prototypes. The U.S. Navy uses skimmers to keep its harbors clean. There 

 have been many cooperatives formed all over the country. All of the offshore 

 paltforms have contingency plans involving contractors who can respond quick- 

 ly using surface recovery devices. 



In the early days, most of the labels or the advertisements for disper- 

 sants used the three magic words: "nontoxic," "available in large quantities,' 

 and "biodegradable." About the time that we became concerned about contents 

 of dispersants, we put certain requirements to which a manufacturer must ad- 

 here in our Annex X of the National Contingency Plan (40 CFR 1510). Certain 

 data also must be sent to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). 

 Subsequently, EPA has approved certain dispersants. We received the necessary 

 data from about a dozen manufacturers so we now know what is in the material. 

 We have established its toxicity, at least based on the studies of four spec- 

 ies of test animals. 



The reason that all information is not publicized widely is that the 

 government is under the Privacy Act (P.L. 94-183). Certain manufacturers do 

 not want such information to become public. However, an OSC calling on the 

 EPA representative can get those materials which are least toxic and which 

 are most effective in ranked order. Effectiveness tests are required in the 

 submission of these data. 



There are certain oils, however, on which dispersants should not be used. 

 They are the Navy specials or bunker C oils. These kind of heavy oils, 

 particularly in the cooler climates, respond to dispersants as liver would 

 respond to Ivory Snow. These oils can never be emulsified. Fish nets can 

 pick them up. 



Dispersants were used off the East Coast on a continuous bleeding of oil 

 from a sunken tug this past year. The priorities at that point indicated 

 that the beaches around Long Island should be saved for the swimmers in July. 

 The judicious application of dispersants was viewed as a way of avoiding oil 

 on shore. We applied dispersants in a much smaller amount than the manufac- 

 turer's specification indicated, but we did demonstrate that dispersants 

 correctly used, could be effective. 



Tests are being conducted jointly by EPA and industry. The U.S. Coast 

 Guard is helping because we want to learn more about the efficiency of some 

 of these materials. Most of the dispersants depend on mixing energy to create 

 an emulsion. Once mixed and the emulsion forms, the current helps carry the 

 oil to other areas of the environment. The effect of dispersants are cos- 

 metic for the most part; there is nothing magical about them. Micro-organisms 

 through biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), will eliminate most of the oil 

 through partial or total oxidation and evaporation. 



The U.S. Coast Guard has done the most to advance the technology of re- 

 covering and containing oil on the high seas. There are limitations, of 

 course. However, the U.S. Coast Guard has an extremely fast capability of 



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