The Use of Dispersants in Marine Oil Spill Response (2020)
Chapter: Front Matter
The Use of Dispersants in
Marine Oil Spill Response
Committee on the Evaluation of the Use of
Chemical Dispersants in Oil Spill Response
Ocean Studies Board
Board on Environmental Studies and Toxicology
Division on Earth and Life Studies
A Consensus Study Report of
THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS
Washington, DC
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This activity was supported by the American Petroleum Institute (#2016-110715), the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (#M15PC00004/M17PD00027), Clean Caribbean and Americas, the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Gulf Research Program, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (#EP-C-14-005, TO# 17). Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of any organization or agency that provided support for the project.
International Standard Book Number-13: 978-0-309-47818-2
International Standard Book Number-10: 0-309-47818-9
Digital Object Identifier: https://doi.org/10.17226/25161
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Suggested citation: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2020. The Use of Dispersants in Marine Oil Spill Response. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/25161.
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COMMITTEE ON THE EVALUATION OF THE USE OF CHEMICAL DISPERSANTS IN OIL SPILL RESPONSE
Committee
MARY E. LANDRY,Chair, U.S. Coast Guard, Belmont, Massachusetts (Retired)
E. ERIC ADAMS, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge
ADRIANA C. BEJARANO, Research Planning Inc., Columbia, South Carolina
MICHEL BOUFADEL, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark
GINA COELHO, Sponson Group Inc., Mansfield, Texas (Retired)
THOMAS S. COOLBAUGH, ExxonMobil Corporation, Spring, Texas
CORTIS COOPER, Chevron Corporation, Kensington, California (Retired)
DOMINIC M. DI TORO (NAE), University of Delaware, Newark
JULIA M. GOHLKE, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg
BERNARD D. GOLDSTEIN (NAM), University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
TERRY C. HAZEN, University of Tennessee, Knoxville
KENNETH LEE, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia
STEVEN A. MURAWSKI, University of South Florida, St. Petersburg
W. SCOTT PEGAU, Prince William Sound Science Center, Cordova, Alaska
RONALD TJEERDEMA, University of California, Davis
DAVID L. VALENTINE, University of California, Santa Barbara
HELEN K. WHITE, Haverford College, Pennsylvania
Staff
SUSAN ROBERTS, Director, Ocean Studies Board
STACEE KARRAS, Program Officer, Ocean Studies Board
TRENT CUMMINGS, Senior Program Assistant, Ocean Studies Board
SHELLY-ANN FREELAND, Financial Associate, Ocean Studies Board
___________________
NOTE: See Appendix B, Disclosure of Conflict of Interest.
OCEAN STUDIES BOARD
Members
LARRY A. MAYER,Chair, University of New Hampshire, Durham
KEVIN R. ARRIGO, Stanford University, California
CLAUDIA BENITEZ-NELSON, University of South Carolina, Columbia
THOMAS R. CHANCE, ASV Global, LLC, Broussard, Louisiana
RITA R. COLWELL, University of Maryland, College Park
SARAH W. COOKSEY, Delaware Chapter of The Nature Conservancy, Milton
JAMES A. ESTES, University of California, Santa Cruz
DAVID HALPERN, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California
PATRICK HEIMBACH, The University of Texas at Austin
SUSAN E. HUMPHRIES, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Massachusetts
S. BRADLEY MORAN, University of Alaska Fairbanks
STEVEN A. MURAWSKI, University of South Florida, St. Petersburg
JOHN A. ORCUTT, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, California
H. TUBA ÖZKAN-HALLER, Oregon State University, Corvallis
RUTH M. PERRY, Shell Exploration & Production Company, Houston, Texas
MARTIN D. SMITH, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina
MARK H. SPALDING, The Ocean Foundation, Washington, District of Columbia
MARGARET SPRING, Monterey Bay Aquarium, Monterey, California
DOUGLAS WARTZOK, Florida International University, Miami
LISA D. WHITE, University of California, Berkeley, and San Francisco State University
ROBERT S. WINOKUR, Michigan Tech Research Institute, Silver Spring, Maryland
Staff
SUSAN ROBERTS, Director
STACEE KARRAS, Program Officer
EMILY TWIGG, Program Officer
TRENT CUMMINGS, Senior Program Assistant
SHELLY-ANN FREELAND, Financial Associate
BOARD ON ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES AND TOXICOLOGY
Members
WILLIAM H. FARLAND,Chair, Colorado State University, Fort Collins
