. Such planning must be
coordinated with area-wide mutual-aid ar-
rangements, as well as with state and federal
resources that can be applied to given spill situations.
Supplementary to the development and organization
of local resources is an assessment of local hazard
potential to identify areas of high spillage probabili-
ty, and local vulnerabilities where spills might have
severe human health or environmental consequences.
Current demand for guidance on the subject of
prespill planning is very intense at the local level, as
more municipalities find themselves inadequately
prepared for situations that could have been
reasonably .forecasted as to likelihood, location and
approximate effects.
The longer term requirements of the program of-
fices will be supported by R&D in two other areas.
The first of these will encompass the development of
computer modeling of spill plume movement. This
will provide response personnel with the capability of
predicting the movement of hazardous substances in
air, surface waters, and ground waters. This effort
will be closely coordinated with the development of
the Coast Guard HACS system which presently
predicts the movement of substances in air and sur-
face waters.
The other area of longer term support will be the
development and demonstration of field kits and
flow-through spill alarm systems. Previous efforts in
this area have resulted in the commercially available
test units discussed in Section 3. Future efforts will
continue this work for spill identification and detec-
tion. These projects will also be useful to Agency
response groups for initial assessments at uncon-
trolled waste sites, as well as at the site of a hazard-
ous spill.
Spill Containment and Confinement, and Spill
Separation and Concentration
The objective of this portion of the hazardous spill
program is to develop technology to limit the extent
of a spreading spill and to separate the spilled
material from the air, water, soil and sediments that
have been impacted. The program offices have re-
quested support in the following areas:
• develop and demonstrate containment and con-
finement equipment and techniques
• develop and demonstrate technologies for on-site
separation of spill materials from treatment agents
and impacted environmental media, and concen-
tration of dispersed spilled materials
• develop and demonstrate techniques for the con-
trol of volatile substances
• provide technical support for field use of spill con-
trol technologies
The Federal Water Pollution Control Act
(FWPCA), as amended, clearly mandates that
hazardous spills be removed or the effects mitigated
and that the Agency specify approaches and equip-
ment. The EPA hazardous substances designation
regulations have been promulgated (FR 50766, Aug.
29, 1979, effective 28 September 1979), and the hard-
ware and procedures are needed. There is con-
siderable demand from federal, state, and local agen-
cies, as well as from private cleanup contractors, for
equipment which is being or has been developed by
EPA. Previously commercialized equipment was
discussed earlier. Within this portion of the spill pro-
gram, additional equipment is being developed to
clean up/remove spills of common organic
chemicals, toxic heavy metal salts, pesticides, and
complex industrial wastes.
The effectiveness and cost of spill cleanup ac-
tivities is directly related to the intensity and areal ex-
tent of a spill situation. The number of individuals
impacted and the severity of the impact from both
human health and safety and from ecological view-
points are also directly related to the physical extent
of the spill. Thus, techniques to limit spill movement
or spreading by containing or confining the spill are
very cost-effective and environmentally beneficial.
In light of this, technology development for con-
tainment and confinement is progressing from a
focus on spills of tank car capacity on land or in con-
fined water bodies to spillage from barge or tanker
accidents in unconfined waters, spills of vapors and
gases in air, and spills into soils, sediments, and
groundwaters. Some of these technologies have
already been developed to the point of being accepted
for commercialization by private contractors.
A second part of this technology development is
the separation and concentration of spilled hazard-
ous substances. The development of technologies for
the on-site separation of all removed, spilled hazar-
dous substances from the treatment agents and
12
-------
cocollected materials (such as air, sediments, soils,
and water) is sorely needed by field personnel. This
technology serves two purposes in that it directly
enhances the cost-effectiveness of cleanup opera-
tions, while decreasing the danger of secondary in-
cidents by minimizing the volume of material that
must be transported offsite to a suitable disposal
location. An on-site capability of concentrating the
(previously dispersed) spilled hazardous substance
provides potential for reuse of the spilled material
and its treatment agents. The ultimate user of these
technologies will be government personnel and
private contractors who are engaged in spill cleanup
operations, as well as spillers that have cleanup
capabilities in-house. The effort in this area will pro-
vide guidance and equipment for the recovery of
cleanup agents and collected hazardous substances,
and will result in the conservation of energy and
resources by salvaging the hazardous substances and
by preparing the collecting agents for reuse.
