Tag: oil spill preparedness

China has established a national compensation fund for oil spills caused by ships, Want China Times reports. "This marks a new milestone for China's compensation mechanism for ship-caused oil pollution and will better safeguard the interests of the victims of accidents," said He Jianzong, deputy transport minister, at the inauguration ceremony. The commission comprises representatives from nine units, including the ministries of transport, finance, agriculture and environmental protection, the State Oceanic Administration, the China National Tourism Administration, China National Petroleum Corporation, Sinopec and China National Offshore Oil Corporation. It will be responsible for managing the compensation fund and handling cases, the Shanghai-based National Business News reports. He said that China is a great shipping country and a large oil consumer and that its annual oil imports have continued to surge along with the nation's rapid economic expansion to a high of 374.6 million tons in 2014, adding that the expansion of oil tankers to meet increased oil imports has been accompanied by rising oil spill risks. The paper said that from 1973 to 2014, a total of 3,200 oil spill accidents occurred in the seas around China, with spilled oil amounting to 42,936 tons. Over the years, there were 91 ...

  City College of New York (CCNY) researchers led by chemist George John have developed an eco-friendly biodegradable green "herding" agent that can be used to clean up light crude oil spills on water. Derived from the plant-based small molecule phytol abundant in the marine environment, the new substance would potentially replace chemical herders currently in use. According to John, professor of chemistry in City College'sDivision of Science, "the best known chemical herders are chemically stable, non-biodegradable, and hence remain in the marine ecosystem for years." "Our goal was to develop an eco-friendly herding molecule as an alternative to the current silicone-based polymers," said John. Herding agents are surface-active molecules (surfactants) that when added to a liquid, such as seawater, reduce the surface tension. In the case of oil spills, when they are added along the periphery of an oil spill slick, they contract and thicken the slick or push slicks together so that they can be collected or burned.    "Understanding the interfacial behavior is crucial to design the next generation eco-friendly herding agents" said Charles Maldarelli, a professor of chemical engineering in CCNY'sBenjamin Levich Institute for Physico-Chemical Hydrodynamics who participated in the study. John's research team also included ...

  The 2015 Clean Pacific Conference in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada June 16-18, 2015 covered a wide range of prevention, preparedness and response topics, with a focus on the growth in crude transportation across the West. The conference provided a forum for responders, operators, regulators, equipment providers and environmental groups to openly discuss best practices and industry trends. CLEAN PACIFIC is co-hosted by the member agencies of the Pacific States/British Columbia Oil Spill Task Force and it incorporates the Task Force’s 2015 Annual Meeting. The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) sponsored the 2015 Clean Pacific Networking Break in the exhibit hall at the Vancouver Convention Centre. Jason Langteau, Planning Analyst of the BSEE Oil Spill Preparedness Division, spoke about the BSEE Oil Spill Equipment Verification Program during the conference. "I’m glad to share with the public, the regulated community, and other agencies some of the progress BSEE is making in the important topic of oil spill preparedness relating to the equipment verification process we now use. I hope that by explaining how thorough our process is we’ll raise the bar for other regulators as they develop or implement similar programs to verify preparedness equipment" Jason said. The Western ...

  Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) Alaska Region Director Mark Fesmire and Rear Adm. Dan Abel, Coast Guard 17th District Commander, met in Juneau to discuss Arctic oil spill preparedness and coordination of incident management strategies. The meeting, which included BSEE and Coast Guard officials from Washington, D.C. was in preparation for drilling operations proposed by Shell in the Chukchi Sea this summer. The conversation highlighted the federal government’s continued focus on the Arctic which requires stringent effective oversight to ensure all activities are conducted safely and responsibly. Shell is not allowed to move forward with its 2015 drilling program unless it’s able to secure approved permits from BSEE and other federal agencies. Shell plans to focus its 2015 efforts on drill sites approximately 70 nautical miles northwest from Wainwright, Alaska. Source: BSEEIn the starting, I was frank with you propecia before and after has changed my being. It has become much more fun, and now I have to run. Just as it is incredible to sit.

