EPA New England's
Oil Program
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency New England
August 2005
-------
EPA New England's Oil Program primarily regulates facilities that store oil and responds to oil spills to navigable waters or
spills that present a significant threat to human health or the environment. The overall mission of the Oil Program is to
minimize the number, size and impact of oil spills on the inland waterways and environmentally sensitive areas in Connecticut,
Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont.
To meet this objective, the Oil Program works cooperatively with other federal, state and local government agencies and the
regulated community to prevent spills and ensure that when spills do occur, response activities are conducted in compliance
with federal regulations.
To address the environmental threat posed by oil spills, EPA New England's Oil Program focuses on the following areas:
0 preventing oil spills before they occur by ensuring that oil storage
facilities comply with applicable laws and regulations pertaining
to spill prevention;
° preparing in advance for an effective and immediate response to
an oil spill by participating and assisting in the organization of
both large scale and facility-specific spill and disaster relief
exercises;
0 responding to an oil spill emergency by dispatching On-Scene
Coordinators, providing facility information to emergency
responders and assisting federal, state and local authorities with
technical support; and
0 enforcing environmental laws and regulations pertaining to oil
pollution prevention.
The Oil Program is committed to reaching out to the regulated community to inform them of spill prevention and response
requirements; to increasing the number of unannounced exercises and inspections in the New England region; and to improving
communication and coordination between federal, state, local and tribal agencies.
On-Scene Coordinators are EPA officials designated to
coordinate and direct responses to actual or threatened
releases of oil or hazardous substances that pose a risk
to public health and welfare or the environment.
On-Scene Coordinators work to monitor oil spills
in the region and respond to spills that require federal
assistance or oversight. These first-line emergency
responders coordinate all federal efforts with, and provide
support and information to other local, state and regional
response personnel. EPA's On-Scene Coordinators have
primary responsibility for spills and releases to inland
areas and waters, while the U.S. Coast Guard has
responsibility for coastal waters.
A phone duty On-Scene Coordinator is available 24-hours
every day to report incidents and deploy an emergency
responder to the scene of an oil spill, as necessary. Two On-
Scene Coordinators are on-cal! and prepared to respond to
incidents that occur after working hours.
Reports of oil spills and hazardous substance releases should
be immediately reported to the National Response Center at:
800-424-8802
-1-
-------
Oil Spill Prevention
Oil Spill Prevention, Control and Countermeasure
For more than three decades, EPA's Spill Prevention, Control and Countermeasure (SPCC) Program has worked at thousands
of oil storage facilities throughout the country to prevent the discharge of all kinds of oil into the rivers, lakes, streams and
coastal waters of the United States.
EPA's approach to preventing oil spills combines planning and enforcement measures. To prevent oil spills, EPA requires
owners or operators of certain facilities storing oil to prepare and implement plans that detail spill prevention and control
measures. The plans must be updated as necessary and, at a minimum, every five years. During periodic facility inspections,
EPA reviews these plans.
Facilities required to have an SPCC plan in place:
• have an aggregate above-ground storage of more than 1,320 gallons of oil; or
• have a completely buried storage capacity of more than 12,000 gallons of oil
(not already included in regulatory requirements under federal underground storage
tank regulations); and
• could possibly release oil into navigable waters or adjoining shorelines.
Each facility's plan should detail the prevention measures and procedures that are in place to prevent and/or address a
potential oil spill. SPCC Plans must include:
• detailed operating procedures forthe facility to prevent
oil spills and a description of control measures installed
to prevent oil from entering navigable waters;
• descriptions of countermeasures to contain, clean up
and mitigate the effects of an oil spill that could
effect navigable waters or adjoining shorelines;
• facility diagrams, including information on oil
spill, facility drainage, facility inspections and site
security;
• appropriate secondary containment or diversionary
structures; and
• descriptions of loading and unloading requirements
for tank trucks.
2
-------
Oil Spill Prevention
Facility Response Plans
As part of the Clean Water Act, EPA requires certain facilities that store and use oil to prepare and submit to EPA a Facility
Response Plan that documents its capabilities and strategies for responding quickly and effectively to contain a potential oil
spill. Each facility must be able to document that it can adequately respond to varying size and worst case spill scenarios for
that facility. Worst case scenarios are different for each facility but typically involve the largest single tank at a facility
which can hold up to 15 million gallons of oil.
Facilities that are required to have a Facility Response Plan include:
• non-transportation related facilities that have a storage capacity greater than or equal to
42,000 gallons, where operations include over-water transfer of oil;
• facilities with a storage capacity greater than or equal to one million gallons that lack
adequate secondary containment;
• facilities with a storage capacity greater than or equal to one million gallons that are
situated in sensitive areas where a potential discharge could threaten fish, wildlife and
other environments;
• facilities with a storage capacity greater than or equal to one million gallons located at a
distance such that a discharge from the facility would shut down a public drinking water
intake; or
• facilities with a storage capacity greater than or equal to one million gallons that have
experienced a reportable oil spill greater than or equal to 10,000 gallons
within the past five years.
Facilities that meet these or other criteria that EPA deems appropriate, are required
to create Facility Response Plans and file them with EPA. About 150 facilities in
New England are required to develop and seek EPA approval of their Facility
Response Plans. Most of these facilities are located in Connecticut and Massachusetts.
Since 1995, EPA has reviewed Facility Response Plans every five years.
3
-------
Oil Spill Preparation
Unannounced Facility Exercises
EPA New England's Oil Program conducts several unannounced exercises at selected facilities each year. These exercises,
which test the ability of a facility to respond to a spill and implement its emergency response procedures, are conducted under
the national Preparedness for Response Exercise Program (PREP).
