Sec.

254.4 Offshore facilities in Federal waters. 254.5 Offshore facilities in State waters. 254.6 Compliance with plan. 254.7 Determination of adequacy.

AUTHORITY: 33 U.S.C. 1321.

SOURCE: 58 FR 7490, Feb. 8, 1993, unless otherwise noted.

EFFECTIVE DATE NOTE: At 58 FR 7490, Feb. 8, 1993, part 254 was added. This interim rule will expire on February 18, 1995, or when superseded by a final rule.

§ 254.0 Authority for information collection.

The information collection requirements in 30 CFR part 254 have been approved by the Office of Management and Budget under 44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq. and assigned clearance number 1010-0091. The information is being collected to inform the Minerals Management Service (MMS) of operator and lessee preparations for response to potential pollution of the offshore environment.

The requirement to respond is mandatory. The public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 48 hours per response including time for reviewing instruction, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. Send comments regarding the burdens indicated for a specific information collection or any@other aspect of the collection of information pursuant to the provisions of this part, including suggestions for reducing the burden, to the Information Collection Clearance Officer; Minerals Management Service; Mail Stop 2300; 381 Elden Street; Herndon, Virginia 220704817 and the Office of Management and Budget; Paperwork Reduction Project 1010-0091; Washington, DC 20503.

cludes other pipelines used for one or more of these purposes.

Offshore means the area seaward of the line of ordinary low water along that portion of the coast which is in direct contact with the open sea and the area seaward of the line marking the limit of inland waters.

Oil means hydrocarbons produced at the wellhead in liquid form (includes distillates or condensate associated with produced natural gas), as well as oil of any kind or in any form, including but not limited to, petroleum, fuel oil, sludge, oil refuse, and oil mixed with wastes other than dredged spoil.

Operator means the individual, partnership, firm, or corporation having control or management of operations on the leased area where the facility is located or the holder of a right of use and easement granted under applicable State law or the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, as amended, for the area in which the facility is located.

Pipeline means new and existing pipe and any equipment, appurtenance, or building used or intended for use in the transportation of oil. Pipelines do not include vessels such as barges or shuttle tankers used to transport oil from offshore facilities.

Regional Supervisor means the MMS officer with responsibility and authority for operations or other designated program functions within an MMS Region.

§ 254.2 General requirements.

(a) Not later than February 18, 1993, all offshore facilities shall have submitted a spill-response plan, thereby meeting the provisions of § 254.4 or § 254.5 of this part.

(b) Compliance with this part may be achieved by a lessee, by an operator on behalf of a lessee, or by a pipeline right-of-way holder.

(c) The spill-response plans may be for a single lease or facility, or for a group of leases or facilities of a single operator or pipeline right-of-way holder, including affiliates which are located in the same geographic area.

(d) The spill-response plans submitted to the Minerals Management Service (MMS) shall be reviewed and updated annually, with all modifications

submitted to the MMS office of original submission. The spill-response plans originally submitted to a State shall be updated in accordance with the requirements of the State.

§ 254.3 Submission of information.

Information submitted pursuant to this section shall be sent to the appropriate MMS office listed below.

(a) For facilities offshore Alaska: Minerals Management Service, Regional Supervisor, Field Operations, Alaska OCS Region, 949 East 36th Avenue, Anchorage, AK 99508-4302 (b) For offshore facilities in the Atlantic Ocean:

Minerals Management Service, Regional Director, Atlantic OCS Region, 381 Elden Street, Herndon, VA 22070-4817

(c) For offshore facilities in the Gulf of Mexico:

Minerals Management Service, Regional Supervisor, Field Operations, Gulf of Mexico OCS Region, 1201 Elmwood Park Boulevard, New Orleans, LA 70123-2394

(d) For offshore facilities in the Pacific Ocean (except offshore Alaska): Minerals Management Service, Regional Supervisor, Field Operations, Pacific OCS Region, 770 Paseo Camarillo, Camarillo, CA 93010-6064

§ 254.4 Offshore facilities in Federal

waters.

