105 



prepared to detail those but it has been a continuing battle, it has 

 reached very low levels at times. 



Mr. Breaux. In general the Coast Guard will use those funds to 

 clean up an oil or chemical spill. Then would the Government have 

 an obligation to proceed against the person who actually caused 

 the spill, to recover those funds? 



Captain Corbett. Yes, sir. 



Mr. Breaux. And our Government does do that? 



Captain Corbett. Yes. 



Mr. Breaux. I am interested 



Captain Corbett. You are speaking about domestic oilspills. 



Mr. Breaux. Sure. You cannot use those funds to go clean up 

 spills outside our territorial waters. 



Captain Corbett. Yes, we can if it is a threat. 



Mr. Breaux. It has to be a threat. Say it is somewhere off the 

 North Atlantic moving to some other country's shoreline you would 

 not be able to use it for that purpose? 



Captain Corbett. If in the opinion of the predesignated on-scene 

 coordinator it poses a threat to our shoreline or waters then he 

 could access the funds. We would not — we would let him make that 

 judgment. But if it is headed some place else, I think the answer 

 would be no. 



Mr. Breaux. OK. On page 1 you said that given the technological 

 development of the recovery and containment equipment it is real- 

 istic to expect they will be successful in seas up to 8 or 10 feet and 

 winds of 20 knots. Then you continue to say the rationale is based 

 on the premise that the breakup and dispersion of oil takes place 

 in about 8 to 10 feet seas. Is dispersion of and breakup of oil good 

 or bad? 



Captain Corbett. It depends. Dispersion down through the water 

 column can be quite harmful to aquatic life. Though I am not a 

 biologist. But if the oil is say, take the Argo Merchant where the oil 

 was being spread out and forced to seaward, then I expect that the 

 average layman on the coast of Massachusetts would say that was 

 good, rather than having it coming into the Massachusetts shore- 

 line in bulk. Sometimes when we disperse oil we do it intentional- 

 ly. That is not necessarily good. It might save an amenity beach 

 but it might kill a fish or two, so there are decisions which have to 

 be made by our on-scene coordinator as guided by the EPA and the 

 State. 



Mr. Breaux. Do you know if the reports are finalized on the 

 effect of the IXTOC spill as far as the biology? 



Captain Corbett. No. That is a NOAA responsibility. As you 

 know they met some problem with funding. But I do not know the 

 progress that they have made. 



Mr. Breaux. What about the obligation of an operator as far as a 

 cleanup of a spill or containment of a spill, is it not their first 

 obligation to proceed with cleanup and containment exercises? 



Captain Corbett. Yes, sir, it is. 



Mr. Breaux. And what role does the Coast Guard play? Is it a 

 supervisory role to insure that they in fact have equipment and 

 manpower to carry out the operation? 



Captain Corbett. Yes. The first role is exactly what you say, to 

 be sure that they have the necessary equipment to remove the oil. 



