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Having a Good Spill Prevention Plan Saves Mega-Bucks
Unocal Corporation v. United States
(9th Cir, 2000)
In a recent federal case under the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, 33 U.S.C. § 2701 et seq., a $4.5 million cleanup cost was at stake. In this case, Unocal Corporation successfully showed that it exercised "due care" and that it "took precautions against foreseeable acts or omissions of third parties and the foreseeable consequences of those acts or omissions".
Several of the key facts in the case are as follows:
- Senior Unocal representatives arrived at the scene shortly after a pipeline rupture had caused a loss of 45,000 gallons of crude oil. Unocal established an incident command, and began cleanup efforts.
- Unocal representatives immediately telephoned to confirm that the pipeline flow had been shutdown and also closed a block valve in the area to ensure that oil would not continue to flow into the spill area.
- Senior Unocal representatives met with fire department officials to obtain a briefing on the situation.
- Unocal notified the State Water Resources Board and the County Flood Control District as a "courtesy" about the spill.
- Unocal placed another call to the County Public Works Construction Director, later that evening, indicating that there was a storm drain in the area of the spill and asked that the County visit the site the following morning.
- The next morning, when responders learned that oil had reached a storm drain, Unocal placed oil booms to prevent any further oil contamination of the water. At this point, Unocal's Emergency Response team took over the cleanup.
- The total cost of the cleanup was $4.66 million, with about half this amount being paid to restore and cleanup the affected waterway.
During the two week trial, Unocal was able to show that it had taken necessary precautions to avoid the spill and its consequences and that Unocal exercised "due care" in its conduct. Specifically, the jury found:
- that Unocal played no role in causing the spill,
- that Unocal acted properly upon being briefed by the fire department,
- that Unocal exercised due care in assessing the site, and
- that the agency notifications made by Unocal indicated that Unocal was diligent in pursuing the cleanup.
Although Unocal did not discover that oil had actually reached the storm drain and waterways until the following morning, the jury found that Unocal did exercise "due care" under the circumstances. We encourage you to read this case for further details.
Bottom Line: Planning, preparation, and training paid off for Unocal to the tune of $4.5 million!
Are your facilities adequately prepared to respond to oil or chemical spills?
If you would like OMNI to review and/or update your Spill Prevention and Response Programs, please give us a call at 800-951-7625.
Also, please visit our website at www.environmentalengineers.com for a link to the full text of the court opinion and more information on our spill prevention and response services. |
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