NEEDS OF THE 

 FEDERAL ON-SCENE COORDINATOR AND REGIONAL RESPONSE TEAM 



FOR 

 WILDLIFE EXPERTISE 



Charles R. Corbett 



A precise understanding of the organizational relationships and inter- 

 faces of agencies responding to oil and hazardous substance spills is essential 

 for all those who are charged with providing timely and meaningful assistance 

 to the Federal On-Scene Coordinator (OSC) and Regional Response Team (RRT). 

 The OSC is the Federal official , predesignated by the Regional Contingency 

 Plan, who coordinates and directs Federal pollution control and cleanup efforts 

 at the scene of a discharge or potential discharge. Usually, the U.S. Coast 

 Guard has the responsibility for assigning OSCs in coastal waters, while the 

 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has that function for inland waters. 

 The Coast Guard and EPA have agreed regionally on the boundary separating 

 the two areas. Information relating to the boundary should be available in 

 the applicable Regional Contingency Plan, but generally one can think of it 

 as being located at the head of commercial navigation. It should be noted 

 that, pending arrival of the predesignated OSC or his representative, the 

 first Federal official to arrive at the scene assumes that role, and this 

 official, of course, could be a member of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 



The Regional Response Team is composed of representatives of the primary 

 and selected advisory agencies named in the National Contingency Plan and 

 is chaired by either the Coast Guard or the EPA, depending on the site of 

 the spill (coastal or inland). The Department of Interior is a primary agency 

 and as such should always be represented on the team. My personal view is 

 that the representative should be from the Fish and Wildlife Service for it 

 is in that field that the OSC, if he is a Coast Guardsman, is more likely 

 to lack expertise that is available in the Department of Interior. 



The primary function of the team is to advise and assist the OSC. The 

 team also performs organizational functions such as determining if a shift 

 of OSCs is appropriate, assures the availability of resources that might prove 

 elusive to the OSC, and, of course, is responsible for the development of 

 the Regional Contingency Plan. 



In our Coast Guard District, the Ninth, we believe that the RRT should 

 assemble and function near the site of the spill for maximum effectiveness. 

 We make a conscious effort, however, to permit the OSC to do his job while 

 we do ours. Such matters as boom deployment and monitoring of cleanup con- 

 tractors are a function of the OSC, and for RRT members to become involved 

 with such things only causes confusion. The RRT might and should, however, 

 provide the OSC with timely information and recommendations upon which he, 

 the OSC, can make solid judgments relating to boom deployments and priorities 

 for cleanup. 



Chief, Marine Environmental Protection 



Ninth Coast Guard District 



1240 East 9th Street 



Cleveland, Ohio 44199 29 



