An Introduction to
EPA New England's
Oil Program
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&EPA
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency New England
September 2007
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The EPA New England Oil Program works to prevent oil spills in the six New England states. The program requires that
facilities that store over a certain amount of oil write plans and operate facilities in a manner that will avoid spills.
The New England region uses billions of gallons of oil and petroleum products each year, though, and spills can happen at
any point in the process: during production, distribution or consumption. When spills do occur, EPA's Oil Program works to
minimize the impact on lakes, streams, rivers and other environmentally sensitive areas.
Federal regulations require facilities that store oil to follow procedures and use equipment set out in their plans. The oil pro-
gram works with other government agencies as well as with the regulated industry to ensure that responses to spills comply
with the regulations. EPA staff offer technical support and expertise, either as participants or as leaders, in the response to
an oil spill. EPA also runs and participates in spill and disaster practice drills.
On-scene coordinators are the federal officials charged
with coordinating and directing responses to all actual
or threatened releases of oil that may harm the public
health or the environment.
The OSCs from EPA New England monitor oil spills in
the six New England states and respond to spills that
require federal help or oversight. OSCs provide support
and information while coordinating all federal efforts
with local, state and regional agency responders.
EPA has primary responsibility for spills and releases
to inland areas and waters, while the U.S. Coast Guard,
which also has on-scene coordinators, is responsible for
coastal water.
An OSC is available 24 hours a day to take incident
reports and to send a coordinator to the scene of a spill,
if necessary. Two OSCs are on call and can respond to
incidents that occur after working hours.
Reports of spills and hazardous substance
releases should be called into the National
Response Center at 800-424-8802.
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Preventing
Oil Spill Prevention - Control and Countermeasure Plans
For more than three decades, EPA's Spill Prevention, Control and Countermeasure program has worked at thousands of
storage facilities to prevent discharges of oil.
Operators of certain facilities that store oil are required to draft SPCC plans that must be updated every five years. In
New England, EPA has conducted about 75 inspections a year since 2004 to be sure the plans comply with federal regu-
lations. A facility must prepare these plans if it could possibly release oil into navigable waters or adjoining shorelines
and it has the capacity to store a total of more than either 1,320 gallons of oil above ground or 42,000 gallons of oil
underground (and is not already regulated under the underground storage regulations).
Each plan must include measures detailing how the facility works to prevent a spill, and how it would address a spill.
This must include detailed descriptions of:
• operating procedures for preventing spills and a description of control measures installed to prevent oil from enter-
ing navigable waters,
• countermeasures to contain, clean up and mitigate the effects of an oil spill that could affect navigable waters or
adjoining shorelines,
• secondary containment or diversionary structures, and
• loading and unloading requirements for tank trucks.
Under an SPCC Plan, oil storage
tanks like the one pictured here
are required to have appropriate
secondary containment or
diversionary structures.
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Preparing
Through Planning
Larger facilities must also have a Facility Response Plan that documents how the facility will contain an oil spill,
as well as an SPCC plan. About 130 facilities in New England must file these Facility Response Plans due to their
location and the amount of oil on site. Since 2004, EPA New England has reviewed about 25 of these plans a year.
Facilities that are required to have these plans include:
• non-transportation related facilities that have the capacity to store 42,000 gallons or more, where operations
transfer oil over water to or from a ship.
• facilities that can store a million gallons or more and either
1) lack adequate secondary containment
2) are located where a discharge could injure fish and wildlife environments or other sensitive envi-
ronments
3) are located where a discharge would shut down a public drinking water source or
4) have experienced a reportable oil spill greater than or equal to 10,000
gallons within the past five years
Through Training
EPA New England's Oil Program conducts eight unannounced exercises each year to test how well facilities can
respond to spills and put in place emergency response procedures. The exercises are done in accordance with the
guidelines of the national Preparedness and Response Exercise Program.
During each exercise, a facility is required to respond to a simulated spill of 2,100 gallons. EPA personnel evalu-
ate how quickly and effectively the facility contains the simulated spill and confirms that emergency response
procedures are followed, including equipment deployment and notification protocols. Oil recovery must be under-
way within two hours of the time EPA presents the scenario to the facility. After the exercise is complete, EPA
reviews the facility's written plan. Facilities that satisfy the objective of the exercise do not face another simulation
exercise for at least 36 months. Facilities that don't satisfy the objectives must correct deficiencies and may face
another exercise at any time. EPA conducts these exercises jointly with the U.S. Coast Guard and the appropriate
state response agency.
Oil recovery efforts must be
underway within two hours.
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The National Contingency Plan, the federal government's blueprint for responding to oil spills and hazardous substance
releases, gives EPA the authority to respond to oil and hazardous substance releases. EPA is charged with leading the federal
response to hazardous substance releases, including those caused by natural disasters. In coordinating activities, EPA New
England shares its expertise and resources with other government agencies, private industry and other organizations to mini-
mize the effects of oil spills and hazardous substance releases. EPA New England and the U.S. Coast Guard co-chair a team of
representatives from 16 federal agencies, six states, and nine federally-recognized tribes in New England that participate in the
National Response Team.
