Non-USCG Classified OSRO vs. Classified-USCG OSRO (OPA90 Discussion)
John K. Carroll III
Associate Managing Director at Witt O'Brien's, LLC, Part of the Ambipar Group
Are you in the Oil Pollution of Act of 1990 (OPA90) world? If yes, and you’re an onshore operator, you fall under at least one, or possibly all, of the three (3) inland federal agency jurisdictions: U.S. Coast Guard (USCG); Environmental Protection Agency (EPA); and Department of Transpiration’s (DOT) Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA). The OPA90 rule under each of these agencies, in some parts, line up very similarly to one another and other times, very differently. Several years ago, Witt O’Brien’s developed a side by side comparison of these rules for the American Petroleum Institute (API). If your company is a member of API, I advise asking them for a copy as it is a very in-depth document. Under today’s discussion the three (3) agencies line up, so this conversation is straight forward.
First, what is an OSRO? OSRO stands for Oil Spill Removal Organization. An OSRO is a company that specializes in the cleaning up of oil spills. They often serve as contractors or subcontractors for spill response efforts.
What do the rules say?
Contract or other approved means:
(1) A written contractual agreement with an oil spill removal organization that identifies and ensures the availability of the necessary personnel and equipment within appropriate response times; and/or
(2) A written certification by the owner or operator that the necessary personnel and equipment resources, owned or operated by the facility owner or operator, are available to respond to a discharge within appropriate response times; and/or
(3) Active membership in a local or regional oil spill removal organization that has identified and ensures adequate access through such membership to necessary personnel and equipment to respond to a discharge within appropriate response times in the specified geographic area; and/or
PHMSA, EPA, and USCG under their OPA90 rules have specific requirements for the type of oil response equipment based on location; however, what is a classified-USCG OSRO vs. a non-USCG classified OSRO are the same.
(a) Each operator shall identify and ensure, by contract or other approved means, the resources necessary to remove, to the maximum extent practicable, a worst-case discharge and to mitigate or prevent a substantial threat of a worst-case discharge.
§154.1028 Methods of ensuring the availability of response resources by contract or other approved means.
(a) When required in this subpart, the availability of response resources must be ensured by the following methods:
(1) A written contractual agreement with an oil spill removal organization. The agreement must identify and ensure the availability of specified personnel and equipment required under this subpart within stipulated response times in the specified geographic areas;
(2) Certification by the facility owner or operator that specified personnel and equipment required under this subpart are owned, operated, or under the direct control of the facility owner or operator, and are available within stipulated response times in the specified geographic areas;
(3) Active membership in a local or regional oil spill removal organization that has identified specified personnel and equipment required under this subpart that are available to respond to a discharge within stipulated response times in the specified geographic areas;
(4) A document which—
(i) Identifies the personnel, equipment, and services capable of being provided by the oil spill removal organization within stipulated response times in the specified geographic areas;
(ii) Sets out the parties' acknowledgment that the oil spill removal organization intends to commit the resources in the event of a response;
(iii) Permits the Coast Guard to verify the availability of the identified response resources through tests, inspections, and drills; and
(iv) Is referenced in the response plan; or
(5) The identification of an oil spill removal organization with specified equipment and personnel available within stipulated response times in specified geographic areas. The organization must provide written consent to being identified in the plan.
(b) The contracts and documents required in paragraph (a) of this section must be retained at the facility and must be produced for review upon request by the COTP.
What is an OSRO classification?
What are we talking about, classified vs. non-classified?
The OSRO classification process provides standard guidelines by which the USCG evaluates an OSROs potential to respond to and recover oil spills of various sizes. OSROs receive classifications for different spill sizes occurring in different types of operating areas, e.g., rivers/ canals, near shore, offshore, or open ocean. Classifications are based upon minimum equipment amounts and response time standards outlined in the USCG’s OSRO Classification Guidelines.
The OSRO classification program is completely voluntary and does not relieve a plan holder of its responsibility to determine whether an OSRO will meet specific planned response needs as required by federal regulations under each agencies OPA90 requirements. Its purpose is to assist oil-handling facilities, oil pipeline operators and vessels in writing spill response plans.
Use of a classified-USCG OSRO does relieve a plan holder from having to ensure an OSRO is trained properly, their equipment meets the equipment planning volume needs, and other documents proving their qualifications as this is part of the USCG classification program.
However, an OSRO that does not have a USCG classification may still be employed by a plan holder and may be listed in the response plan, but it must be listed along with its entire emergency response resource inventory and other relevant documentation. Thus, the regulatory benefit of the classification program is lost when using a non-USCG classified OSRO. Also, in many cases, it is probably fair to presume that where an OSRO does not have a classification, it is because its containment, recovery, or storage resources are insufficient to meet the requirements for responding to oil spills of certain sizes or in certain locations.
OPA90 plan holders are already burdened with enough paperwork, so now that you know what is required for using a non-USCG classified OSRO to meet equipment planning volumes, as best as possible, with the understanding that some parts of the US still lack sufficient classified USCG OSRO coverage, work on securing a contract with a classified USCG OSRO when possible.
One side note, most OSROs have no problem proving their equipment; however, the one area that sometimes gets overstated in response plans are the response times to a facility. OPA90 is very prescriptive on how soon equipment must be on site, so ensure this is being verified too. If they arrive late, you, the plan holder, are held liable - this is not part of the classification program.
Click here to find a listing of classified-USCG OSROs.
For a complete listing of archived blogs and compliance insights, click here. Past blogs cover training requirements, clarification on additional confusing elements within the above rules, and much more.
Need compliance assistance, need help finding an OSRO, or just have a question? Email John Carroll ([email protected]), Associate Managing Director - Compliance Services at Witt O’Brien’s or reach him by phone at 281-320-9796.
Witt O’Brien’s:
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Our second workshop of the year is confirmed, and will be open for RSVP soon. Mark your calendars for July 24th.
Presentation on Texas Oil Spill Prevention and Response Act of 1991; Governing Law and Regulations.
Presentation on Unconventional Oil; when spilled, it behaves very differently than conventional oil.
Presentation on compliance requirements and commonly found violations with the U.S. Coast Guard’s 33 CFR 105 Facility Security Plans, 33 CFR 154/156 Operation Manuals and Facility Response Plans.
Presentation on developing a proper tabletop exercise.
Mock tabletop exercise and general lessons learned.
Presenters:
Mark Underhill and Kevin Landry, Texas General Land Office - Oil Spill Prevention and Response Division
U.S. Coast Guard Subject Matter Expert(s), Presenter(s) TBA
Witt O’Brien’s Subject Matter Experts, Presenters TBA
Oil Spill and Hazardous Materials Emergency Response Advisor
6 年John, I agree with you 100%!
Oil Spill and Hazardous Materials Emergency Response Advisor
6 年It would be a very wise decision to visit your OSROs...
Business Continuity and Emergency Management Professional
6 年John, outstanding article! One minor edit in paragraph 2, it's "Removal" vice "Response"...common mistake I also catch fellow Coasties making too.
Formerly Business Development at Vigor
6 年Good looking skimmer in the photo above, we built that one!
President at Canadian Environmental Auditors
6 年Interesting Article. In my experience trying to set up standard methods of practice is great from insurance company's point of view but never really works out in practice. So many factors can come into play when responding to a spill that in most cases would put you in violation of some portion of this approach. The real world does not always work out the way you plan it on paper.