Abstract: The California Unified Contingency Plan: A Format for Integrating State and Federal Oil Spill and Hazardous Substance Requirements

WINES III, HOWARD H.

The California Unified Contingency Plan is a format, modeled after the federal Integrated Contingency Plan guidance, that allows facilities subject to two or more oil spill and hazardous substance requirements, under either federal regulation or California law, to meet all of those requirements in a single comprehensive emergency response and planning document.

Oil spill response plans which can be consolidated under this format include the California Marine Facility Contingency Plan, the federal Spill Prevention, Control and Countermeasure (SPCC) Plan and associated Facility Response Plan required by the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA-90), as well as any other federal or state planning requirements concerning petroleum, hazardous substances and hazardous wastes.

Use of the California Unified Contingency Plan will minimize duplication in the preparation and implementation of emergency response plans and will improve economic efficiency for both the regulated and regulating communities. California's regulatory agencies have been statutorily mandated to accept contingency plans prepared under this format.

Regulations concerning oil spill prevention overlap with regulations concerning hazardous substances, and both overlap with still more regulations. Implementation of the California Unified Contingency Plan will now make it possible to eliminate this redundancy and provide the state with both internal consistency and regulatory harmony with the rest of the nation.

Search and Discovery Article #90945©1997 AAPG Pacific Section Meeting, Bakersfield, California