The National Response Center, the only national point of contact for reporting oil, chemical, radiological, biological and etio-
logical discharges, gathers and distributes spill data and serves as the communications and operations center for the National
Response Team. The center receives information 24 hours a day on a toll-free line (800-424-8802). The information goes
directly into a data system and is sent out as part of the Regional Response System.
EPA New England responds to about a dozen oil spills each year in New England. Although most of the spills addressed by
EPA New England are anywhere from 1,000 to 10,000 gallons, the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina in Louisiana,
Alabama and Mississippi led to millions of gallons of spilled oil and required EPA staff from across the country to participate
in the cleanup. Nearly 100 employees from EPA New England responded over time to this natural disaster in the south.
Louisiana suffered dozens of major oil spills in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Staffers from EPA worked with the U.S. Coast
Guard to respond to one of the largest spills, a release of more than one million gallons of crude oil from the Murphy Oil Refin-
ery in Saint Bernard Parish. This spill affected not only the environment, but also many nearby homes.
At least 1,700 homes around the refinery were impacted and the crude oil release reached several nearby canals. The EPA
focused on removing oil from residential areas, parks, school, sidewalks and other publicly accessible areas, including commer-
cial facilities, roads, and highway medians. The Coast Guard focused on removing oil in nearby canals, the tank farm contain-
ment area and neighborhood storm drains.
EPA has removed more than 3,200 tons of soil saturated with oil from the Lonsdale Bleachery Site along the historic Black-
stone River in Lonsdale, Rhode Island.
Oil was initially reported on July 30, 2004, coming from the former textile mill site into the Blackstone River. EPA and the
Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (DEM) responded to the reported release of oil, and immediately
began the work to prevent the oil from migrating downriver and to identify the source of the oil.
Initial tests found large amounts of oil-saturated soils and oil floating on the water table within 10 feet of the riverbank. EPA
and DEM determined that the oil was coming from three underground concrete bunkers storing fuel, (continued on next page)
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Responding
EPA and its contractors demolished the former underground bunkers in 2006, then installed barriers and removed oil
and oil-saturated soils from beneath the former bunker area. This area has since been filled and planted with grass.
DEM and its contractor continue to monitor the site and maintain containment boom and sorbents to protect against
residual oil between the excavation area and the river seeping into the river.
Roosevelt Drive Site in Derby, Connecticut
EPA has overseen removal of more than 160,000 gallons of oil and oil/water mix from the Roosevelt Drive Site in Derby,
Connecticut, since 1994 when the agency received reports of oil on the nearby Housatonic River. The site on the Housa-
tonic River, home of the former Hull Dye facility, includes two water-driven turbines that produce electricity that goes
into the local power grid.
EPA's initial response, in coordination with the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), was to
excavate 1,500 cubic yards of soil and river sediment saturated with oil, then install a trench to intercept the oil and an
oil recovery well. The well system continues to operate, collecting oil and transferring it into a nearby storage tank for
periodic disposal.
When new oil sheens were spotted on the river in 1999, EPA and DEP investigated and found that the oil originated
from a historic leak in an oil line linking a 20,000-gallon oil tank with the facility boiler room. A second oil recovery
system with five recovery wells within a trench was constructed in 2000 and has been operating since. The turbines were
taken off line because their operation was contributing to more oil flowing into the river, due to vibration and scouring
issues.
EPA constructed a dam in 2007 to effectively cut off the tail race—the place where discharged water from the turbines
exits from the Housatonic River. A skimmer was installed that has been collecting oil as it leaches into the tailrace.
EPA is designing horizontal wells that would extend from the source area through the underground oil plume. These
wells should act as a pathway, moving the oil to a collection point. At the same time, the owners of the turbines are
working to get the turbines running, so they can generate power while oil collection continues.
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Oil Spill Enforcement, Compliance and Outreach
Enforcing the Law
EPA's Oil Program enforces laws and regulations that aim to prevent oil pollution. Facilities that are out of compliance
or have violated the Clean Water Act may settle with EPA by paying financial penalties into the Oil Spill Liability Trust
Fund. Funds from the trust are used to respond to oil spills at abandoned facilities or in situations where the responsible
party is not willing or able to respond.
In addition to enforcing the law, EPA works with business and industry to ensure that regulated parties understand and
follow the law. The program also helps the regulated community find cost-effective ways to go beyond compliance with
the law and reduce its regulatory burden through the use of pollution prevention measures, environmental management
systems and effective environmental technologies.
Outreach
EPA New England's Oil Program works with federal, state, local and tribal partners to reduce the risk and impact of
oil spills in this region. In recent years the program has reached out to the regulated community as well, conducting
workshops that guide representatives of facilities in preparing Spill Prevention Control and Countermeasure or Facility
Response plans. EPA has also done workshops on the requirements of "government-initiated unannounced exercises,"
drills that are held under the National Preparedness for Response Exercise Program. Finally, EPA is reaching out to
elementary, middle and high schools as well as wastewater treatment plants throughout New England to advise them of
applicable oil storage requirements.
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