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Reporting a hazardous substance release or oil spill takes only a few minutes. To report a release or spill, contact the federal government's centralized reporting center, the National Response Center (NRC) , at 1-800-424-8802. The NRC is staffed 24 hours a day by U.S. Coast Guard personnel, who will ask you to provide as much information about the incident as possible. If possible, you should be ready to report the following:

• Your name, location, organization, and telephone number
• Name and address of the party responsible for the incident
• Date and time of the incident
• Location of the incident
• Source and cause of the release or spill
• Types of material(s) released or spilled
• Quantity of materials released or spilled
• Medium (e.g. land, water) affected by release or spill
• Danger or threat posed by the release or spill
• Number and types of injuries or fatalities (if any)
• Weather conditions at the incident location
• Name of the carrier or vessel, the railcar/truck number, or other indentifying information
• Whether an evacuation has occurred
• Other agencies notified or about to be notified
• Any other information that may help emergency personnel respond to the incident

If reporting directly to the NRC is not possible, reports also can be made to the EPA Regional office or the U.S. Coast Guard Marine Safety Office in the area where the incident occurred. In general, EPA should be contacted if the incident involves a release to inland areas or inland waters, and the U.S. Coast Guard should be contacted for releases to coastal waters, the Great Lakes, ports and harbors, or the Mississippi River. The EPA or U.S. Coast Guard will relay release and spill reports to the NRC promptly.

How Reports Are Handled

All reports of hazardous substance releases and oil spills made to the federal government are maintained by the NRC. The NRC records and maintains all reports in a computer database called the USCG's Emergency Response Notification System, which is available to the public. The NRC relays the release information to an EPA or U.S. Coast Guard On-Scene Coordinator (OSC), depending on the location of the incident. In every area of the country, OSCs are on-call and ready to respond to an oil or hazardous substance release at any time of the day. After receiving a report of an oil or hazardous substance release, the federal OSC evaluates the situation and, if the OSC decides that a federal emergency response action is necessary, the National Response System will be activated. Otherwise, the OSC will monitor the cleanup activities of the responsible party and the local and state governments, and will assist in the cleanup as warranted.