Lessees or facility operators of offshore facilities in Federal waters shall develop, submit, and maintain an oilspill contingency plan (OSCP) prepared in accordance with 30 CFR 250.42. Any plan that does not provide for response equipment testing or response drills shall be amended, and the amendment shall be submitted to MMS by February 18, 1993.

§ 254.5 Offshore facilities in State waters.

Operators of offshore facilities in State waters shall be in compliance with paragraphs (a), (b) or (c) of this section.

(a) Amend an OSCP approved by MMS to include facilities in State waters of the same geographic area;

(b) Provide a copy of a spill-response plan that has been submitted to a State agency for approval as well as the following information:

(1) A list of the offshore facilities and leases covered by the plan.

(2) Name and address of agency to which the plan was submitted.

(3) Date plan was submitted.

(4) If the plan received formal approval, the name of the approving organization, the date of approval, and a copy of the approval letter if one was issued.

(5) Identification of any regulations or standards under which the plan was prepared; or

(c) Submit an oil-spill response plan (OSRP) to the appropriate MMS office identified in 30 CFR 254.3. The OSRP shall contain the following:

(1) A summary of available oil-spill trajectory analyses which are specific to the area of operations. The summaries shall specify those environmentally sensitive areas which may be impacted and strategies to be used for their protection.

(2) Identification of response equipment and response times together with materials, support vessels, and procedures to be employed in responding to a worst case discharge and spills of short duration and limited maximum volume (e.g., tank overflows, hose failures). For the purposes of this section, a capability to respond to a worst case discharge requires the ability to respond to a continuous oil spill (e.g., well blowout). Response equipment and strategies shall be suitable for anticipated environmental conditions in the area of operations.

(3) A dispersant-use plan including an inventory of the dispersants which might be proposed for use, a summary of toxicity data for each dispersant, a description of the types of oil on which each dispersant is effective, a description of dispersant application equipment and procedures, and an outline of the procedures to be followed in obtaining approval for dispersant use.

(4) Provisions for response drills and for inspecting, testing, and maintaining response equipment.

(5) Procedures for the purpose of early detection and timely notification

of an oil spill, including a current list of names, telephone numbers, and addresses of the responsible persons and alternates who are to receive notification of an oil spill and the names, telephone numbers, and addresses of regulatory organizations and agencies to be notified when an oil spill is discovered.

(6) An inventory of applicable equipment, materials, and supplies which is available locally and regionally.

(7) Well-defined and specific actions to be taken after discovery of an oil spill including the following:

(i) Designation (by name or position) of an oil-spill response operating team comprised of trained personnel available within a specified response time and a description of the training that such personnel will receive;

(ii) Designation (by name or position) of a trained spill-response coordinator who is charged with the responsibility and is delegated commensurate authority for directing and coordinating response operations; and

(iii) A planned location for a spill-response operations center and a reliable communications system for directing the coordinated overall response operations.

(8) Provisions for disposal of recovered oil, oil-contaminated material, and other oily wastes.

(9) Provisions for monitoring and predicting spill movement.

(10) In Alaskan waters only, provisions for ignition of an uncontrollable oil spill and the guidelines to be followed in making the decision to ignite.

§ 254.6 Compliance with plan.

Responsible parties or their authorized representatives shall conduct operations in accordance with all plans submitted or referenced pursuant to this part.

§ 254.7 Determination of adequacy.

If the Regional Supervisor determines at any time that a response plan submitted to MMS or a State is inadequate, the Regional Supervisor will specify deficiencies in the plan, and the responsible party shall take the actions necessary to modify the plan.

right-of-way on the outer continental shelf is qualified to hold such a lease or right-of-way. This information will be used in making this determination. The obligation to respond is required to obtain a benefit.

[48 FR 43324, Sept. 23, 1983, as amended at 54 FR 50617, Dec. 8, 1989]

§ 256.1 Purpose.

The purpose of these regulations is to establish the procedures under which the Secretary of the Interior will exercise the authority granted to administer a leasing program for minerals and grant rights-of-way on the submerged lands of the Outer Continental Shelf.

§ 256.2 Policy.