The third part of this portion of the R&D program
for spill control deals with the problem of air pollu-
tion in the event of spills of gases or volatile hazard-
ous substances. Mitigation of air pollution incidents
involving hazardous substances is of major concern
to public health and safety officials. The danger to
the public health and welfare is acute and the effects
of a spill are potentially catastrophic, particularly in
urban areas on major transportation routes. ORD is
primarily attempting to provide guidance and readily
available equipment to the first-on-the-scene person-
nel. These response personnel need guidance in the
use of available equipment in order to significantly
retard the rate of transfer of the spilled material to
the air column or effectively inhibit the flow of
ground-hugging toxic and flammable vapors. This
need will be met in part through the preparation of
emergency response manuals. Although there are a
number of emergency manuals available to response
personnel already, these deal almost exclusively with
the potential for fire and explosion. It is the intent of
this portion of the R&D program to supplement these
manuals with information on the best operational
practices and the best available equipment and
techniques for mitigation of hazardous substance
spills and consequent danger to the public health and
welfare due to additional hazard criteria.
Ultimate Disposal of Recovered Residues
The ultimate disposal of recovered residues from a
hazardous substance spill is of great interest to the
program offices. The OWWM has requested support
from ORD in these areas:
• assessment of various ultimate disposal alter-
natives
• development or adaptation of technology for
disposal of non-reusable contaminated waste and
debris (emphasize on-site disposal)
Although recycling is the most desirable method of
disposal for residues removed as a result of spill
cleanup, this is not always feasible either technically
or economically. The purpose of this part of the
ORD spill program is, therefore, to develop or adapt
technology for the disposal of all non-reusable con-
taminated waste and debris removed from hazardous
substance spill sites. In-house experience and re-
quests from federal, state, and local officials em-
phasize the need for methods to destroy or
thoroughly deactivate or detoxify the residues from a
hazardous spill cleanup. Often these requirements
cannot be met by accepted disposal methods, such as
incineration, encapsulation, and landfilling. This
program is geared to the development of novel pro-
cedures for converting refractory organics to carbon
dioxide, water, salts, etc.; immobilizing toxic consti-
tuents in such a form that they present no greater
leaching hazard than they do in natural rock or
mineral formations; and for sophisticated
degradative application of microorganisms and
nutrients.
The recommended direction of effort in this pro-
gram area is based on a previously prepared assess-
ment of various ultimate disposal alternatives for
spills of designated hazardous substances. Candidate
techniques identified by the assessment will be in-
vestigated at bench and pilot scales to develop new,
innovative, transportable and mobile disposal
systems for on-site detoxification/destruction of con-
centrated residuals from spill cleanup operations.
The most promising techniques will then be
developed and demonstrated as full-scale prototypes.
Previous successes of this approach indicate that this
is a valid method of planning a development pro-
gram.
Fate and Effects of Spilled Material
The OWWM has requested that ORD provide sup-
port in the area of fate and effects of spilled hazard-
ous substances, specifically to determine the
ecological effects of acute discharges of hazardous
substances.
All those who respond to, clean up, and dispose of
spills of hazardous materials face the problem of
determining what will happen to the environment if
cleanup is imperfect and/or if nature alone takes its
course, without active cleanup action. The purpose
of ORD efforts in this portion of the hazardous spills
R&D. program is to determine the immediate and
long-term damage to the environment resulting from
acute discharges of hazardous substances. The thrust
of these efforts is to determine when nature can cope
with the spill and when degradation and by-products
present short- or long-term hazards that must be ad-
dressed. This information is essential to those who
must decide which spills must be cleaned up, how
cleanup efforts should be prioritized and, eventually,
when sufficient cleanup has been accomplished.
