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wreck was reported to have been cleared as a hazard to navi- gation or demolished; if signiÞ cant amount of oil was lost dur- ing the casualty, and the nature of the casualty that would re- duce the amount of oil onboard. Factors impacting operations were wreck orientation on seaß oor, depth, visual or remote sensing conÞ rmation of conditions; other hazardous materials onboard, if munitions were onboard, and if the wreck is of historic signiÞ cance and will require special handling. Each factor was also assigned a data quality rating. At the end of the evaluation, each vessel was given an overall vessel risk score of High, Medium, or Low. After this third level of screening, 87 wrecks remained on the priority list. Oil discharges from shipwrecks are typically in the ÒMost ProbableÓ category or smaller. Funding for any assessment or recovery operations determined to be necessary is dependent on unique circumstances for the wreck. If a wreck still has an identiÞ able owner, that owner is responsible for the cost of cleanup. If no responsible party exists, the Oil Spill Liabil- ity Trust Fund would likely be accessed. Selecting any vessel for proactive response requires further analysis including spill trajectory studies and monitoring or oil removal feasibility studies. While the salvage industry and oil spill response or- ganizations have demonstrated great advancements in under- water oil removal technologies, in many cases the best alterna- tive may not be removal of oil, but rather to monitor the wreck and plan for potential spills. The cost of removing oil from a wreck varies widely, depending on conditions and as depicted in Table 4-4 (on page 12). Leading O Based on the NOAA report, there is plenty of business out there Ð literally lurking just under the surface. http://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/protect/ppw/pdfs/2013_potentiallypollutingwrecks.pdf September 201314 MTRMTR #7 (1-17).indd 14MTR #7 (1-17).indd 148/22/2013 9:59:10 AM8/22/2013 9:59:10 AM