API PUBL 4580:1993

Scope of the manual The (draft) manual contains guidelines for the selection of oil spill protection and cleanup techniques. The selection process focuses on the identification of techniques that themselves would have minimal intrinsic ecological impacts and that also would minimize the ecological impacts of the oil in inland waters. A secondary aspect of the manual is to provide this direction while recognizing potential human health risks of the spill and response methods. The manual can be used as an aid in contingency planning or as an aid to field response, when consensus decisions must be reached rapidly. The manual is intended to present the ecologically preferred response options for a variety of freshwater habitats, oil types, and spill conditions. Seven habitats were identified in the original workshop discussions. In turn, these were subdivided during work sessions, which resulted in a total of ten primary habitats for the manual. -- large rivers -- small rivers and streams -- Great Lakes open water nearshore -- inland lakes and ponds -- marsh/wetlands -- rock shorelines or man-made structures -- gravel shorelines (coarse-grained beaches/river bars) -- sand shorelines -- mud shorelines Note that the Great Lakes are considered in terms of open water and nearshore habitats. Response techniques are described for protection, cleanup, and treatment methods. Each technique was evaluated as a counter-measure for four oil types: gasoline, diesel/No. 2 fuel oil, medium grade crude, and bunker C/No. 6 fuel oil. Furthermore, each technique was evaluated for three degrees of impact from each oil type: low, moderate, and high oiling. Specifically, the manual provides a description of protection and cleanup techniques, summary tables that indicate the intrinsic impact of a particular technique on habitats in the absence of oil, decision trees for protection and cleanup, and protection and cleanup summary matrices for habitats and for four oil types. Sections for each habitat contain a description of the habitat, a relative sensitivity ranking, and a matrix of response options in terms of impact on the habitat and recommendation for use of each method for each of the four oil types.