Restoration of Damaged Areas
The OWWM has requested ORD support to:
• evaluate currently available restoration practices
• develop techniques and equipment for accelerating
recovery
13
-------
• develop techniques and equipment for rapid deter-
mination of the level of restoration required
This area of the ORD hazardous spill program
acknowledges that neither all spills, nor all portions
of each spill, require the use of mechanical equip-
ment for concentration and/or detoxification of the
spilled substance. Accelerated natural restoration is
both a complement to, and a substitute for, active
spill control and removal operations. Damage assess-
ment is particularly important in view of determining
the impact of a spill on human health and welfare, as
well as the environment. Every spill need not be
cleaned up by men and machines; natural processes
may be sufficient in many cases. Federal, state, and
local officials need guidelines as to what procedures
can be followed to assess the extent of and remedy
the damage of a hazardous spill by aiding nature
without major disruptions in the surrounding
ecological milieu.
The recommended effort in this area deals first
with this decision-making problem and, secondly,
with the development and field testing of experimen-
tal techniques and prototype equipment designed to
accelerate the recovery of spill-damaged waters and
soils through accelerated microbial degradation.
Manuals
The program offices have requested ORD support in
the development of manuals to assist response per-
sonnel in the event of a hazardous substance spill.
Table 3 is a listing of the manuals that have been re-
quested. Some of these have been completed
Table3
Hazardous Substance Spill Manuals
• Field Detection and Damage Assessment Manual for
Oil and Hazardous Material Spills (EPA-Jun 72); PB 245
789)
• Guidelines for the Disposal of Small Quantities of
Unused Pesticides (EPA-670/2-75-057; Jun 75)
• Manual for Control of Hazardous Material Spills:
— Volume I: Spill Assessment and Water Treatment
Techniques (EPA-600/2-77-227; Nov 77)
— Volume II: A Guideline and Checklist for the
Preparation of Contingency Plans (9/80)
• Emergency Action Manual for First-on-Scene Personnel
(10/84)
• User manual of best available practices for on-slte
separation and concentration (6/85)
• User manual of best available practices for spill
containment and confinement (10/84)
• User manual for mitigation of air polluting incidents
(10/84)
• User manual of currently available practices for ultimate
disposal (6/85)
• User manual of best available practices for accelerated
recovery of the environment at spill-damage areas
(6/85)
Note: < ) dales indicate anticipated report availability date.
(references are shown in the table), some are current-
ly under development, and some will be developed in
the future. When these manuals are completed, it is
anticipated that their updating will be an ongoing ef-
fort.
Resource Distribution
The ORD R&D plan specifies areas of effort that will
be accomplished with available resources. A schedule
of the subobjective outputs within the hazardous
substances spills program is presented in Table 4.
This table shows the subobjectives for R&D in spills
information transfer, prevention, prespill response
planning, safety, spill assessment, containment and
confinement, separation and concentration, ultimate
disposal, fate and effects, and restoration as discuss-
ed in the previous text. A time schedule for expected
results, equipment, protocols, etc., is shown.
The resources required to perform these recom-
mended projects in the hazardous spill program are
estimated at $1,755,000 and 8 PFT annually. The
distribution of this money and manpower within the
program is shown in Table 5. It is obvious that the
majority of the funding for this program is to be used
in the .area of on-site treatment and control of hazar-
dous substance spills. It is in this area that the pro-
gram offices have stated the greatest need. Moreover,
the greatest potential for payback is to be realized in
the form of commercially available equipment and of
procedures for response personnel in federal, state,
and local governments, as well as by private contrac-
tors and industry.
Oil Spill Program
The oil spill research and development program is
directly related to the need for development of new
energy sources for the U.S. The program supports
the Agency requirement to ensure that the recovery
of the nation's onshore and offshore oil and gas
resources from existing, frontier, and ecologically
sensitive sites is conducted in an environmentally ac-
ceptable fashion. It is inevitable that during the pro-
duction, transport, and storage of oil, discharges will
occur from accidental spills and operational releases.
The impacts from these discharges range from con-
taminated water supplies to contaminated food sup-
plies. Discharges to surface water and groundwater
sources of drinking water or industrial water may
make the water unfit for use. Likewise, contamina-
tion of shellfish or other coastal food sources may
result from coastal spills. Unknown health and
ecological hazards may yet be discovered as a result
of experience gained after a release from advanced
petroleum recovery practices currently being
developed.
