UNITED STATES NATIONAL RESPONSE TEAM GUIDELINES FOR PLACES OF REFUGE DECISIONMAKING FOR VESSELS NEEDING ASSISTANCE

摘要

The major oil spills that resulted from the T/V ERIKA and MIV PRESTIGE breaking up and sinking off the coasts of France in December 1999 and Spain in November 2002, respectively, underscored the need for regulatory authorities, natural resource trustees, and other stakeholders to conduct pre-incident planning for vessels needing assistance. Both of these incidents provided the impetus for the development of places of refuge guidelines. By the end of 2003, both the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and the Australian Government had developed guidelines for places of refuges decision-making. By the end of 2006, places of refuge guidelines had also been developed and adopted by a number of entities in North America; including, the Alaska, Region 9, and Region 10 Regional Response Teams (RRTs) and the Pacific States/British Columbia Oil Spill Task Force (Pacific StateslBC Task Force). In August 2006, the United States (U.S.) National Response Team (NRT) created an NRT Places of Refuge Workgroup (NRT POR Workgroup) to develop nationwide places of refuge guidelines for use throughout the U.S. The resulting NRT Guidelines for Places of Refuge Decision-Making (NRT POR Guidelines), which were approved by the NRT in July 2007, were based on the places of refuge guidelines developed (and adopted) by the Alaska RRT in 2004. This paper provides an overview of the development of the NRT POR Guidelines, a brief overview of key elements of the document, and a discussion of the successful implementation of the concepts included in the NRT POR Guidelines in five incidents in Alaska.