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15th Annual OSC Readiness Training Program

A Tale of Two SpillsSteven Merritt – EPA R8 OSCGina Cristiano – EPA R8 OSC

15th Annual OSC Readiness Training Program www.oscreadiness.org 1

Red Butte CreekSLC, UT (06/2010)

Yellowstone RiverBillings, MT (07/2011)

It’s All Relative…

Region 8 Oil Spill Overviews

Making friends and influencing people in Unified Command…

To SCAT or not to SCAT, that is the question…

The fundamental differences between public information and the media…

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15th Annual OSC Readiness Training Program

Red Butte Creek Oil Spill Overview

Gina CristianoEPA On-Scene Coordinator

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Friday Night - June 11, 2010 Pipeline break due

to transmission station arc

Downhill run = no alarms

Approx 1,000 barrels discharged to Red Butte Creek

Local FD and Big D Construction respond

State, county and EPA come later

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Let’s talk one spill…Red Butte Creek

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N

Liberty Park Pond

Aviary

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15th Annual OSC Readiness Training Program

Silvertip Pipeline Oil Spill Overview

Steven MerrittEPA On-Scene Coordinator

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PBS NewsHour – 7/5/2011

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Friday, 7/1/2011, just before

midnight, on a long holiday weekend…

After two months of record rainfall,

elevated snowpack, spring runoff and

flooding…

4-6 feet of earthen cover atop the

Silvertip Pipeline crossing erodes at

peak flow…

Pipeline severed and discharges 1509 barrels of

medium sour crude into Yellowstone

River…

Hydrogen sulfide and petroleum odor complaints prompt evacuations and sheltering of 350

people overnight…

ExxonMobil, ConocoPhillips and

CHS (Cenex) Refinery Spill

Response Teams deploy…

EPA Region 8 OSCs, START and ERRS mobilized and deployed to

incident…

EMPCo IMT and OSRO resources slow to arrive in

Montana…

EPA HQ and Region 8 RICT

demand updates from FOSC…

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Notification & The Telephone Game

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40 CFR 300.305(e) & 300.320(b) -Consultation

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15th Annual OSC Readiness Training Program

Contrasts and Perspectives

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ICS & Unified Command

Coordinated and effective joint response

By CWA/OPA, OSC has 51% vote

Few are trained to implement over the long-term

JIC complicated by perception problem

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Cable News Media – 7/8/2011

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To SCAT or not to SCAT…

Inland river SCAT is not the same

No SCAT at RBC but still assessed impacts and dealt with them

Any assessment effort must be synchronized with operations

Experienced SCAT team members needed

Stakeholders must have common objectives/goals for SCAT

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0

2000

4000

6000

8000

10000

12000

Total A B C

Acr

es

Division

Degree of Oiled Acres

HeavyModerate LightVery LightNo Oil Observed

No Oil Observed Very Light  Light Moderate Heavy Total 

Surveyed 

A 419 144 118 154 10 845

B 432 444 463 137 1 1,476

C 5,081 2,069 253 9 0 7,412

Total 5,932 2,657 834 300 11 9,734

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Public Information vs.Media Relations

Plan for an OSC spokesperson or highly experienced response media person

FOG OF WAR - expect uncertainty

Never “get ahead” of the media cycle if OSCs muzzled initially

Media doesn’t educate the public; more personal interaction and time required

Laboratory data cannot and should not drive information sharing

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“We thank you for your support!”

Gina CristianoEmergency Planning303-312-6688cristiano.gina@epa.gov

Steven MerrittOn-Scene Coordinator303-312-6146merritt.steven@epa.gov