Draft2:National Response Team
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The U.S. National Response Team (NRT) is an organization of 15 Federal departments and agencies responsible for coordinating emergency preparedness and response to oil and hazardous substance pollution incidents.
The Environment Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) serve as Chair and Vice Chair respectively.
The National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan (NCP) and the Code of Federal Regulations (40 CFR part 300) outline the role of the NRT and Regional Response Teams (RRTs). The response teams are also cited in various federal statutes, including Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (SARA) – Title III and the Hazardous Materials Transportation Act (HMTA).
DOE relevance
DOE is one of the members, represented by National Nuclear Security Administration.
History
- The first NCP -- called the “National Multi-Agency Oil and Hazardous Materials Contingency Plan” -- was developed and published in 1968 in response to a massive oil spill from the oil tanker Torrey Canyon off the coast of England. More than 37 million gallons of crude oil spilled into the water and eventually washed ashore on English and French beaches, causing massive environmental and economic damage and concern for public health.
- To address the problems faced by response officials involved in this incident, under President Johnson’s direction, the U.S. developed a coordinated approach to cope with potential spills in U.S. waters. The 1968 plan provided the first comprehensive national system for oil spill reporting and response. The plan applied to oil spills into navigable waters of the U.S.
- The original NCP was just a federal plan, not a regulation, and was not developed under any legislative mandate.
Mission
To provide technical assistance, resources and coordination on preparedness, planning, and response activities for emergencies involving hazardous substances, pollutants and contaminants, hazmat, oil, weapons of mass destruction in natural and technological disasters an~ other environmental nationally significant incidents.
Organization
Member Agencies
See Members
United States Environmental Protection Agency
- Office of Emergency Management
- Office of Marine Environmental Response Policy (CG-MER)
United States Department of State
- Office of Ocean and Polar Affairs
United States Department of Defense
- Supervisor of Salvage and Diving
U.S. Department of Homeland Security
United States Department of Energy
United States Department of Agriculture
United States Department of Health & Human Services
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
- National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) at the CDC
- Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry
United States Department of the Interior
- Office of Environmental Policy and Compliance
- Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement
United States Department of Commerce
- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
- Office of Response and Restoration
- NOAA's National Ocean Service
United States Department of Transportation
- Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration
United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission
United States General Services Administration
United States Department of Justice
United States Department of Labor
Regional Response Teams
There are 13 Regional Response Teams (RRTs) – one for each EPA region, plus Alaska, Oceania, and the Caribbean.
The RRTs’ membership includes the Regional representatives of 15 Federal agencies, plus state representatives (tribes may also participate):
- EPA
- US Coast Guard
- Dept of Health and Human Services
- Dept of Labor/OSHA
- Dept of Commerce/NOAA
- Dept of Interior
- Dept of Transportation
- Dept of Agriculture
- Federal Emergency Management Agency
- Dept of Defense
- Dept of Energy
- Dept of State
- Dept of Justice
- U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
- General Services Administration
The RRTs are co-chaired by EPA and the USCG year round. During a response, the agency providing the OSC chairs the RRT.
RRTs have both preparedness and response roles.
While called a “response team,” RRTs do not actually deploy as a team to incident sites, but members reach back into their organizations to deploy and make available resources needed by the OSC. Individual RRT members may, however, deploy to the incident site as resources from their agencies. RRTs also provide technical advice and recommendations to the OSC.
Authority
The National Response System is written in law.
These laws are:
- section 311 of the Clean Water Act (CWA), as amended by the Oil Pollution Act (OPA) of 1990, and
- Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), which is better known as the Superfund law.
In general, the purpose of these laws is to address releases or threatened releases into the environment of oil and other hazardous materials in order to protect public health, welfare, and the environment. The CWA/OPA addresses authorities with regard to oil. CERCLA addresses authorities with regard to hazardous substances, excluding oil. CWA/OPA also covers certain hazardous substances, but in practice, CERCLA is usually used to address those substances. Both laws give the federal government enforcement authorities over the parties responsible for spills and require polluters to pay for cleanup. Both laws have planning and preparedness components, and both laws established Trust Funds that can pay for federal responses (and some other costs) when needed. We’ll talk more about these components later. The implementing regulations for these statutes are found in the National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan, or NCP. The NCP describes the organizational structure and procedures for “preparing for” and “responding to” an oil or hazmat incident – this system is called the National Response System, or NRS.
Contingency Plan
The National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan, more commonly called the National Contingency Plan or NCP, is the federal government's blueprint for responding to both oil spills and hazardous substance releases. The NCP is the result of efforts to develop a national response capability and promote coordination among the hierarchy of responders and contingency plans.
The first NCP was developed and published in 1968 in response to a massive oil spill from the oil tanker Torrey Canyon off the coast of England. More than 37 million gallons of crude oil spilled into the water, causing massive environmental damage. To avoid the problems faced by response officials involved in this incident, U.S. officials developed a coordinated approach to cope with potential spills in U.S. waters. The 1968 plan provided the first comprehensive system of accident reporting, spill containment and cleanup. The plan also established a response headquarters, a national reaction team and regional reaction teams (precursors to the current National Response Team and Regional Response Teams).
Congress has broadened the scope of the NCP over the years. As required by the Clean Water Act of 1972, the NCP was revised to include a framework for responding to hazardous substance releases, as well as oil spills. Following the passage of Superfund legislation in 1980, the NCP was broadened to cover releases at hazardous waste sites requiring emergency removal actions. Over the years, additional revisions have been made to the NCP to keep pace with the enactment of legislation. The latest revisions to the NCP were finalized in 1994 to reflect the oil spill provisions of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990.
Related links
External links
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