Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
of the limited risk for acute toxic exposure, but the immediate and especially
long-term consequences, especially for the environment, can be more severe. In
all cases, the basic approach to contingency planning and emergency prepared-
ness is similar, although the remedial actions may not be. Therefore, in this
chapter a unified approach was used to discuss emergency preparedness, plan-
ning, and response in general, without distinctions between different emergency
scenarios.
Currently, and for the foreseeable future, the focus of emergency preparedness
and industrial emergencies will likely be in two areas: protecting public health
and safety as well as environmental media from the potential effects of releases of
hazardous substances and protecting vital services from possible terrorist attacks,
natural disasters or similar catastrophic events.
Before the toxic release catastrophe of Bhopal, India, in 1984, emergency
planning was the exception rather than the rule for facilities, organizations, and
agencies other than those associated with the nuclear industry, since there was
no regulatory incentive for them to do otherwise. However, the federal govern-
ment had already begun to legislate as early as 1968 on emergency preparedness,
primarily for those events associated with the release of petroleum hydrocarbons
(oil spills). The impetus for this action at the federal level originated from another
calamitous incident, i.e., massive oil spill from the oil tanker Torrey Canyon off
the coast of England in 1967. More than 37 million gallons of crude oil spilled
into the water, causing extensive environmental damage. To avoid the problems
faced by response officials involved in this incident, U.S. officials developed a
coordinated approach to cope with potential spills in U.S. waters. This resulted
in the National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan, more
commonly called the National ContingencyPlanorNCP,whichwaspromul-
gated in 1968. The NCP is the federal government's blueprint for responding
to both oil spills and hazardous substance releases. The 1968 plan provided the
first comprehensive system of emergency event reporting, spill containment, and
cleanup, and it established response headquarters, a national reaction team, and
regional reaction teams.
Initially, the NCP's focus was primarily on emergency response to oil spills.
Since 1968, Congress has broadened the scope of the NCP. This first amendment
came in 1973 in response to the Clean Water Act of 1972. This revision provided
the framework for responding to hazardous substance spills in addition to oil
discharges. In 1980, the NCP was again revised in response to the Superfund
legislation. This revision broadened the NCP to include response and clean-up
of hazardous waste sites in the form of emergency removal actions. The current
version of the NCP was revised in 1994 to reflect oil spill provisions of the Oil
Pollution Act of 1990 (CFR Title 40, Volume 20, Parts 300 to 390). The NCP
establishes the fundamental aspects of the federal government's organizational
structure and procedures for preparing for, and responding to, discharges of oil
and hazardous substances, pollutants, and contaminants. It includes provision
for the development of response teams, the definition of the role of the federal
on-scene coordinators (OSC), National Response Center (NRC), the coordination
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