June 05, 2009
Updates Needed for U.S. Oil Spill R&D Strategy, Witnesses and Members Conclude
(Washington, D.C.)—The House Committee on Science and Technology’s Subcommittee on Energy and Environment held a hearing to examine current federal research and development efforts to prevent, detect, or mitigate damage from oil spills. Witnesses and Members discussed legislation introduced on June 3rd by Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-CA), H.R. 2693, The Federal Oil Spill Research Program Act of 2009.
“The United States needs a more robust research and development strategy to reduce the environmental and economic impacts of oil spills,” said Subcommittee Chairman Brian Baird (D-WA). “A reinvigorated research and development program is necessary to improve the effectiveness of oil spill response efforts and mitigation. And, with the high environmental and economic cost of oil spills, a new R&D program would cost a fraction of what a single large spill would cost.”
“Oil spill prevention and mitigation is important to me not only because I think it’s vital to protect the environment and coastal economies, but also because my district has been seriously affected by what many consider a minor spill,” said Woolsey. “And as a result of this, I’ve been witness to how difficult an oil spill cleanup effort can be, even with the best-available technology.
After the Exxon Valdez spilled nearly 11 million gallons of crude oil in Alaska's Prince William Sound after running aground on March 24, 1989, Congress passed the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA 90), which expanded the oil prevention, preparedness, and response capabilities of the federal government and industry. Since the bill was signed into law, the volume of oil spilled from tankers into U.S. waters has decreased substantially.
However, oil spills from other vessels and from on-land sources remain high, such as the container ship Cosco Busan, which collided with the San Francisco Bay Bridge on November 7, 2007 and spilled over fifty thousand gallons of oil into San Francisco Bay.
“The OPA 90 has been a success story in many ways, but new challenges exist today that were not apparent when the bill was authorized,” said Baird. “Most oil spills have a 10 to 15 percent rate of recovery. More recent estimates have reported an increase in recovery rates to 40 percent in best-case scenarios. Given these low recovery percentages, additional research and development is necessary to reach acceptable levels of mitigation.”
Rep. Woolsey’s bill coordinates federal research and development of oil spill prevention, detection, recovery, and mitigation. The bill provides a new direction to the existing program by guiding research towards emerging challenges and making the interagency structure for this program more efficient. The bill also provides grants to institutes higher learning and research centers to improve technologies used to prevent, combat, and clean up oil spills.
“One thing that I heard again and again from the people who were tasked with cleaning up the mess in the San Francisco bay is that the technology they were using just wasn’t adequate to get the job done,” said Woolsey. “Of the 58,000 gallons of oil that were spilled, only forty percent of that amount was recovered. It’s clear that current technology is inadequate to prevent and protect us from oils spills if we can only recover such a small percentage with what’s available. And, I know with the right focus and effort, we can do much, much better.”
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