The management of Outer Continental Shelf resources is to be conducted in accordance with the findings, purposes and policy directions provided by the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act Amendments of 1978 (43 U.S.C. 1332, 1801, 1802), and other Executive, legislative, judicial and Departmental guidance. The Secretary of the Interior shall consider available environmental information in making decisions affecting Outer Continental Shelf resources.

§ 256.4 Authority.

The Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act as amended, (43 U.S.C. 1331 et seq.) authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to issue, on a competitive basis, leases for oil and gas, and sulphur, in submerged lands of the Outer Continental Shelf. The act authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to grant rights-of-way through the submerged lands of the Outer Continental Shelf. The Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 1975 (42 U.S.C. 6213), prohibits joint bidding by major oil and gas producers.

(b) Director means the Director, Minerals Management Service.

(c) OCS means the Outer Continental Shelf, as that term is defined in 43 U.S.C. 1331(a).

(d) Secretary means the Secretary of the Interior or an official authorized to act on the Secretary's behalf.

(e) MMS means the Minerals Management Service.

(f) Coastal zone means the coastal waters (including the lands therein and thereunder) and the adjacent shorelands (including the waters therein and thereunder), strongly influenced by each other and in proximity to the shorelines of the several coastal States, and includes islands, transition and intertidal areas, salt marshes, wetlands, and beaches, which zone extends seaward to the outer limit of the United States territorial sea and extends inland from the shore lines to the extent necessary to control shorelands, the uses of which have a direct and significant impact on the coastal waters, and the inward boundaries of which may be identified by the several coastal States, pursuant to the authority of section 305(b)(1) of the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972 (16 U.S.C. 1454(b)(1));

(g) Affected State means, with respect to any program, plan, lease sale, or other activity, proposed, conducted, or approved pursuant to the provisions of the act, any State

(1) The laws of which are declared, pursuant to section 4(a)(2) of the Act, to be the law of the United States for the portion of the Outer Continental Shelf on which such activity is, or is proposed to be conducted;

(2) Which is, or is proposed to be, directly connected by transportation facilities to any artificial island or structure referred to in section 4(a)(1) of the Act;

(3) Which is receiving, or in accordance with the proposed activity will receive, oil for processing, refining, or transshipment which was extracted from the Outer Continental Shelf and transported directly to such State by means of vessels or by a combination of means including vessels;

(4) Which is designated by the Secretary as a State in which there is a substantial probability of significant

impact on or damage to the coastal, marine, or human environment, or a State in which there will be significant changes in the social, governmental, or economic infrastructure, resulting from the exploration, development, and production of oil and gas anywhere on the Outer Continental Shelf;

or

(5) In which the Secretary finds that because of such activity there is, or will be, a significant risk of serious damage, due to factors such as prevailing winds and currents, to the marine or coastal environment in the event of any oilspill, blowout, or release of oil or gas from vessels, pipelines, or other transshipment facilities;

(h) Marine environment means the physical, atmospheric, and biological components, conditions, and factors which interactively determine the productivity, state, conditions, and quality of the marine ecosystem, including the waters of the high seas, the contiguous zone, transitional and intertidal areas, salt marshes, and wetlands within the coastal zone and on the Outer Continental Shelf;

(i) Coastal environment means the physical, atmospheric, and biological components, conditions, and factors which interactively determine the productivity, state, conditions, and quality of the terrestrial ecosystem from the shoreline inward to the boundaries of the coastal zone;

(j) Human environment means the physical, social, and economic components, conditions, and factors which interactively determine the state, condition, and quality of living conditions, employment, and health of those affected, directly or indirectly, by activities occurring on the Outer Continental Shelf;

(k) Mineral means oil, gas, and sulphur; it includes sand and gravel and salt used to facilitate the development and production of oil, gas, or sulphur.

(1) Authorized officer means any person authorized by law or by delegation of authority to or within MMS to perform the duties described in this part.

[44 FR 38276, June 29, 1979. Redesignated and amended at 47 FR 47006, 47007, Oct. 22, 1982; 54 FR 2049, Jan. 18, 1989]