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Preparing for Oil Spills
Oil spills occur despite prevention efforts. Oil spills happen on land and in
water, during the day and at night, on warm days and cold, under clear skies and
in the rain and snow. They vary in size, from just a few hundred gallons to the
millions of gallons. Preparing a timely and coordinated response to such an
emergency of undefined magnitude that can happen anywhere, at any time, and in
any kind of weather is an enormous challenge that requires significant planning
and training.
Two principal elements of EPA's oil spill preparedness program are developing
and coordinating
contingency plans as part of a contingency planning network and conducting oil spill prevention
and response training. Well-designed facility,
local, area, regional, and national contingency plans assist response personnel
in their efforts to contain and clean up any size spill by providing information
that the response teams will need before, during, and after an oil spill occurs.
Training ensures that emergency responders, whether they are facility
personnel, response contractors, or state and local government officials, know
the what, when, and how of oil spill response.
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