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API PUBL 4558 Document Information:
Title
Options for Minimizing Environmental Impacts of Freshwater Spill Response
American Petroleum Institute
Publication Date:
Jan 1, 1995
Scope:
1.1 SCOPE AND PURPOSE
Selecting appropriate oil spill protection, recovery, and cleanup
techniques, before and following an oil spill, is a critical element
affecting the ultimate environmental impact and cost resulting from a
spill. It is important to identify techniques that in themselves have
minimal intrinsic ecological impact and are also effective in reducing
the impact of the oil. Furthermore, these response techniques should
be considered before a spill, so that little time needs to be spent
preparing for the response during a spill.
The American Petroleum Institute (API) and the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) jointly developed this guide as a
tool to help contingency planners and field responders evaluate
response techniques and choose those that will most effectively
prevent or minimize adverse ecological impact. Information is provided
to help select response techniques for specific Combinations of
habitat and oil types. Each technique is evaluated individually for a
specific habitat; however, during spill response more than one
technique may be used at the same time on one or more habitats.
The discussions in this guide reflect primarily the assessment of the
environmental impact of the response methods. This guide also
recognized that the selected techniques should be effective. They must
remove a significant amount of oil from the environment or prevent or
reduce oil impact, and they must have acceptable impact on the habitat
as compared to leaving the oil alone (natural recovery). Prolonged use
of an inefficient technique may be more ecologically detrimental than
short-term use of a potentially more intrusive approach (e.g.,
frequent entry into a marsh to replace sorbents rather than vacuuming
pooled oil).
Reducing the overall ecological impact of a spill event is the primary
concern of this guide, and it is applicable for inland, freshwater
environments and habitats only. This guide does not address land-only,
chemical, or marine spills. It also does not discuss legal or
regulatory issues; safety considerations; or guidance on planning,
organizing, and conducting a spill response effort. The manual may be
customized for specific geographic areas to address special priorities
and concerns.
Specific spill conditions will often dictate the response techniques
used, and selection always involves tradeoffs. For example, a
potentially ecologically damaging, but efficient, cleanup technique
could be used to meet site-specific response goals. Also, techniques
may be used early in response simply because they can be implemented
immediately, rather than waiting until ones with lower impact can be
mobilized. A method that has a significant short-term ecological
impact, such as in situ burning, may actually produce the lowest
long-term ecological impact because it removes the oil quickly.
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