The number of pollution incidents reported each year since 1970 is in- 

 dicated in Figure la. The Coast Guard believes that the apparent increase 

 in incidents each year actually reflects an improvement in monitoring and 

 surveillance rather than an increase in number of spills. Many smaller spills 

 that were previously overlooked are now being reported, although it is estimated 

 that several thousand more pollution incidents occur that are not being reported. 



Between 8 and 24 million gal of pollutants have entered U.S. waters 

 from reported incidents each year since 1970 (Figure lb). Oil is the pre- 

 dominant pollutant in terms of this volume, contributing an average of 15 

 million gal annually. (It is important to remember that though hazardous 

 substances constitute a small portion of the total volume, they may be 

 destructive in ^ery small quantities.) 



Oil spills have occurred throughout the United States from Florida to 

 Alaska, not only in coastal waters, but also in inland tributaries, rivers, 

 ponds, and lakes. Serious oil spills have occurred in places as remote as 

 ! yoming. Althouih by far the largest number of spills have occurred in coastal 

 waters (Figure 2a), inland spills accounted for 28 percent of the volume 

 spilled over a 6-year period (Figure 2b). 



I have been asked frequently this winter why so many big oil spills have 

 h^en ppening in the United States. I'm not sure yet if oil spills really 

 are worse this winter. They may just be better publicized, perhaps because 

 of the attention drawn by the magnitude of the Argo Merchant oil spill. 



For the following reasons, however, I do believe that there has been 

 a steady increase in serious oil spills over the last couple of decades. 

 ince 1950 the United States has more than doubled its energy consumption 

 (Council on Environmental Quality 1975). Efforts by industry and government 

 to increase domestic production of oil have been unable to meet this skyrocket- 

 ing demand; consequently, the amount of oil imported has increased dramatically. 

 The volume of oil imported in 1974 was seven times that in 1950. Importations 

 doubled between 1970 and 1974 (Council on Environmental Quality 1975) and 

 in 1976 accounted for approximately 52 percent of U.S. oil consumption (Siler 

 1977). Increased consumption led to increased production, transport, processing, 

 and holding of oil and petroleum products. I believe this has increased the 

 probability of spills. 



The Santa Barbara oil spill off the coast of California in 1969 angered 

 environmentalists and led to considerable public opposition to offshore oil 

 production. However, analysis of 36 major spill incidents indicates tankers, 

 barges, and other vessels, not offshore production facilities, have been the 

 source of the greatest number of serious oil spills (Figure 3). 



Increased oil importation resulted in increased transportation and traffic 

 congestion in major port areas. This has increased the likelihood of accidents, 

 such as groundings and collisions, involving petroleum carrying barges and 

 tankers. To try to reduce tanker traffic, industry has encouraged an increase 

 in the size of tankers. Shipping companies, with an eye on increasing profits 

 while lowering costs, have been primarily responsible for development of the 

 largest ships. In 1945 the largest tanker in the world oil fleet was only 



12 