In order to meet this challenge, the oil spill R&D
program supports the program offices (OWWM and
OE) and the Regional Offices with the following ob-
jectives:
• develop methods, technology, and equipment to
prevent, control, and abate oil spills and
14
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Table 4
Schedule of Subobjective Outputs for Hazardous Substances Spills
R&D Subobjectives
Fiscal Year
1980 1981 1982 1983 1984
Information Transfer
and Prevention
Statistical analysis of spills (frequency, cause, volume, cleanup cost)
Develop/demonstrate fail-safe devices (level gauge, transfer line)
Risk analysis of chemical manufacturing, transportation, and waste disposal industries
Develop spill prevention techniques and equipment
Develop background for guidelines on the prevention and control of pesticide spills
Shakedown and demonstrate new techniques at spill sites
Prespill Response
Planning, Safety,
and Assessment
Develop/demonstrate personnel safety devices (clothing, breathing apparatus)
Develop/demonstrate spills identification and detection kits (field kits and flow-through
alarms)
Model spill plume movement in air, water, and soil
Prepare emergency action manual for hazards in addition to fire and explosion
Develop/update contingency planning guidelines
A
In-House
Containment and Confinement
Separation and Concentration
Demonstrate systems for treating soils (soil washer)
Demonstrate second generation containment systems on land (dike pak, portable tank)
Develop second generation instream treatment systems (stream diverter)
Develop/demonstrate systems for separating substances from water (physical /chemical
systems, reverse osmosis, steam stripping)
Develop/demonstrate systems for mitigation of air pollution
Prepare user manuals for spill control equipment and techniques
Organize National Conference on Control of Hazardous Material Spills
Ultimate
Disposal
Investigate mobile disposal systems for on-slte detoxification of residuals
Develop/demonstrate most promising disposal technqiues
Fate and
Effects
Identify data gaps for hazardous substances
Determine effects and persistency data
Restoration
Identify gaps in knowledge on accelerated recovery of spill areas
Develop/demonstrate restoration techniques
Prepare and update restoration manual
A
y\ Interim Report or Manual
A Final Report or Manual
I Prototype Equipment and Report
Other: self explanatory
-------
Tables
Hazardous Substance Spill Program Resource Allocation
Program
Information Transfer and Prevention
Prespill Planning, Safety, and Assessment
Containment and Confinement, Concentration and
Separation
Ultimate Disposal
Fate and Effects
Restoration
Total ($K)
PFT
80
$K
377
288
428
284
—
76
1453
7
81
$K
320
480
516
263
—
176
1755
7
Fiscal Year
82
$K
320
480
516
263
—
176
1755
8
83
$K
325
250
700
400
150
225
2050
9
84
$K
500
350
650
550
200
250
2500
10
Total dollars (in thousands! including extramural and in-house funding (i.e., support for overhead, personnel and administration). Personnel resources (PFT) for
the hazardous substances spill program in direct support only (I.e., no administrative or temporary personnel).
discharges of petroleum pollutants from oil and
gas production, storage and transportation
facilities
• provide standardized user manuals which encom-
pass all environmental pollution control aspects of
oil spills in a form that meets the operational needs
of both regulatory control agencies and industry
Much work has already been done in this area.
However, constant updating, development, and
evaluation of new technology requires constant ef-
fort in the areas of spill prevention and control and
removal. Efforts in the oil spill areas of ultimate
disposal, fate and effects, and restoration have been
expended in the past. Current efforts in this area are
directed toward hazardous substances and, through
the use of technology transfer, those technologies
which also show particular promise ior oil spill in-
cidents will be examined at a future time.
The committee recommendations for future oil
spill R&D are discussed in the following sections.
