Sea Pollution ResponseThursday, May 22th 2014,Connemara Coast Hotel,

Galway.Pat McCarthy

Senior Engineer,Waterford County Council.

Presentation

• Introduction• Waterford Co Co plan• Suir Estuary Plan• The future.

Oil Spill off South Coast, Feb 2009

Class & type: Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union Kuznetsov-class aircraft carrier

Displacement: 43,000 tons (Standard-load)[1]

55,200 tons (Full-load)[1]

61,390 tons (Max-load)

Length: 305 m (1,001 ft) o/a[1]

270 m (890 ft) w/l

Beam: 72 m (236 ft)[1] o/a35 m (115 ft) w/l[1]

Draft: 10 m (33 ft)[1]

Complement: 1,690 (total); 1,690 ship's crew[1]

626 air group40 flag staff3,857 rooms

Armament: • 8 × AK-630 AA guns (6×30 mm, 6,000 round/min/mount, 24,000 rounds)• 8 × CADS-N-1 Kashtan CIWS (each 2 × 30 mm Gatling AA plus 32 3K87 Kortik SAM)• 12 × P-700 Granit SSM• 18 × 8-cell 3K95 Kinzhal SAM VLS (192 missiles; 1 missile per 3 seconds)• RBU-12000 UDAV-1 ASW rocket launchers (60 rockets

Type: Anti Submarine Warfare Destroyer Chabanenko

Displacement: 6,930 tons standard, 7,570 tons full load[1]

Length: 163 m

Beam: 19.3 m

Draught: 6.2 m

Propulsion: 2 shaft COGAG, 4 gas turbines, 120,000 hp

Speed: 35 kt

Range: 10500 nm at 14 kt

Complement: 300

Oil Tankers

• S-Osipov oiler• Vyazma oiler

Events / Actions

• 14th Feb – Satellite survey picks up suspected oil spill. ICG overflight confirms. On alert. Monitoring programme established and regularly reviewed.

• Coordination meetings 17th, 19th, 27th Feb. ICG, DAFF, DEHLG, NPW, EPA, BIM, IFA, SFPA, LA’s, Russian Envoys.

• Risk assessment – Shoreline response, wildlife, fishing, aquaculture.

• Local LA staff and organisations on alert. ICG assistance and expertise available.

• WXCC Draft Coastal Pollution Response Plan activated.

17th February 2009

18th February 2009

19th February 2009

22nd February 2009

Location 24th Feb 2009

Predicted Location 2nd March 2009

Slick Location 24th Feb and forecast for 2nd March

Action Required.• Slick is dissipating.

• ICG continues to monitor and assess, and to keep Local Agencies informed.

• Local Agencies keep local public and industry informed.

• LA’s remains on alert, Wexford’s esponse Plan remains activated.

• Local Agencies coordinating readiness and response.

• Local coordination meetings as required.

• Organisations must meet own costs. ICG will act as central agency for claims for reimbursement.

All Shipping Sept 07 to Oct 08.

Crisis Management

Crisis/Crisis types

• Augustine (1995) states that ‘there are two types of crisis: those that you manage, and those that manage you’.

• ‘t Hart (1997) states that tough and systematically evaluated exercises will expose the loopholes of existing plans and show the unworkability of lengthy manuals that nobody reads. They facilitate the transition of plans to people. They move away from predictability of perfected prevention routines.

Crisis Management/ Public Relations/ Communications

• Elizabeth Dole, President of the American Red Cross stated that ’The midst of a crisis is the poorest possible time to establish new relationships’.

Augustine (2000) six stages of crisis management :

• Avoiding the crisis. “Next week there can’t be any crisis. My schedule is already full”. Henry Kissinger This is the least costly and simplest of them all. Make a list of everything that could attract troubles to the business, consider the possible consequences, and estimate the costs of prevention. Lacking control for the origin of a problem does not exempt you from living with its consequences.

• Preparing to manage the crisis. Prepare a plan to implement in the event of a crisis. Establish a crisis centre, select members of crisis team, provide communications and test the plan.

