ADVISOR, March/April 1995

Area Contingency Planning

To help minimize damage from a potential oil spill, the Clean Water Act (CWA) calls for the preparation of Area Contingency Plans (ACPs). These plans help improve coordination at the national, regional and local planning levels, and enhance the availability of trained personnel, necessary equipment and scientific support that may be needed to adequately address all discharges.

Area Contingency Plans are developed by an Area Committee made up of technically qualified individuals from federal, state and local government agencies.

Responsibility for these plans is shared by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which is responsible for the inland zone, and the U.S. Coast Guard, which is responsible for the coastal zone.

The Coast Guard designated its areas as the pre-existing Captain-of-the-Port zones, while U.S. EPA designated its areas as the 13 pre-existing Regional Response Team areas. U.S. EPA Region 5 also formed an Inland Area Planning Committee (IAPC) and designated it as its Area Committee.