Prevention of Oil Spills
The program offices have requested the following
support from ORD in the area of oil spill prevention:
• evaluate the effectiveness of the present oil spill
prevention regulations in reducing spills
• develop a guide for improved spill prevention
systems and practices
• continue aerial surveillance for SPCC monitoring
and enforcement
Analysis of spill events hi this country indicates
that most spills occur in coastal and inland areas
which are valuable ecological resources and are
densely populated. The most effective means for pro-
tecting the ecology from spills is to prevent these
events from occurring. This part of the ORD R&D
program will provide the regulatory support for spill
prevention, control, and countermeasure (SPCC)
regulations. The program offices need manuals for
interpreting the present regulations for their SPCC
inspectors. The availability of such manuals will en-
sure uniform interpretation in the field when in-
dustrial SPCC plans are being inspected. ORD also
intends to follow its current analysis of spill events
with an evaluation of the effectiveness of the 1973
SPCC regulations (40CFR112). Both engineering and
procedural aspects of the regulations will be con-
sidered in the evaluation which will result in recom-
mendations for new oil spill prevention techniques
and guidelines for improving current spill prevention
practices. The results of this work will be used in the
preparation of revised spill prevention regulations.
Oil Spill Control and Cleanup
The OWWM has requested the following support
from ORD in the area of oil spill control and
removal:
• operation of the Oil and Hazardous Materials
Simulated Environmental Test Tank facility
(OHMSETT)
• development of environmentally acceptable
guidelines and techniques for cleanup operations
• development of guidelines and techniques for the
protection and restoration of shorelines impacted
by oil spills
• provision of technical support for spill control and
removal
Oil spills occur all too frequently in the coastal
zone, in spite of efforts directed at the prevention of
spills. The technology and expertise for the control'
and removal of oil spills has made great strides,
largely through the R&D efforts of EPA and the U.S.
Coast Guard, among others. These two agencies con-
tinue to work very closely in an effort to assess,
develop, and demonstrate the effectiveness and
capabilities of equipment and techniques to control
and clean up spills of oil on land and water. Of
primary importance to this effort is the continued use
of the Oil and Hazardous Materials Simulated En-
vironmental Test Tank (OHMSETT) facility to test
16
-------
and evaluate new technologies as they are developed.
This facility is used not only by EPA, but also by the
Coast Guard, Navy, Army, Department of Energy,
foreign governments, and private organizations
(nonfederal). The continued availability of this facili-
ty is considered the top priority in this part of the
program.
The operation of OHMSETT is only a portion of
the program to assess and develop new technologies
for oil spill control and removal. Under the National
Contingency Plan, EPA is required to publish
guidelines and techniques which are environmentally
acceptable for cleanup operations. Of primary con-
cern at this time are chemical and biological control
agents which are intended for use primarily where
mechanical cleanup would be more damaging to the
environment than no cleanup, or under those situa-
tions where present technology is inadequate. (For
example, the application of oil dispersing chemicals
is probably the only technically feasible means of
controlling major offshore oil spills in rough seas.)
The use of these agents is controlled by regulation
(40CFR1510). Evaluation of these agents must be
performed as they are developed so that the program
offices can make rational decisions in preparing new
or revised regulations. It is important to develop the
capability for choosing the most effective and least
toxic chemical and biological agents and for applying
them to oil spills in the most environmentally accep-
table and efficient manner possible. This will assist
federal, state, and local governments, as well as the
spill response industry, in preparing contingency
plans, purchasing equipment, and setting cleanup
standards and guidelines.
Another portion of the oil spill control and
cleanup program is directed toward shoreline protec-
tion and restoration. With the outer continental shelf
areas now being developed for energy sources, any
related oil spill can be expected to impact the
shoreline of the U.S. These coastal and estuarine
areas are inhabited by most marine species during the
most vital portion of their life cycle and oil spills can
be particularly devastating. In addition, the
economic hardship that will be suffered by persons
whose livelihood depends on the recreational use and
food production of the area can be severe.
This program will also develop new and improved
methods for identification and quantification of
spilled oil as well as the technology to control oil
spills which occur under cold climate (snow/ice) con-
ditions.
The ORD efforts in the oil spill control and
removal program will result in user manuals on: oil
spill cleanup and control, chemical and biological
agents, protection and restoration of contaminated
shorelines, and the availability of equipment. The oil
spill manuals that have been requested by the pro-
gram offices are listed in Table 6. Those manuals
which have been completed are indicated by a
reference and those that are in a draft form are so
designated. Additional manuals are currently under
preparation. The updating of all manuals is expected
to be an ongoing effort.