During each exercise, a facility is required to respond to an imaginary spill. EPA representatives are on site to evaluate how
quickly and effectively the facility is able to contain the imaginary spill and to confirm that the emergency response procedures
are followed, including equipment deployment and notification protocols, as designed in the facility's Emergency Response
Action Plan. EPA begins timing the response activities immediately after the scenario has been presented to the facility and
the oil recovery efforts must be underway within two hours. As part of the drill, EPA also reviews the Facility's Response Plan.
Facilities that satisfy the requirements of the exercise are not subject to another unannounced exercise for at least 36 months.
Facilities that do not satisfy the requirements of the exercise may be subject to another exercise at any time.
Over the next year EPA will be increasing the number of unannounced
visits to facilities in the New England region.
Oil recovery efforts must be
underway within t\vo hours.
-------
Oil Spill Preparation
Government-led Area Exercises
Under the national Preparedness for Response Exercise Program (PREP), EPA and the U.S. Coast Guard are responsible for
designing and carrying out exercises that test and improve the readiness of a geographic area as a whole to respond to a major
oil spill. The most recent exercise conducted in the New England region was held in October 2004. In preparation for the
exercise, EPA worked with a 14-member team comprised of federal, state and local response agencies as well as industry
representatives to plan and execute a training exercise to test and improve the region's capacity to respond to a major oil spill
in central Massachusetts.
The exercise, entitled "The Big Drink PREP 2004" was a I'/z-day command post
exercise conducted in West Boylston, Mass. The exercise involved a simulated
train derailment from a fictitious railroad, resulting in a diesel oil spill into the
Wachusett Reservoir, a primary drinking water source serving 2.4 million people
in Boston and the surrounding metropolitan area. Over 80 participants, including
federal, state and local agencies, community representatives and private sector
individuals, were involved in the exercise which was
designed to evaluate the success of the participants in
establishing a unified and coordinated response to a major
environmental incident. A report on the lessons learned
during the exercise was drafted after the training and
shared with all of the participants.
Federal, state and local agencies,
community representatives
and private sector individuals
were involved in
The Big Drink PREP 2004
The Big Drink PREP 2004
exercise was based upon
a fictitious train
derailment along the
Wachusett Reservoir.
-------
Oil Spill Response
Oil Spill Response
Residential Oil Spill in Connecticut
When oil was observed on the Polkville Brook in Hartford, Conn.,
adjacent to a residential community, an EPA On-Scene
Coordinator was dispatched to the scene and integrated into the
existing unified command to provide technical input and
expertise to the Connecticut Department of Environmental
Protection. Additional investigation and a review of the oil fill
logs of a neighboring property, directly adjacent and upgradient
of the spill, led to the discovery of a leaking underground storage
tank. The 1,000-galton tank was excavated and oil was found
to be leaking from several holes on the underside of the tank,
saturating the floor of the excavation. During the initial response, an interceptor trench and temporary oil
recovery system was constructed and approximately 300-gallons of free phase oil were recovered. A permanent
sheltered pumping and filtration oil recovery system was constructed after the immediate emergency was abated.
Oil Recovery at Lonsdale
Bleachery Facility in Rhode Island
When the Rhode Island Department of Environmental
Management (RI DEM) notified the National Response Center
of an ongoing discharge of oil into the Blackstone River in
Lincoln, R.I., from the base of a granite retaining wall at the
former Lonsdale Bleachery facility, an On-Scene Coordinator
was dispatched to the scene and integrated into the existing
unified command. While RI DEM continued to oversee the oil
recovery effort and stop the seepage of additional oil into the
river, EPA sampled oil from the spill area as well as from the
boiler area inside the former Lonsdale Bleachery facility and
sent the samples to EPA's New England Regional Laboratory for
analysis. Upon finding asbestos material in the oil samples, EPA and RI DEM determined that further action
would need to be taken to remove asbestos material from the former facility and the oil spill would require
continued management.
-------
EPA has authority to seek administrative or judicial penalties for oil or hazardous materials spills and for
facilities that fail to prepare or have inadequate Spill Prevention, Control and Countermeasure (SPCC) or
Facility Response Plans. EPA can also order the removal of hazardous materials and can order oil spill clean
up actions.
In 2004, EPA New England completed eight legal actions which resulted in payment of financial penalties to
the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund. The settlements also included requirements to fund clean-up work and
correct violations at affected facilities. Funds from the trust are used to respond to oil spills at abandoned
facilities or in situations where the responsible party is unwilling or unable to respond.
In addition to enforcing the law, EPA works with the regulated community to ensure that it understands how to
meet its legal obligations. EPA also assists .the regulated community in the use of pollution prevention measures,
environmental management systems and effective environmental technologies.
EPA New England's Oil Program is committed to coordinating with federal, state, local and tribal partners on
many levels by promoting significant outreach activities to the regulated community. For example, in 2005, the
program conducted a series of workshops in several
New England states for facilities that are required to
prepare Facility Response Plans. Among other benefits,
the workshops provided an opportunity for E PA to help
facility representatives understand the requirements
of Government-Initiated Unannounced Exercises that
are conducted under the national Preparedness for
Response Exercise Program.
In 2005, the Oil Program plans to send letters to many
schools in New England about recent oil spill incidents.
These episodes heightened awareness that numerous
school buildings store oil in sufficient quantities to
subject them to facility SPCC requirements.
Oil Program Section Chief
Steve Novick
617-918-1271
Oil Program Coordinator
Cosmo Caterino
617-918-1264
iil Program Enforcement Coordinator
Don Grant
617-918-1768
Visit www.epa.gov/ne/superfund/er or
www.osc.net for additional information
about how EPA is planning for and
responding to emergencies and oil spills
throughout New England.
United States
Environmental Protection
\ Agency New England
-7-
------- |