U.S. OIL SPILL CLEANUP FIRM AIMS FOR FULL OPERATION NEXT SUMMER

Dec. 28, 1992
Patrick Crow Washington Editor The Marine Spill Response Corp., the largest offshore oil spill cleanup company in the U.S., is on track to become fully operational next Aug. 18. MSRC is launching vessels, equipping centers at sites around the country, and hiring more personnel in preparation for the start-up. The company is 2 1/2 years old, and by the time it is 5 years old and fully established, it will have spent $1 billion-about half for operating expenses and half for equipment positioned
Patrick Crow
Washington Editor

The Marine Spill Response Corp., the largest offshore oil spill cleanup company in the U.S., is on track to become fully operational next Aug. 18.

MSRC is launching vessels, equipping centers at sites around the country, and hiring more personnel in preparation for the start-up.

The company is 2 1/2 years old, and by the time it is 5 years old and fully established, it will have spent $1 billion-about half for operating expenses and half for equipment positioned on the U.S. coastline.

Steve Duca, MSRC vice-president, said, "We are three organizations in one. We're a contingency group, an oil spill research and Development firm, and a management information system. Building just one of these organizations in less than 3 years is a major development in itself."

MSRC'S ROLE

A group of companies, mostly international oil firms that ship oil into the U.S., founded the Marine Protection Association (MPA), Scottsdale, Ariz., after the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill.

MPA funds the nonprofit MSRC but allows it to operate independently. MPA will provide MSRC $115 million next year.

Planned as a private offshore oil spill response agency, MSRC gained new importance with passage of the 1990 Oil Pollution Act (OPA).

That law requires oil shippers in U.S. waters to have the plans and capability to respond to major oil spills.

The spill company's main role is to respond to catastrophic spills from tankers, pipelines, platforms, and rigs holding crude belonging to its sponsoring companies.

It will not respond to spills in the Great Lakes or in rivers, only spills in offshore and tidal waters, including bays, harbors, and the mouths of rivers, on the U.S. coast.

That includes Hawaii, Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico, but not Alaska, where Alyeska Pipeline Service Co. has spill equipment and personnel in place.

MSRC's goal is to be able to make a "best effort" response to clean up a spill of about 210,000 bbl-about the size of the Exxon Valdez spill-in any region. It stresses that weather and other conditions might thwart that response effort.

MPA charges its members dues based on the volume of their oil shipments in U.S. waters the previous year. If MSRC responds to a major spill by an MPA member company, it will bill the firm for the cleanup costs.

MSRC, operating for the spiller, will have to clean the spill to the satisfaction of the Coast Guard, which could assume overall control if that is required. The spiller will have to arrange separately for all firefighting, lightering, and salvage services.

The cleanup firm has close ties to the Coast Guard. Pres. John Costello, Duca, and several MSRC regional managers are former Coast Guard officers.

The Coast Guard can employ MSRC in nonmember, deepwater, or shallow water accidents.

WHERE IT STANDS

MSRC has received a reprieve from the Feb. 18, 1993, deadline spelled out in the OPA, the date it originally thought it would have to be operational.

The Coast Guard has interpreted the OPA as requiring shippers to have their spill response plans submitted by Feb. 18, 1993, and has given them-and thus MSRC-another 6 months to be ready to execute those plans.

Duca said, "We can use every bit of time they will give us. This is quite an ambitious undertaking. We still have many things to do before Aug. 18, 1993."

In the past few months the Coast Guard also has given spill cleanup firms other much needed definitions and interpretations of the OPA.

For example, it has said responders must be able to bring 10,000 bbl of cleanup capacity to the scene of a spill within 12 hr of an accident, 20,000 within 36 hr, 40,000 within 60 hr, and another 40,000 bbl/day thereafter.

MSRC has about 316 employees and will hire about 125 others, mostly operational staff, in first quarter 1993.

The company has established its Washington, D.C., headquarters and selected sites for regional bases and equipment positioning sites around the country.

When a spill occurs, the general manager of the affected region will be in charge of the MSRC cleanup effort, using company equipment and employees and independent contractors if necessary.

The 22 MSRC equipment locations are stockpiling an array of equipment, ranging from large vessels to barges, trucks, booms, skimmers, dispersants, and communications gear.

Although each of the five regional response areas could respond to a spill of as much as 210,000 bbl, they also could merge men and equipment to respond to a larger one.

MSRC tried to locate its 22 equipment centers at sites where the potential for oil spills is the largest, based on transportation patterns and other factors, and where environmental risks are the greatest.

Separately, the Coast Guard conducted its analysis and reached largely the same conclusions concerning spill response sites. As a result of the Coast Guard review, MSRC has made some minor changes in site selections.

Duca said, "Our original planning was very good. The Coast Guard came to virtually the same conclusions."

EQUIPMENT COMING

The keystone of MSRC's spill response efforts will be sixteen 210 ft offshore response vessels similar to offshore work boats used in the oil industry.

Costing a total of $188 million, they will be dispersed around the country.

The vessels will have more deck space than normal to accommodate helicopters, booms, boom boats, and skimming systems. Each will have oil/water separators and storage for 4,000 bbl of recovered oil.

Fourteen of the vessels have been launched. MSRC recently took delivery on the first of them. That vessel, christened California Responder, will move from the Gulf Coast to Miami early next year to begin full scale training of personnel in that region.

