Another tenet of our dispersant policy states that chemical dispersants 

 can be used when they result in the least environmental damage. Here is the 

 loophole that causes debate over the use of physical recovery of oil versus 

 chemical dispersants. The RRT can help resolve this debate. Specifically, 

 the U.S. policy favors physical recovery of the oil. 



A lesson that I learned in England and France, both on the Torrey Canyon 

 spill and later during the Amoco Cadiz spill in 1978, was that people in these 

 two countries do not enjoy the ownership privilege of natural resources as we 

 do in the United States. The priority in England is to keep the beaches 

 clean for the holiday. There is little or no thought given to the marine 

 resources. One cannot fault that government for trying to protect what its 

 public perceives as its highest priority. 



The French government's highest priority is to protect the marine re- 

 sources. Each time a spill occurs off the Brittany Coast, extensive efforts 

 are made to move lobsters and oysters, to try to boom off certain estuarine 

 areas as well as possible, and to physically recover the spilled oil. How- 

 ever, 77 million gallons of oil can be overwhelming, requiring the involve- 

 ment of Army troops. 



In this country, there are approximately 100 private oil spill contrac- 

 tors who, since 1970, have established themselves as a new type of business. 

 The United States depends mostly on contractors; no Federal or State people 

 actually do the cleanup. For the most part, it is entirely contracted. 

 (Europeans do not have this kind of business.) In my judgment, the basis for 

 our policy of picking up oil and physically removing it from the beaches 

 comes from France. France's intention was to disturb as little as possible, 

 and maintain beach integrity and habitats. 



We have learned to deflect oil in our inland areas. No one would ever 

 string a boom across the Mississippi River or the Missouri River. We can, 

 however, deflect that oil into "least current" eddies and similar environ- 

 ments, and then recover it by using vacuum devices or sorbents. Many kinds 

 of commercially developed sorbents have been marketed since 1970. Some of 

 these are expensive; however, they can be reused. We have developed contin- 

 uous rope polyethylene surface oil removal equipment. In the northern part 

 of this country, the "Slick Licker," a continuous belt that removes the oil, 

 is used. Another device commonly used is called the "Oil Mop." 



In coastal areas confronted with waves of oil coming in from offshore, 

 trenches and pits are dug with a back hoe. The oil is funneled into these 

 trenches and pits by the tide. As the tide goes out, the neck of the trenches 

 and pits is closed off. Then, vac-oil trucks, which have become popular in 

 all parts of the country, pump the pits, using many types of skimmers, such 

 as duckbill skimmers. The skimmers are suspended right above the surface of 

 the water, and the force of the vacuum pulls the oil into the trucks. Oil 

 covering large areas can be cleaned up in this fashion. Harbor skimmers in 

 use today have been federally funded, and the Federal Government has developed 



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