LESA AYLWARD, Summit Toxicology, LLP, Falls Church, Virginia
RICHARD A. BECKER, American Chemistry Council, Washington, District of Columbia
E. WILLIAM COLGLAZIER, American Association for the Advancement of Science, Washington, District of Columbia
DOMINIC M. DI TORO (NAE), University of Delaware, Newark
DAVID C. DORMAN, North Carolina State University, Raleigh
GEORGE GRAY, The George Washington University, Washington, District of Columbia
R. JEFFREY LEWIS, ExxonMobil Biomedical Sciences, Inc., Annandale, New Jersey
ROBERT PERCIASEPE, Center for Climate and Energy Solutions, Arlington, Virginia
R. CRAIG POSTLEWAITE, U.S. Department of Defense, Burke, Virginia
REZA J. RASOULPOUR, Dow AgroSciences, Indianapolis, Indiana
JOAN B. ROSE, Michigan State University, East Lansing
GINA SOLOMON, Public Health Institute, Oakland, California
DEBORAH L. SWACKHAMER, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis
PETER THORNE, The University of Iowa, Iowa City
Staff
CLIFFORD DUKE, Director
RAYMOND WASSEL, Director of Environmental Studies
ELLEN MANTUS, Director of Risk Assessment
SUSAN MARTEL, Senior Program Officer for Toxicology
ELIZABETH BOYLE, Program Officer
TAMARA DAWSON, Program Associate
JESSICA WOLFMAN, Senior Program Assistant
LAURA LLANOS, Financial Associate
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Acknowledgments
This Consensus Study Report was reviewed in draft form by individuals chosen for their diverse perspectives and technical expertise. The purpose of this independent review is to provide candid and critical comments that will assist the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine in making each published report as sound as possible and to ensure that it meets the institutional standards for quality, objectivity, evidence, and responsiveness to the study charge. The review comments and draft manuscript remain confidential to protect the integrity of the deliberative process.
We thank the following individuals for their review of this report:
MACE BARRON, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Gulf Breeze, Florida
C. J. BEEGLE-KRAUSE, SINTEF Ocean AS, Trondheim, Norway
ROBERT DICKEY, The University of Texas at Austin, Port Aransas
JOSEPH KATZ, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland
NANCY KINNER, University of New Hampshire, Durham
MAUREEN LICHTVELD, Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana
JACQUELINE MICHEL, Research Planning, Inc., Columbia, South Carolina
ROGER PRINCE, ExxonMobil Biomedical Sciences, Inc., Annandale, New Jersey (Retired)
CHRISTOPHER REDDY, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Massachusetts
DANNY REIBLE, Texas Tech University, Lubbock
TOM PARKERTON, ExxonMobil Biomedical Sciences, Inc., Spring, Texas
ANN HAYWARD WALKER, SEA Consulting Group, Cape Charles, Virginia
Although the reviewers listed above provided many constructive comments and suggestions, they were not asked to endorse the conclusions or recommendations of this report, nor did they see the final draft before its release. The review of this report was overseen by CARYS MITCHELMORE, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, and RICHARD LUTHY, Stanford University. They were responsible for making certain that an
independent examination of this report was carried out in accordance with the standards of the National Academies and that all review comments were carefully considered. Responsibility for the final content rests entirely with the authoring committee and the National Academies.
The committee would also like to thank Scott Socolofsky, Texas A&M University, and Jonas Gros, GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, Germany, for their expertise and consulting.
Furthermore, the committee expresses gratitude to those that participated in public meetings and others who provided written comments and information.
Contents
Historical Context for Dispersant Use
Tools to Evaluate Response Trade-Offs and Strategies
Statement of Task and Report Organization
Fate and Transport of Dispersant Components
Characterization of Oil Chemistry
The Effect of Natural Gas in Blowouts
3 AQUATIC TOXICOLOGY AND BIOLOGICAL EFFECTS
A Path Forward for Aquatic Toxicity Testing
Direct Human Health Considerations
Indirect Human Health Considerations
Summary of Key Offshore Response Options
Subsea Dispersant Injection (SSDI)
Monitored Natural Attenuation (Natural Recovery)
Uncertainty in Decision-Making Tools
Comparison Studies of Response Methods
7 RESEARCH AND DECISION-MAKING PROTOCOLS
Environmental and Aquatic Toxicity
Tools for Oil Spill Response Decision Making
A COMMITTEE AND STAFF BIOGRAPHIES
