Spills of Nonfloating Oils Risk and Response (1999) / Chapter Skim
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Executive Summary
Executive Summary
Pages 1-8
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In response to this request, the NRC established the Committee on the Marine Transportation of Heavy Oils. Early in the committee's deliberations, it became clear that the statutory definition of Group V oils (oils with a specific gravity greater than 1.0)
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Most heavy-oil spills between 1991 and 1996 involved oils that were less dense than seawater, which only sink under unfavorable environmental conditions. The committee reviewed these heavy-oil spills with spill responders, who estimated that about 20 percent of these spills exhibited nonfloating behavior.
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The selection of methods for containment or recovery depends on the location and environmental conditions at the spill site, the characteristics of the oil and its state of weathering and interaction with sediments, and the equipment and logistical support available for the cleanup operation. The committee identified a variety of barriers to responses to spills of nonfloating oils, including inadequate planning and training drills; lack of experience; lack of knowledge about transport, fate, and impact on the environment; the difficulty of locating and tracking oil suspended in the water column or
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From 1991 to 1996, approximately 17 percent of the petroleum products transported over U.S. waters were heavy oils and heavy-oil products, such as residual fuel oils, coke, and asphalt.
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Although many technologies are available for containing and recovering subsurface oil, few are effective, and most work only in very limited environmental conditions. Containment of oil suspended in the water column using silt curtains, pneumatic barriers, and nets and trawls is only effective in areas with very low currents and minimal wave activity.
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Funding levels for research, development, testing, and evaluation of spills of nonfloating oils are very low. The only active research programs currently under way either by government or industry groups are focused on emulsified fuel oils.
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Although many methods are available for tracking nonfloating oils, the simplest and most reliable are labor intensive and cover only limited areas. More sophisticated methods have severe technical limitations, require specialized equipment and highly skilled operators, or cannot distinguish oil from water or other materials dispersed in the water column.
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The U.S. Coast Guard should improve its knowledge base, education, and training for responding to spills of nonflowing oils by including a scenario involving a spill of nonflowing oils in oil-spill response drills, by establishing a knowledge base and scientific support teams to respond to these types of spills, and by disseminating this knowledge to the federal spill-response coordinators and area planning committees as part of ongoing training programs.
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