Duca said "We have ordered practically all of our other equipment: skimmers, booms, pumps, and such. About 50% of that is on hand, and we are beginning in earnest the training of our people with that equipment. Operationally, we are rapidly coming together."

The miscellaneous equipment includes things such as skimming systems, high velocity pumps, booms, vehicles, and communications gear.

The major remaining equipment purchase involves storage barges. MSRC originally planned to buy 26 barges of 20,000 bbl capacity for distribution around the country but now plans to buy 17 barges of 40,000 bbl capacity.

Duca said the company decided to double the size of the barges because it made more sense to couple a 40,000 barge with a high capacity pumping system, and it would require fewer trips to empty the barges,

If MSRC cannot buy enough of the barges by Aug. 18, it will lease some short term.

The MSRC barge would be only the initial storage vessel, and the spiller would be responsible for providing added storage after an accident.

The barges also will serve as skimming platforms and will have heaters to facilitate oil flow.

MSRC also has developed mobile telecommunications command centers-one for each region-that will oversee spill cleanup efforts from a nearby shore site.

It explained poor communications have hampered previous spill cleanups because managers could not easi- ly coordinate land, sea, and air units.

MSRC said, "What makes the mobile communications suite unique to the oil industry is that it is the first centralized, transportable, communications facility not limited by wire.

"It also can communicate simultaneously with all vessels conducting cleanup operations via an integrated network of telephone, radio, and data communications housed under one roof.

"As a result, the suite can link MSRC's command facilities, personnel, vehicles, response vessels, aircraft, and helicopters in a variety of forms ranging from voice, data, video, imagery, and facsimile."

NEAR SHORE WORK

Although MSRC is designed to respond mainly to deepwater spills, the Coast Guard has issued a regulation requiring 20% of a shipper's cleanup capability to be suited for near shore work in 6 ft of water or less.

Duca said, "This was a new requirement for us, so MPA has committed another $19 million next year so we can improve operation of existing skimmer systems in shallow waters."

MSRC will use the money to acquire 15 small, 500 bbl, towable storage bladders. It also will get 17 shallow water systems, each of which will consist of four shuttle barges and one self-propelled platform, along with support boats and other equipment.

The company also will buy 12 used barges and modify them for unloading small towable storage bladders and shuttle barges.

Much of the shallow water equipment will be truck mounted so it can reach a spill site via roads.

MSRC said the shallow water gear will enhance its capability to respond to spills not only in tidal waters but also in certain upstream waters.

STATE SPILL LAWS

MSRC, along with other oil industry and spill cleanup groups, this year was successful in getting all 24 coastal states where it plans to operate (plus the Virgin Islands) to pass immunity standards for private spill cleanup firms.

In lobbying for the model legislation, MSRC stressed that it needs to be able to make a consistent response when spills cross state boundaries.

OPA provided that responders who conduct oil cleanup and removal are not liable for removal costs or damages that result from their actions except in cases of gross negligence, willful misconduct, personal injury, or wrongful death.

But the law did not preempt state liability legislation, and MSRC and others had to ask about 20 states to pass laws that reduce the liability risks responders face during a good faith cleanup operation.

Duca said, "It's been important for us to get these laws in place before we start operating. It will enable us to make a bold, vigorous response to an oil spill."

MSRC has begun reviewing not only federal regulations but also regulations being promulgated in all of the coastal states in relation to oil spill cleanup laws.

R&D, TRAINING

MSRC has continued a major spill cleanup research effort and is becoming the focus point for such studies.

Duca said, "We've been quite successful in getting our research and development program on line. We have started work on a number of high priority projects, one of the most noteworthy of which is remote sensing.

The company wants to adapt existing remote sensing technology for MSRC use, particularly to adapt it for various aircraft so spills might be battled at night or during bad weather.

MSRC said, "Remote sensing technology now in common commercial use is 10 or 15 years old. But advances have been made in the private sector and defense industry that can be put together to make a significant improvement in the capability to clean up oil spills and monitor the environmental health of the coastline."

Duca added, "Remote sensing will widen the window of operational time that we will be effective. If we can see the oil at night in bad weather and extend the work day, we can pick up more oil for our client in a shorter time and reduce exposure of the oil to the environment."

MSRC has taken part in studies of the Persian Gulf oil spill caused by hostilities in Kuwait. Other research covers the gamut of spill issues: effects of dispersants, postspill recovery, bioremediation, ecological effects of new chemical agents, in situ burning, and oil/water separators.

It also plans to develop standards for oil spill response equipment, techniques, and training.

A contractor has developed a computer assisted spill management system for MSRC that will make available technical data that on-site decision makers will need, MSRC is testing the system.

The company's regional general managers will begin discussions with local marine spill cleanup firms in January 1993 as a prelude to letting contracts for their support. It wants to hire them on a standby basis for help during emergencies.

Regional staff also is busy with an array of preparatory work. For example, Region 5 recently conducted aerial flights to shoot video tape of its coastline to help plan strategic boom placement as well as other spill response efforts.

Duca said training is a major effort and will be increasingly important.

"We're marrying people, equipment, and training, and it all has to come out right in the end."

MSRC plans major dress rehearsal exercises in the regions before the August start-up date.

Copyright 1992 Oil & Gas Journal. All Rights Reserved.