Corpus Christi Area Oil Spill Control Association, Corpus Christi, Texas

摘要

The Corpus Christi Area Oil Spill Control Association (CCAOSCA) is the oldest continuously operating non-profit oil spill cleanup cooperative in the United States. Its development was triggered by the 1969 Chevron oil well blowout off Santa Barbara, California. The CCAOSCA was incorporated in November 1970. Coinciding with the establishment of the Association was the development by its organizers of one of the country's first Contingency Plans for oil spill response (Franklin et al., 1970). The CCAOSCA operating area encompasses a three county area around the Corpus Christi Bay system within the South Texas Coastal Zone that extends from the Colorado River in Matagorda County to the Rio Grande border with Mexico. The Chevron oil well blowout in the Santa Barbara Channel off the coast of California in 1969 gained national attention. The incident stirred the public's interest in the economic and environmental impacts of a major oil spill in US coastal waters. The public also became concerned about an apparent lack of preparedness, plans and equipment necessary to deal with these spills. The expertise to tackle oil spills of this magnitude was scattered and unorganized. The National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan had not been written. The formation of the Environmental Protection Agency was still about a year in the future and the Oil and Hazardous Materials Simulated Environmental Test Tank (OHMSETT) for testing oil spill response equipment would not begin construction until 1973.