Title: Reporting Oil Spills: Everything You Need To Know
Headings: Reporting Oil Spills: Everything You Need To Know
Reporting Oil Spills: Everything You Need To Know
Reporting Oil Spills: Everything You Need To Know
Oil Spills: Everything You Need To Know
Understanding Oil Spills
How to Report
EPA Oil Spill Program Contacts
How Reports Are Handled
Overview of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990
Discharge of Oil Regulation (40 CFR 110)
Oil Spill Reporting Exemptions
Properly Functioning Vessel Engines
Research and Development Releases
NPDES-Permitted Releases
Discharges Permitted Under MARPOL
More links

Content: Following the massive Ashland oil spill in 1988, EPA formed the SPCC Task Force to examine federal regulations governing oil spills from aboveground storage tanks. The SPCC Task Force recommended that EPA clarify certain provisions in the Oil Pollution Prevention regulation, establish additional technical requirements for regulated facilities, and require the preparation of facility-specific response plans. In 1990, Congress enacted the Oil Pollution Act which, among other things, required certain oil storage facilities to prepare facility response plans. In response, EPA proposed revisions to the Oil Pollution Prevention regulation in two phases. EPA proposed its first set of revisions to the regulation on October 22, 1991. These proposed revisions, in addition to strengthening and clarifying previous regulatory language, outline the additional requirements for regulated oil storage and handling facilities. On July 1, 1994, EPA finalized a second set of revisions to the Oil Pollution Prevention regulations. The revisions incorporate the new requirements added by the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 that direct facility owners or operators to prepare, and in some cases submit to the federal government, plans for responding to a worst-case discharge of oil. Discharge of Oil Regulation (40 CFR 110)
Under the legal authority of the Clean Water Act, the Discharge of Oil regulation, more commonly known as the "sheen rule", provides the framework for determining whether an oil spill to inland and coastal waters and/or their adjoining shorelines should be reported to the federal government. In particular, the regulation requires the person in charge of a facility or vessel responsible for discharging oil that may be "harmful to the public health or welfare" to report the spill to the federal government.