Marine Science Affairs 



agency response to pollution incidents; define procedures to promote the 

 coordinated reaction of all Federal, State, local government, and private 

 agencies to pollution incidents; and consider training of reaction team per- 

 sonnel, research, development, and test and evaluation activities needed to 

 support reaction capabilities, and equipment and material stockpiling. A 

 Joint Operations Team will be activated in the event of a pollution incident 

 which (a) exceeds the response capability of the region in which it occurs, 

 (b) transects regional boundaries, or (c) involves national security or a major 

 hazard to substantial numbers of persons or nationally significant amounts 

 of property. This team will act as the focal point for national public infor- 

 mation releases and for information transfer between the on-site teams and 

 Washington. 



The National Contingency Plan provides guidelines for the establish- 

 ment of regional contingency plans and reaction teams and encourages 

 the development of local government and private capabilities to handle 

 pollution incidents. Coordination and direction of Federal pollution con- 

 trol efforts at the scene of a pollution incident will be accomplished through 

 a single executive agent predesignated by regional plans. The Coast Guard 

 will furnish the predesignated Commander for the coastal and contiguous 

 zone waters, ports, and harbors. Great Lakes, and major inland navigable 

 waterways, and the Department of the Interior will designate the Com- 

 mander in other areas. The plan incorporates procedures to make effective 

 use of the ESSA's prediction services related to tides, winds, river flow, and 

 sea state that can affect dispersion of oil and other pollutants. 



Complementing the development and implementation of the National 

 Contingency Plan will be FY 1970 efforts of the Coast Guard, Corps of 

 Engineers, and Federal Water Pollution Control Administration to 

 strengthen our capability to detect, contain, and ameliorate spills of oil and 

 other hazardous cargoes. Research efforts endorsed by the Marine Sciences 

 Council include development of: 



— procedures and equipment for containment of oil spills at the source 



and in open and rough water; 

 — techniques for removal of cargoes from troubled vessels using high 

 capacity air transportable pumps and oil burning technologies, and 

 development of booms and other devices that can be quickly rigged 

 and emplaced; 

 — procedures and equipment for the recovery of spilled pollutants be- 

 fore they befoul the coast or create fire or safety hazards; consider- 

 ation will be given to complement existing pumping technology with 

 flotation devices including appropriate pipelines and containers and 

 with specially designed tankers or other vessels to serve as bulk 

 containers ; 

 — methods of tagging pollutants in order to identify the source and 

 provide a basis for recovering clean-up costs; 



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