Two Federal agencies are responsible for highly specialized regulatory 

 activity. The AEC is responsible for preventing contamination from nu- 

 clear powerplants, and the FDA maintains surveillance of shellfish-growing 

 areas. Those that are contaminated by pollutants are closed to harvesting by 

 responsible State shellfish-control agencies. 



All Federal agencies conduct programs to evaluate the effects of ship and 

 shore facility operations on the environment and to control or prevent the 

 discharge of pollutants resulting from these activities. Because of the number 

 and variety of its ship and shore establishments, the largest and most complex 

 of these programs is that of the Department of Defense. In addition, the 

 Navy has initiated a program to collect environmental data in naval harbors 

 and is monitoring sites where munitions have been previously dumped to 

 assess possible environmental effects of these operations. All Federal agen- 

 cies are also involved in the preparation and review of Environmental Impact 

 Statements in which the environmental effects of proposed construction or 

 other actions are analyzed and alternatives evaluated. 



Containment and Recovery off Oil Spills 



Present technology for reducing damage from massive oil spills is inade- 

 quate, and techniques for cleaning up even small oil spills are effective only 

 in calm waters. Federal programs are now underway to improve methods 

 and equipment for combating spills. 



The Coast Guard program includes technology to limit the quantity of oil 

 released, to control the spread of released oil, and to remove the oil from the 

 water's surface. It has developed a near-operational, air-deliverable, emer- 

 gency transfer and temporary storage system consisting of collapsible 500- 

 ton temporary storage containers and a pumping system. To restrict the 

 spread of spilled oil, a system of containment booms, suitable for use at sea, 

 is under development; the prototype boom has undergone preliminary tests 

 in the Gulf of Mexico. It is designed to contain oil slicks in 20-mile-per-hour 

 winds and 5-foot waves and to survive 40-mile-per-hour winds and 10-foot 

 seas. A recovery system is in the initial stages of development. The goal is an 

 oil recovery rate of 2,000 gallons of oil per minute in 20-mile-per-hour winds 

 and 5-foot seas. 



Program emphasis of EPA's Oil Pollution Program is on developing systems 

 and engineering prototypes for the prevention of oil spills and the contain- 

 ment and recovery of oil. Specific interest is centered on the development of 

 techniques for the removal of oil from water with the aid of sorbent materials 

 and mechanical equipment and the development of techniques for the res- 

 toration of oil-contaminated beaches. An Oil and Hazardous Material Test 

 Basin providing a controlled environment is being constructed at Edison, 

 N.J., to test and evaluate devices to treat, control, and remove spilled mate- 

 rials. New boom systems for use in high-velocity rivers and tidal regions, on- 

 shore ballast treatment systems, and remote automatic oil-skimming con- 

 cepts will be demonstrated in the year ahead. 



The Hazardous Material Spills Program has as its primary objectives the 

 development of devices to prevent spills, methods and equipment to detect 

 and identify spills, and countermeasures equipment to lessen the environ- 



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