• Recognising the crisis. This is the most challenging. Public perception is important here as ignoring issues of perception can be fatal. Independent investigators may be required.

Six stages of crisis management• Containing the crisis. In this stage decisions have to be made and made

fast. A reasonable decisive decision is better than none at all and one should err on the side of over disclosure even risking harming one’s legal position. It is important to dispatch the senior person responsible to the scene usually the CEO. A dedicated group of individuals will be required, working full time to contain the crisis, a single person nominated as spokesperson, issue information to all stakeholders and incorporate a devils advocate on crisis management team.

• Resolving the crisis. ‘Even if you’re on the right track, you’ll get run over if you sit there’ Will Rogers. Speed is of the essence. Maintain information in the public arena and reassure stakeholders.

• Profiting from the crisis. “Experience is the name everyone gives to their mistakes” – Oscar Wilde.

• There is an opportunity here to recoup losses and begin to repair some of the damage caused.

Waterford County Council, POLLUTION RESPONSE PLAN

2012

Waterford County Council

Coastal Pollution Incident Response Plan

• Table of Contents • Section 1.1: Introduction and Policy 16• Section 1.2The Roles and Responsibilities of Involved Parties 26• Section 1.3: Risk Assessment Oil / HNS 56• Section 1.4: Fate of Spilled Oil / HNS 79• Section 1.5: Incident Response Strategies 91• Section 1.6: Training and Exercise Policy 102• Section 2.1: Initial Response Procedures 104• Section 2.2 Communications Plan 110• Section 2.3 Action Sheets, Aide Memoires and Forms 118• Section2.4:- Standard Forms 132• Section 2.5 Health and Safety and Site Risk Assessment 143• Section 2.6: Waste Disposal Operations 153• Section 3.1 Contact Directory 165• Section 3.2 Resources Directory 177• Section 4.0 Cost Recovery 180• Appendices 6 No

• Sea Pollution Act 1991, as amended (1999)• Each local authority must prepare an Oil Pollution

Emergency Plan in relation to any area of seashore within its functional area

• “seashore” has the same meaning as it has in the Foreshore Act, 1933– the word “seashore” means the foreshore and every

beach, bank and cliff contiguous thereto and includes all sands and rocks contiguous to the foreshore

– the word “foreshore” means the bed and shore, below the line of high water of ordinary or medium tides, of the sea and of every tidal river and tidal estuary and of every channel, creek, and bay of the sea or of any such river or estuary;

Legal requirement for Plan

• To aid the co-ordination of the response to and management of a spill of oil or HNS, which has the potential to impact on any area of the tidal rivers or estuaries within the functional area of Waterford.– to guide responders through the sequence of actions

and decisions that are required in order to mobilise an effective response to both limit and mitigate the effects of any such spill event

• Local Authorities have responsibility for shoreline clean-up

Purpose of Plan

• The Plan details the Tiered Response Strategies to incidents and the activation mechanism for initiation of a response action.

• Spill events are ranked as either Tier 1, 2 or 3 depending upon their severity with Tier 1 being the least severe.

• The tier ranking is linked to – volume of the spill – sensitivity and vulnerability of the effected area

Tiered Response

• Could require activation of Oil Pollution Response Plan

• Similarly an oil pollution incident may lead to activation of the Major Emergency Plan

• MEP will always take precedence with OPRP in support, as required

• MEP Framework – Protocol Document– “Land Based Response to Marine Emergencies”

MEP

MEP

• Applies whether a major emergency has been declared or not

• Main strategy for combating pollution ashore is physical recovery

• Clean-up and disposal of any resulting chemical or oil pollution on the coastline

• Support for the Coroner, including provision of temporary mortuary facilities

• Provision of accommodation and welfare for survivors, evacuees and persons displaced by the emergency (Emergency Rest Centres)

• Provision of food, rest and sanitary facilities, as appropriate, for personnel involved in the response to the emergency

• Engaging any specialist (land-based) contractors required to assist at the emergency operations

