Region 5 Superfund (SF)

 

Although most oil spills are accidental, they are common events. Spills can happen on land or in water, at any time of the day or night, and in any weather conditions.

Preventing spills is the best way to protect our health and the environment from exposure to oil. Spill Prevention Control and Countermeasures (SPCC) Plans are written and implemented by owners or operators of oil storage facilities to help them prevent oil from being spilled from their facility.

However, spills do occur and we must be ready for them. In order to improve our readiness, we have developed an Area-Regional Contingency Plan for the six States in Region 5. This plan identifies risks and resources for response and sets policies for Federal responders to follow for specialized techniques such as in situ burning of oil and chemical countermeasures.

In order to best meet the needs of some of the unique places in Region 5, we have identified 20 Sub Areas and developed more specific response plans for them. These Sub Area Response Plans are developed with State and local governments and address localized issues such as response jurisdictions, response tactics on specific waterways and command structures.

Each part of the Region is mapped to identify environmentally and economically important areas. The Inland Sensitivity Atlases identify State and Federal endangered and threatened species, public and privately held land with environmental importance, sources of spills, locks, dams, marinas and boat access points.

For certain facilities, the owner or operator will need to prepare and implement Facility Response Plans (FRP) to aid in the response and preparedness of the facility in responding to a spill of oil from their facility. These plans must be consistent with the Area and Sub Area Plans mentioned above.

U.S. EPA Region 5 has also developed tools such the Oil Spill Exercise Generator which is available to assist responders from private industry or public agencies in preparing for response.

Spill Prevention, Control and Countermeasure (SPCC) Regulation Seminar—Jan 13, 2009

You can register for the seminar online at http://www.k-state.tv/epa/

Download seminar brochure (PDF) (1 page, 291.0K, About PDF)