THE NATIONAL CONTINGENCY PLAN: 

 A TEAM APPROACH TO FEDERAL RESPONSE 



Kenneth Biglane 



Chairman, National Response Team 



U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 



Washington, DC. 



I had the pleasure of serving in the Federal Water Pollution Control Ad- 

 ministration of the U.S. Department of the Interior. During that time, several 

 colleagues and I were sent to the scene of the Torrey Canyon incident, where 

 we realized the need for contingency planning. Upon our return from that 

 incident in 1967, we were directed to form a task force with several other 

 executive departments to develop a National Contingency Plan. I served on 

 that task force, and an interagency plan was published in November 1968. I 

 was also given the opportunity of writing the dispersant policy for the 

 country. Dispersants are chemicals, as you know, that are used to dissipate 

 oil spills. I am pleased to say that this policy is still in existence. 



In 1970, Congress, pursuant to the Federal Water Pollution Control Act 

 amendments, made the Plan part of the statutes and directed the President to 

 write a regulation dealing with the harmful discharge of oil. I am proud to 

 be associated with that regulation, the oil sheen regulation, because, in the 

 9 years that it has been in effect, it has worked. The U.S. Coast Guard de- 

 serves high marks for ensuring its enforcement. Even though there are about 

 10,000 oil spills in this country each year, the oil slicks and sheens that 

 once occurred as a result of continuous effluent discharges from industry 

 are a thing of the past (U.S. Coast Guard 1978). 



The National Contingency Plan grew, of necessity, because of the in- 

 creasing incidence of oil spills. The Plan never gets a chance to get dusty: 

 it is used and strengthened every day. At the present time, the U.S. Depart- 

 ments of the Interior, Defense, Transportation (Coast Guard), Commerce 

 [represented by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (N0AA)], 

 Agriculture, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) participate 

 in the Plan. Very shortly, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration 

 also will be involved. 



The National Contingency Plan functions through Regional Response Teams 

 (RRT's) which are composed of representatives of the agencies I mentioned 

 previously. These RRT's are environmental assessment teams that make deci- 

 sions having an impact on human health and the environment. These are real- 

 time decisions made in the presence of a panic situation, but the teams do 

 not panic; they are deliberate and positive. 



You have probably heard about the professor in Indiana who invented ex- 

 plosives for the U.S. Department of Defense during World War II. This year 



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