Spills > Preparedness Section

Preparedness Section

Oil spill preparedness involves a continuous cycle of activity (e.g., developing contingency plans, procedures and policies, training, demonstrating financial responsibility, pre-staging and maintaining spill response equipment, approving primary response contractors, conducting drills and incorporating lessons learned back into plans). The cycle is necessary to promote coordination among a combination of federal, state, local, tribal, private sector, and non-governmental entities all using the incident command system to respond.

There are various levels of planning required.  In the Northwest Area (defined as the coastal and inland zones of Idaho, Oregon, and Washington), the Northwest Area Committee and the Region Response Team (Region 10) have joined together to accomplish all planning and preparedness activities and jointly publish the Northwest Area Contingency Plan.  The Northwest Area Contingency Plan is a guideline for response actions to spill incidents.  It ensures consistency in response to spills.  The Area Plan contains the Geographic Response Plans.  Federal and state rules require that a Responsible Party (RP), or spiller, must be able to manage spills using an organization that accommodates a unified command structure in recognition of federal, state, tribal or local jurisdiction.