  Marine oil spills can be extremely difficult to deal with, requiring a lot of time and effort by experts to remove the pollutant from the surface of the water. In the sea in the area of Cardiff, Wales engineers from a European research project are testing a new prototype that cleans oil spills quickly, efficiently and more cheaply than existing methods, which require multiple vessels and complex oil containment measures. “What we’ve developed is a net which can float on the surface of the water, without using any containment booms,” explained James Ilsley, an environmental engineer and managing director of OPEC Ltd, which is developing they system. The simplicity of the technology is an important aspect, according to Federico Meneghello, FORCE7 project coordinator: “A big advantage is that this system can operate with a single boat, and can work in stormy seas, because it doesn’t need to coordinate with other ships.” The point is reinforced by Ilsley: “Using this system, we can operate in very heavy seas, such as force seven conditions, where the wave heights would be quite high, and the polypropylene net would follow these wave contours to be able to collect oil from the slicks,” he ...

  A new container ship of 18 000 TEU has been delivered to CMA CGM Group by Korean shipyard Samsung. A state of the art vessel equipped with the latest environmental technologies including the JLMD FOR system. Fast Oil Recovery Systems are emergency circuits allowing immediate and permanent access to the ship’s cargo and bunker tanks. The FOR System and the salvage friendly ship movement, managing operational challenges while building sustainable business performance. Furthermore it is a key element to enhance Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Source and Image Credit: JLMD SystemIn the beginning, I was forthright with you propecia before and after has changed my life. It has become much more fun, and now I have to run. Just as it is incredible to sit.

  Emergency responders from across Ohio gathered in Cleveland to participate in a preparedness response exercise. Exercises such as this one are designed to improve communication, planning and emergency response proficiency across local, state and federal agencies in the event of an oil spill in any navigable waterway, like the Cuyahoga River. "Today's exercise was a big success and an excellent opportunity for numerous agencies and organizations to gather and practice working together in a unified command setting," said Cmdr. Jerrel Russell, the commanding officer of the Coast Guard’s Marine Safety Unit Cleveland. The exercise was based on a scenario in which a large vessel hit a submerged object in the Cuyahoga River, resulting in a discharge of around 40,000 gallons of diesel fuel into the river. "We appreciate the support from everyone involved, and especially Great Lakes Towing for allowing the use of their facility, and Interlake Steamship for providing the Dorothy Ann and Pathfinder,” Russell said. “Everyone involved benefited greatly.” Source and Image Credit: USCG NewsIn the onset, I was forthright with you propecia before and after has changed my being. It has become much more fun, and now I have to run. Just as it is incredible to sit.

  Jason Langteau and Craig Ogawa from the BSEE Oil Spill Preparedness Division – Pacific Section - conducted a Government Initiated Unannounced Exercise (GIUE) with Dos Cuadras Offshore Resources (DCOR), LLC in Ventura, California on May 19, 2015. As the Exercise Designer and Controller, Jason Langteau delivered a scenario that required the DCOR, LLC to respond to a simulated oil spill from a subsea pipeline connected to the company’s Platform Edith located offshore of Long Beach, California. BSEE planned and executed the exercise in close coordination with oil spill response professionals from U.S. Coast Guard Sector Los Angeles-Long Beach, U.S. Coast Guard Marine Safety Detachment Santa Barbara and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife – Office of Spill Prevention and Response (CA OSPR). This exercise provided an opportunity for joint cooperation, partnership, and governmental efficiency between federal and state organizations that have mutual responsibilities for regulating the offshore industry. Government Initiated Unannounced Exercises are designed to give BSEE the opportunity to evaluate, on a no-notice basis, the response preparedness posture of the offshore exploration and production community. In this particular exercise, BSEE and its interagency partners focused on a number of objectives. These included the operator’s ability to make ...

  The Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) meets for its 68th session from 11 to 15 May 2015, at IMO Headquarters in London.  Items on the agenda include the proposed adoption of the environmental part of the Polar Code and associated draft MARPOL amendments to make the Code mandatory; the implementation of the Ballast Water Management Convention; further work on air pollution and energy efficiency measures; and a proposal to extend the Great Barrier Reef and Torres Strait Particularly Sensitive Sea Area (PSSA) to parts of the Coral Sea. Polar Code environmental provisions set for adoption  The MEPC is expected to adopt the environmental requirements of the mandatory International Code for ships operating in polar waters (Polar Code), and the associated MARPOL amendments to make the Code mandatory. This follows the adoption, by the Maritime Safety Committee (MSC) in December 2014 of the Polar Code and related amendments to make it mandatory under the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS).  The Polar Code is expected to enter into force on 1 January 2017.   The Polar Code covers the full range of design, construction, equipment, operational, training, search and rescue ...