Resource Distribution
The ORD R&D plan specifies areas of effort that will
be accomplished with available resources. A schedule
of the subobjective outputs within the oil spills pro-
gram is presented in Table 7. This table shows the
subobjectives for R&D in oil spill prevention and
control and cleanup as discussed in the previous text.
A time schedule for expected results, equipment, pro-
tocols, etc., is shown. The ORD resources required to
perform these subobjectives are estimated at
$612,500 and 4 PFT annually. The distribution of
these resources within the oil spills program is shown
in Table 8.
Monitoring Systems and Quality Assurance
The objective of the monitoring systems and quality
assurance program element is to provide specialized
analytical support, overhead monitoring, chemical
and biological laboratory field support and quality
assurance to the investigations of spills. These
technical services will be available for emergency sup-
port as well as cleanup and enforcement activities.
The ORD activities in this area utilize a limited
number of in-house experts, supported by contracts
and interagency agreements, to offer unique
capabilities to the program and regional offices.
In meeting the mandates of Section 311 of the
Clean Water Act, the program offices have found a
need for monitoring systems and quality assurance
both in the prevention of spills and in response ac-
tions to spills. The program and regional offices have
a strong role in the development of spill prevention,
control and countermeasure (SPCC) contingency
Table 6
Oil Spill Manuals
• Manual on the Analysis of Spilled Hazardous and
Toxic Chemicals and Petroleum Oils (available from
ERL, Edison, NJ)
• Oil Spill: Decisions for Debris Disposal, Vol. I & II (EPA-
600/2-77-153 a&b; Aug 77)
• Oil Pollution Abstracts (quarterly) (EPA-600/7-79-160;
Jul 79)
• Field Manual for Cold-Climate Oil Spills (Draft) (6/83)
• Manual of Practice: Protection and Clean Up of Ocean,
Estuarine, and Inland Shorelines (Draft) (12/80)
• Manual of Practice: Use of Chemical Treating Agents in
Oil Spill Control (Draft) (6/81)
• User Manual for Oil Spill Protection and Clean Up
Priorities (Draft) (12/80)
• User manual for the use of sorbents and biological
agents (6/83)
• User manual for the use of oil analytical techniques
(6/83)
Note: ( I dales indicate anticipated report availability dates.
17
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Table?
Schedule of Subobjective Outputs for Oil Spills
R&D Subobjectlves
Fiscal Year
1980
1981 1982
1983
1984
Prevention
Evaluate the effectiveness of current oil SPCC regulations
Develop guide for improved SPCC practices
Control and Cleanup
Demonstrate second generation containment systems In water courses (jet boom)
Operate OHMSETT test facility
Prepare user manuals for spill control equipment and techniques
Develop new technology for shoreline protection and restoration
Organize National Conference on Control of Oil Spills
Evaluate dispersants and other chemical and biological control agents
Develop technology for cleanup of oil spills under cold climate weather conditions
A Interim report or manual
A Final report or manual
9 Prototype equipment and report
• Continuing effort
sfr Other; self explanatory
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Table 8
Oil Spill Program Resource Allocation
Program
Prevention
Control and Cleanup
Total
PFT
80
$K
—
584
584
4
81
$K
—
612.5
612.5
4
Fiscal Year
82
$K
120
680
800
4
83
$K
300
700
1000
4
84
$K
350
750
1100
4
Total dollars (In thousands) including extramural and In-house funding (I.e., support for overhead, personnel and administration). Personnel resources (PFT) tor
the hazardous oil spill program in direct support only (I.e., no administrative or temporary personnel).
plans for state and local government as well as in-
dustry. SPCC regulations have been promulgated in
an effort to prevent and mitigate the damage done by
oil spills. In addition to the prevention aspects of spill
responsibilities are the actual response or cleanup
aspects. Very often the regional offices are required
to rapidly assess the nature and extent of a spill in a
remote area. At times, the very nature of the material
spilled can prevent sufficient access to the area to
permit a reliable assessment.
