Title: Oil spills | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Headings: Oil spills
Oil spills
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What is oil?
How do oil spills happen?
Where do oil spills happen?
How do oil spills harm or kill ocean life?
Who cleans up an oil spill — and how?
Who pays for oil spill cleanup and restoration?
How does NOAA help after an oil spill?
What are the largest marine oil spills in American history?
EDUCATION CONNECTION
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Content: Booms are floating physical barriers to oil, which help keep it contained and away from sensitive areas, like beaches, mangroves, and wetlands. Skimmers are used off of boats and can “skim” oil from the sea surface. In situ burning, or setting fire to an oil slick, can burn the oil away at sea, and chemical dispersants can break up oil slicks from the surface. However, cleanup activities can never remove 100% of the oil spilled, and scientists have to be careful that their actions don’t cause additional harm. After the Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989, scientists learned that high-pressure, hot-water hoses used to clean up beaches caused more damage than the oil alone. Sensitive habitats need extra consideration during oil spill cleanup. Who pays for oil spill cleanup and restoration? The Oil Pollution Act of 1990 established (among other things) that those responsible for oil spills can be held responsible to pay for cleanup and restoration. This process of assessing the impacts of a spill and reaching a settlement to fund restoration projects is called Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA). Federal, state, and tribal agencies work together with the party responsible for the oil spill throughout NRDA and select restoration projects with help from the public.