Contingency Plan Reviews

FEDERAL C-PLANS

STATE C-PLANS

National Contingency Plan: Federal law requires the President to prepare a National C-Plan for removal of oil, including a worst case discharge. The president must ensure effective removal of a discharge by directing Federal, State, and private actions.

Industry Oil Spill Prevention and Contingency Plan: State law requires the owners of tankers and oil facilities to prepare a contingency plan to contain and clean-up a volume of oil equal to the capacity of their tanker or facility. The industry plan is the first and only state plan designed to remove an oil discharge.

Area Contingency Plan: Area committees are established by the President. Each committee develops an Area Plan capable of removing a worst case discharge from it’s area. The Area Plan identifies sensitive areas that will be protected and describes in detail the responsibilities of Federal, State, and industry when responding to a discharge.

State Master Plan: The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation (ADEC) is required to write a State Master Plan which clarifies agency responsibilities and provides for a state incident command system. The State and Regional Plans do not require ADEC to prepare for discharge removal.

Industry Response Plan: Owners of tank vessels and facilities must submit a response plan capable of removing their worst case discharge The response plan must be consistent with the requirements of the National and Area Contingency Plans.

Regional Master Plan: ADEC is required to prepare a plan for each region which clarifies their responsibilities and describes a command system. The State Regional Plans have been combined with the Federal Area Plans in Alaska to form a unified state and federal plan.

Federal law requires a federal government plan for responding to a spill if the responsible party cannot be found or does not respond.

State law does not require a state government plan for this situation. However, the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation (ADEC) participates in the preparation of the federal area plans for Alaska.

Federal law requires that the President directs all federal, state, and private actions if a spill poses a substantial threat to the public welfare.

State law requires the responsible party to direct the response actions. ADEC may issue directions to the responsible party if they declare that an emergency exists which poses a threat to the public welfare.

The review of industry C-plans under the federal process is not open to the public.

The review of industry C-plans is a public process under state law controlled by the Alaska Coastal Zone Management Program.

Federal C-plan regulations generally require less mechanical response equipment and response personnel available for immediate deployment than do state regulations.

State C-plan regulations generally require more mechanical response equipment and response personnel available for immediate deployment than do federal regulations.

Under Federal law, C-plans must be tested with periodic drills.

Under state law, ADEC may require drills to test C-plans.

Federal law requires that response equipment be inspected.

Under state law, ADEC may inspect response equipment.

Federal law does not give prevention credits against response planning standards.

State law gives prevention credits against response planning standards for prevention actions that go beyond normal requirements.

Federal law requires the Area Committee to identify sensitive areas and define how they will be protected in the Area Plan. The industry C-plans must ensure that there are resources necessary to implement the Area Plan.

State regulations require industry C-plan holders to identify sensitive areas and determine how they will be protected.