DOT Advisory for Oil Spill Response Plans - due July 23, 2010
Posted on Thu, Jul 15, 2010
The Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration has released an advisory bulletin to operators and hazardous onshore liquid pipeline facilities that are required to prepare and submit an oil spill response plan under 49 CFR part 194. The agency has asked operators of onshore pipelines that could reasonably be expected to cause significant or substantial harm to the environment by discharging oil into or on any navigable waters of the United States or adjoining shorelines to review spill response plans, confirm the ability to respond to a worst-case discharge from their pipeline facility, and submit updates by July 23, 2010.
As a result of the April 20, 2010 Deepwater Horizon Gulf oil spill, spill response resources have been diverted from all over the United States to the Gulf of Mexico. While offshore drilling is not governed by 49 CFR part 194, onshore hazardous liquid pipeline operators are responsible to review, update, and maintain their oil spill response plans to ensure that each plan: properly calculates the worst case spill scenario for the pipeline facility; identifies and ensures by contract or otherwise sufficient resources to respond, to the maximum extent practicable, to such a discharge; and evaluates the identified resources' remaining capability given the ongoing relocation of resources to the Gulf.
PHMSA will not consider it "practicable" to list resources for responding to a worst-case discharge, if such resources are, or are requested to be, relocated to respond to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Operators must conduct this review and submit any updates to their oil spill response plans as set forth in the applicable regulations by July 23, 2010. In addition to submitting plans to PHMSA, operators must maintain their response plans on-site for inspection by PHMSA during field audits. PHMSA intends to evaluate operators' efforts during upcoming field audits.
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