Number: 1988-21
WHEREAS, the recent petroleum spill in Pennsylvania has demonstrated dramatically the significant hazard to the drinking water, rivers, and waterways of our country caused by the location of large petroleum tanks and other liquid storage facilities near our rivers and waterways; and
WHEREAS, it is clear there are inadequate laws and regulations for the integrity of oil and liquid containment structures, and there is inadequate enforcement of the existing patchwork of local, State, and Federal controls on such structures; and
WHEREAS, there has been inadequate research on and development of devices to remove large spills from the nation’s rivers and waterways, and that the efforts to contain and clean up spills have been primitive at best; and
WHEREAS, the nation’s drinking water, rivers and other waterways are at serious risk to large petroleum, chemical, or other spills; and
WHEREAS, the U.S. Coast Guard and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency have inadequate resources, manpower, and equipment to contain promptly and clean up major spills in order to minimize the threat to man and the environment; and
WHEREAS, the failure to reduce risks to drinking water supplies, rivers and waterways from toxic chemical spills also can be attributed in part to a failure to prepare, fund, implement and test chemical emergency plans; and
WHEREAS, Congress has struggled for more than a decade to adopt comprehensive oil spill liability legislation, but has failed to adopt such a law;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the National Wildlife Federation in annual meeting assembled March 17-20, 1988, in New Orleans, Louisiana calls upon the Federal and State governments to join in enacting and enforcing laws and regulations which will safeguard adequately the nation’s drinking water supplies, rivers, and waterways from large spills such as the one that recently occurred in Pennsylvania; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that laws and regulations should be adopted which provide that spill containment devices must be more than adequate to contain spills from multi-tank failures, and from barge failures; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that research on and development of mobile devices that can contain and clean up spilled materials from the nation’s rivers adequately should be made a high priority, and that local, State and Federal governments should allocate sufficient resources to place such equipment and trained personnel in areas around the country so that they will be available in the event of any significant spill or release into the nation’s waters; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that communities should develop detailed community emergency plans including, among other provisions, hazard analyses of potential oil spills and other chemical accidents; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that local, State, and Federal governments should provide adequate funding to insure the full participation by the public in the emergency planning process, assuring maximum access to information on the amount, location of chemicals and dangers used in their communities; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that Congress should make the passage of strong, comprehensive oil and other chemical spill liability legislation a top priority, and should resist efforts to preempt State requirements that are stronger than the Federal requirements.