WASHINGTON (CN) - The U.S. Coast Guard proposes new requirements for non-tanker vessels to prepare and submit oil spill response plans specific to ships of 400 gross tons or greater where oil is not being transported as cargo.
The Coast Guard drew up the proposed requirements after a spate of fuel oil spills, most recently when M/V Cosco Busan ran into a pier of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge in San Francisco Bay on November 7, 2007, spilling 53,000 gallons of fuel oil.
The plan must identify, the availability of private personnel and equipment necessary to remove a worst case discharge, including a discharge resulting from fire or explosion, and describe the training, equipment testing, periodic unannounced drills, and response actions of the ships crew to be carried out under the plan to ensure the safety of the vessel or facility and to mitigate or prevent the discharge, or the substantial threat of a discharge.
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