165 



Federal Register / Vol. 45, No. 55 / Wednesday. March 19. 1980 / Rules and Regulations 17845 



and for Great Lakes waters, portj and 

 harbors. 



(c) All Federal agencies are required 

 by Executive Order to develop 



-emergency plans and procedures for 

 dealing with oil and hazardous 

 substances spills caused by facilities or 

 vessels under their jurisdiction. All 

 Federal agencies, therefore, are 

 responsible for designating the offices 

 that will coordinate response actions for 

 spills caused by facilities or vessels 

 under their jurisdiction and for 

 providing means to remove or mitigate 

 such spills in accordance with this Plan 

 and applicable Federal regulations and 

 guidelines. If the responsible Federal 

 agency does not act promptly or take 

 appropriate action, to respond to a spill 

 caused by a facility or vessels under its 

 jurisdiction, the EPA or USCG 

 (depending on the area where the 

 discharge occurs) shall assume the OSC 

 functions. 



(d) The OSC is responsible for 

 developing and maintaining a local 

 contingency plan (Federal local plan) for 

 the Federal response in the area of the 

 OSC's responsibility. Designated 

 Federal. State, and local representatives 

 to the RRT shall assist in these efforts. 

 (See } 1510.4Z} 



§ 151037 PubOc Infonnatlon network. 



(a)(1) When a major pollution incident 

 occurs, it is imperative to give the public 

 prompt, accurate information on the 

 nature of the discharge and actions 

 underway to mitigate the damage. Those 

 immediately capable, especially local 

 fire, police and governmental officials, 

 will be contacted first so they may use 

 all available resources to notify the 

 public of a potential threat Prompt 

 disclosure of the facts helps to 

 encourage cooperation by interested 

 parties and to check the spread of 

 misinformation. National administration 

 policy and the Freedom of Information 

 Act both call for maximum disclosure of 

 information. 



(2) If a participating agency believes 

 public interest warrants the issuance of 

 statements or releases and the on-scene 

 or national news offices have not been 

 activated, the affected agency should 

 recommend activation. In the interim, all 

 news releases or statements issued by 

 participating agencies concerning the 

 incidents will be cleared through the 

 , OSC 



(b) When the NRT is activated, the 

 Team chairman will contact the most 

 appropriate agency and ask it to detail a 

 professional information officer to 

 establish and direct a national news 

 office. Whenever possible, the director 

 of the national news office shall be 

 provided by the same agency providing 



the OSC Requests by the director of the 

 national news office for an appropriate 

 number of professional and clerical 

 assistants will be met by one or more of 

 the participating agencies. 



(1) The director of the national news 

 office will be responsible for overall 

 supervision of pubUc information 

 activities of the NRT. The closest 

 possible coordination will be 

 maintained between the national news 

 office in Washington and the on-scene 

 news office. 



(2) Promptly after his designation, the 

 director of the national news office will 

 contact the White House Press Office 

 and the Office of Governmental and 

 Public Affairs to arrange whatever 

 information assistance may be required 

 by these offices. 



(3) All national news office news 

 releases will be cleared by the chairman 

 of the NRT. or in his absence, the vice- 

 chairman. 



(4) The Director of the national news 

 office will have free access to meetings 

 of the NRT and will be consulted on the 

 possible public reaction to. the courses 

 of action under consideration by the 

 NRT. 



(5) At appropriate intervals, the 

 director of the national news office may 

 arrange news conferences at which the 

 NRT will respond to questions from the 

 media representatives. 



(6) The director of the national news 

 office will keep appropriate nationally- 

 based press offices posted on 

 developments. These include the press 

 offices of the secretaries or directors of 

 the participating agencies; Senators and 

 Representatives whose States or 

 districts are affected by the incident 



(7) The national news office will be 

 provided with adequate space, 

 telephones, typewriters, 

 communications equipment and other 

 supplies by the U.S. Coast Guard at U.S. 

 Coast Guard Headquarters, Washington. 

 D.C. The director of the national news 

 office will determine what equipment 

 and supplies are needed to insure an 

 orderly flow of information and to 

 accommodate visiting members of the 

 news media. 



(c) An on-scene news office will be 

 established upon the request of any 

 agency participating on the RRT or the 

 OSC to coordinate media relations and 

 issue official Federal information on a 

 pollution incident. The office will be 

 staffed according to regional plans and 

 applicable agency directives. Whenever 

 possible, the on-scene news office will 

 be headed by a representative of the 

 agency providing the OSC Any 

 participating agency may, by request to 

 the RRT, place a representative on the 

 staff of the news office. The OSC shall 



determine location of the on-scene news 

 office but every effort should be made to 

 locate it near the scene of the pollution 

 incident 



(1) The director of the on-scene news 

 office shall coordinate all public 

 information activities for the OSC The 

 director's functions include: 



(i) Arranging news conferences for the 

 OSC and other officials to make 

 progress reports and respond to 

 questions; 



(ii) Keeping local and regional 

 government officials informed of the 

 pollution situation through contacts with 

 their press offices or other 

 representatives: 



(iii) Keeping news media informed 

 about the response effort and giving 

 them as much cooperation as possible, 

 for example, by arranging transportation 

 to the scene of a pollution incident when 

 possible; 



(iv) Issuing and distributing daily 

 news releases so long as ptibUc interest 

 warrants; 



(v) Giving citizens who make inquiries 

 up-to-date information from the latest 

 press release; 



(vi) Observing public reaction to the 

 pollution incident and advising the OSC 

 of any actions that might better serve 

 public information interests; 

 ■ (vii] H andling queries from public and 

 commercial interests properly and 

 prompUy; 



(viii] Referring salesmen to technical 

 personnel assigned to evaluate their 

 wares; 



(ix) Upon request offering special 

 public information services for official 

 visitors, including notifying the news 

 media of the time, place and purpose of 

 official visits; making press conference 

 arrangements; .and arranging for 

 interviews; 



(x) Informing the public on the proper 

 way to deal with individual problems 

 and damages from the pollution 

 incident and 



(xi) If necessary, drafting a model 

 letter for participating agencies to use in 

 answering mail inquiries, after the crisis 

 has subsided. The model letter must be 

 approved by the Chairman of the NRT. 



(2) It is important for the on-scene 

 news office to describe accurately in 

 news releases each agency's 

 contiiibution to the response effort and 

 to make sure that the various agencies 

 assisting the OSC are represented at 

 press conferences. 



(3) Each OSC and supporting district 

 or regional office must' establish 

 contacts and a working relationship 

 with the regional news media as part of 

 preparation and planning before a 

 pollution incident occurs. 



