INNOVATIVE RECOVERY OF NONFLOATING OILS, UPHAM BEACH, FLORIDA

摘要

Marine Safety Office (MSO) Tampa, in cooperationwith the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, conducted a uniqueand innovative oil recovery operation involving the removal ofsubmerged and buried oil. Leveraging into an existing federallyfunded beach renourishment project as the primary means of oilrecovery not only minimized costs, but also significantly reducedthe waste stream. This is the first time such a dual-purposeoperation has been conducted.Throughout the course of the recovery operation, innovativerecovery techniques were developed, such as the creation of a1,000 foot by 500 foot retention pond that was located on thebeach and was constructed entirely of sand. This pond, which istypical of a construction site, receives and controls runoff water.In this case, the pond received all of the dredged material includingthe oil, which was collected and vacuumed off the pond. Theuse of a weir box outfall allowed for the easy removal of the largeamount of water that was deposited with the dredged material.This project was initiated when the Corps of Engineers uncoveredpockets of submerged oil during a beach renourishmentproject. The oil was linked to a major spill occurring in 1993where a Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA) wassigned recently. Because of this agreement, no Responsible Partycould be named under the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA 90),and all oil removal costs were born by the Oil Spill LiabilityTrust Fund (OSLTF).