• Establishment of Friends and Relatives Reception Centres, if required

Local Authority Role

• Saving of life in conjunction with other emergency services

• Protection and rescue of persons and property

• Controlling and/or extinguishing of fires

• Rescue of trapped casualties

• Prevention of further escalation of the incident by dealing with released chemicals and other hazardous materials

• Assisting the Garda Síochána to recover bodies, when requested

Fire Services Role

• Preparation of National Contingency Plan

• Ultimate responsibility for approving action taken by any party responding to an incident of pollution

• Power to intervene at any point if it considers actions being taken by response agency are inadequate

• Maintains national stockpile of response equipment (30% for offshore, 70% onshore)

• SAR role on inland navigable waterways

IRCG role

IRCG Resources

Suir Estuary Plan- approved by IRCG 23rd July 2013

• To assist Suir Estuary Pollution Response Committee in dealing with an accidental discharge of oil or HNS

• Co-ordination only

• Does not absolve individual authorities of their responsibilities

• Not a stand alone document

Purpose of Plan

• Kilkenny County Council• Waterford City/ County Council• Wexford County Council

– Kilmore Quay• Port of Waterford (Belview)• Rosslare Europort

Dunmore East• New Ross Port• An Garda Síochána• HSE

Suir Estuary Pollution Response Committee

• Tipperary County Council

• Carlow County Council

• Cork County Council

• SEA-PT– Clare County Council– Galway County Council– Limerick City & County Council– Kerry County Council

Additional co-ordination

• Unless otherwise agreed the Lead Authority shall be the Port Authority in which the pollution incident occurs– if the pollution is primarily in the water– if within the Port Authority jurisdiction

• Where the pollution is outside a Port Authority’s area or on the foreshore, the Lead Authority will be the relevant Local Authority where the pollution is occurring

Lead Authority

Port of Waterford – Area of Operation (Harbours Act 1996)

• Person designated by the Lead Authority

• Chairs the Suir Estuary Pollution Response Committee

• For the purpose of planning, Kilkenny is the Chair

Co-ordinator

Generic Command Structure

• Health & Safety– Each Local Authority and Port Authority is responsible for

the staff under its control at any given time• Waste Disposal

– All waste material is retained in the County of origin, for disposal in line with County OPRP

• Resources– IRCG – Killybegs, Castletownbere, Dublin– SEA-PT– Regional?– Local– Contractor

Other issues

• Scale of fees• Recovery of costs is a matter for each individual

authority• Co-ordinator may direct the Finance sub-group to

convene a meeting of affected parties within the region– Methodology for pursuing a large number of claims in

a co-ordinated fashion – Does not relieve any body from regulating and

accounting for its own costs

Cost Recovery

• Inter-Agency Public Communications Plan

• Consistent with MEP framework

Media

• Requirement for availability of trained personnel

• IRCG annual training– IMO levels 1, 2 and 3– Valid for 3 years – Free– 5 day courses– Dunmore East in 2012

• Exercise annually within the Estuary

Training and Exercise

• Desk Top Exercise– Wed 20th Nov 2013– 6 local authorities, 2 port authorities– Discussion based – walk through / talk through

• Object– Test preparedness for an oil spill incident – Demonstrate and highlight any shortfall

• In existing plans & protocols • In equipment availability

• Outcome– Better understanding of roles and operating environment

Exercise 2013

• 0730 - Report of a 2,000 litre diesel oil spill on River Suir from a road tanker accident at a point 1 kilometre upstream of Belview Port

– Establish size of spill and type of oil– Establish direction of spill travel – wind, tides and currents as actual on day– Mobilise spill response and liaise with Environmental and Finance teams as appropriate

• What manpower & equipment is needed • How long will they take to get equipment to site?• What have the responders been told to do?• If the oil has been contained how was this achieved? • Oil recovery – how done?• Wildlife, protected areas• Procurement• Effect on local industry, water intakes

• Key issues– Lead role– Co-ordination, who to involve– Containment, removal and disposal

Scenario

Ongoing issues

• Ensure LA’s prepare and update plans as required,

• Keep training records up to date,• Coordinate regular exercises (desktop exercise

held in 2014)• Propose long term strategy and resource it.

End.