In order to meet their responsibilities to the public,
the program and regional offices have turned to
ORD for assistance. ORD provides aerial surveil-
lance, analysis and technical support for OWWM,
OE, OER and the regions on request. Through the
Enviro-pod program operated from the EPA En-
vironmental Monitoring and Support Laboratory
(EMSL) in Las Vegas, NV, on-scene personnel are
provided with aerial photographs and analyses within
6 to 24 hours of a request. Enviro-pod is carried by
contractor aircraft and is supported by the En-
vironmental Monitoring Support Laboratory, Las
Vegas, NV, and the Environmental Photographic In-
terpretation Center, Warrenton, VA. This assistance,
particularly in the event of spills that preclude the en-
try of personnel because of hazardous conditions or
terrain, is considered invaluable to the program of-
fices and regions. In addition to the operational uses,
this highly visible program is used to inform the
media as well as Congress and other federal, state
and local authorities. It is used by the Office of En-
forcement in case preparation and evidence as well as
by the Office of Water and Waste Management for
spill prevention, response, and analysis, and locating
and evaluating uncontrolled waste sites. Enviro-pod
is also used by the Office of Environmental Review in
reviewing impact statements.
The program offices have requested continuing
support in three specific areas with respect to this
ORD program:
• development of real-time aerial surveillance tech-
niques
• development of thermal infrared capabilities
• continued technical support for surveillance and
analysis
The ORD laboratories will continue to provide
technical support when requested by the program or
regional offices.
In addition to the direct support functions, a conti-
nuing R&D program is underway to upgrade the
capabilities of the Enviro-pod program. Current ex-
pectations are to increase the capabilities of Enviro-
pod to permit real-tune television coverage by in-
tegrating a TV system and data transmission equip-
ment into the present carrier. Engineering tests will
then be performed at an actual response site. To en-
sure that the capabilities of Enviro-pod are widely
disseminated, ORD will prepare a manual discussing
the capabilities and suggesting possible uses in spill
contingency planning as well as cleanup operations.
The ORD resources required to continue this
technical support are estimated at $542,000 and 5
person-years annually. This level of effort will sup-
port the Enviro-pod program, SPCC reports, and
emergency spill projects. Support for the Enviro-pod
development is provided by the program office. In
addition, much of the material and contractor cost is
expected to be reimbursable because of the nature of
this support in CWA Section 311 response. A sum-
mary of the R&D plan for monitoring systems and
quality assurance for oil and hazardous substances
spills is presented in Table 9.
Summary of Resurce Distribution
A final summary of all three programs within the
ORD spill program is presented in Table 10. These
resources will enable ORD to achieve the R&D
subobjectives described in the previous text and
tables. In addition to these subobjectives, this fund-
ing will permit the continuation of technical support
provided to the program offices and regions through
the EERU and aerial surveillance programs.
19
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Table 9
Schedule of Subobjective Outputs for Monitoring Systems and Quality Assurance
R&D Subobjective
• Spill Prevention Control and Countermeasures Studies
• Develop aerial surveillance and analysis manual
• Emergency oil and hazardous material spill response, on-scene
analysis, briefings
• Alaska gas pipeline study
• Develop emergency response standard operating procedures manual
Fiscal Year
1980
1981
1982
A
A
A
1983
1984
Interim report or manual
A Final report or manual
0 Prototype equipment and report
| Continuing effort
j|C Other; self explanatory
Table 10
Resource Summary for ORD Spill Program
Program
Hazardous
Substance
Spill
Program
Oil Spill
Program
Monitoring
Systems and
Quality
Assurance
Total
80 81
$K PFT $K PFT
1453 7 1755 7
584 4 612.5 4
435 5 432 5
2472 16 2799.5- 16
Fiscal Year
82 83 84
$K PFT $K PFT $K PFT
1755 8 2050 9 2500 10
800 4 1000 4 1100 4
542 5 600 5 600 5
3097 17 3650 18 4200 19
Dollar (in thousands) including extramural and In-house funding. Personnel resources (PFT) In direct support role only (excluding administration and temporary).
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OOVERNMENT mNTINO OFFICE 1M1 -757-064/0220
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