Before the Exxon Valdez oil spill, prevention and response plans were not as robust as they are today. With the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, commonly referred to as “OPA90,” Congress required oil storage facilities and vessels to submit extensive spill plans describing how oil spills are to be prevented and cleaned up if they do occur.
Federal Plan
National spill response public policy is outlined in the National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan. This plan describes the structure and procedures for preparing for and responding to spills of crude oil and other hazardous substances throughout the United States.
Alaska-specific plans
Within Alaska, OPA90 established “Regional Response Teams,” which oversee spill response planning and “Regional Citizens Advisory Councils” (our council is one of these) to monitor the oil industry. OPA90 also requires the U.S. Coast Guard and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to prepare oil spill response plans specific to the State of Alaska, designated as a planning “region.”
Alaska also passed a law as a result of the Exxon Valdez oil spill that requires a state-wide plan be in place to prevent and respond to crude oil and hazardous substance spills.
In 1993, a plan was developed to combine state and federal contingency plans into one joint plan. The Alaska Federal/State Preparedness Plan for Response to Oil and Hazardous Substance Discharges/Releases, more commonly known as the “Unified Plan,” was the result of that effort. The Unified Plan was written cooperatively by the U.S. Coast Guard, the EPA and the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation. This plan contains broad spill response information and guidance and is applicable throughout the state of Alaska.
Specific plans for Alaska’s various environments
Alaska is a huge state with varied and distinct climates and geography. To accommodate specialized response considerations across such a large area, the state has been split into 10 “subareas.” The use of the term “subarea” helps to reduce confusion when using terms such as “planning regions” or “area contingency plans.”
While the Unified Plan is broader and applicable anywhere in Alaska, “subarea contingency plans” focus on issues specific to each area. Information in the subarea plans includes local emergency contact information, numbers and types of equipment stationed and ready to respond.
Additional oil spill response information: