Page 12: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (September 2023)

Back to the Drawing Board

Preserving OPA 90 Experience ©Yellow Boat/AdobeStock

By Rik van Hemmen he maritime industry has seen a very long sequence for all stakeholders to ? nd their place and, most importantly, of environmental regulations since the ? rst imple- to establish decision making routines that were most effective mentation of MARPOL in the early 1970’s. All of in achieving the fastest possible results.

Tthese regulations have very much bene? tted the In having lived through the creation of, and improvements ocean environment and also our industry to some degree. One to the system, I well remember strange oversights or decision- of those regulations, OPA90, has had an outsized effect to an making failures in the Uni? ed Command System that received extent that it may no longer be as effective as it was in recent careful review after each OPA90 incident.

years due to its own success. These were lessons learned, and while they were generally

Tanker oil spills in the United States have become so rare recorded, humanity is bound to repeat mistakes when humans that people with actual U.S. response experience are now with speci? c knowledge depart the scene. reaching retirement age without a new cadre of responders I was not involved in the command structure of the Deep- with actual spill response experience taking their place. water Horizon, but well remember watching a press confer-

OPA90 was a unique law that not only existed to reduce a ence where the participants were making basic presentation problem, but also resulted in regulations that improved the and responsibility mistakes that had been learned in earlier ability to respond to a problem when it occurs. There have OPA90 responses, but apparently were not known to the Uni- been other regulatory attempts like this such as FEMA, but ? ed Command for the Deepwater Horizon.

OPA90 both reduced the problem and created a very effective Some of those were technical mistakes, but more often they system of dealing with the problems when they occurred. were strategic, tactical, leadership, communication, or deci-

This effectiveness relates to the unique combination of sion making (game theory) mistakes and many quite basic. participants in an OPA90 response, which forces commercial For rapidly developing, technically uncertain problems interests to deal with the problem under government over- such as oil spills, salvage situations, or major technology fail- sight, and with the threat of possible federalization if the com- ures there is a set of Ground Rules that applies almost univer- mercial response is inadequate. This is quite different from a sally, and when these Ground Rules are absorbed and applied

FEMA response which may have commercial contractors, but in rapidly developing scenarios, they become second nature no commercial responsibility for the response. and massively increase response effectiveness, both at an in-

OPA90 creates an interesting situation where both commer- dividual stakeholder level and at the combined level.

cial interests and government interests try to achieve the best There is no space for a full explanation of these Ground possible outcome. At ? rst glance the best possible outcomes may Rules in this column, but the entire package of Ground Rules, not be the same, since the commercial interest wants to spend including explanations, is probably no larger than the size of a as little as possible, while the government wants to achieve the Broadway playbill and it makes sense to at least collect them. highest level of public approval. However, in an actual disas- Even more importantly they should be exercised and passed ter scenario, these goals align as long as the stakeholders know on to the next generation if we want to preserve our national how to cooperate. One may wonder why a government super- ability to respond to disasters.

visor may be interested in spending as little as possible, but in To provide some insight into the type of Ground Rules that have disaster response the cost of the response is directly related to come from OPA90 experience let me provide a few examples: the duration of the response, and governments strongly bene? t • A response that is too large is as ineffective as a by ? xing a disaster as quickly possible. Similarly, a well-run response that is too small.

commercial interest never ignores the public’s response. • Stage, but only deploy as needed.

In creating the regulation, the USCG built a response infra- • Never reject con? icting data, instead integrate it structure that is known as the Uni? ed Command System. That in the response and then evaluate.

UCS approach was not new, but with OPA90 it ? rst introduced • Never commit to one technical response, a large-scale catastrophe response system where commercial always have a Plan B ready.

entities were responsible for the response with government • Colorful story telling is incredibly effective in entities providing an oversight function. decision making training.

Since this approach was new, it took a fair amount of time • Manage and update your risks continually.

12 Maritime Reporter & Engineering News • September 2023

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