The Need to Strengthen Industry's Spill Preparedness

¶Beyond attempting to close the blowout preventer stack, no proven options for rapid source control in deepwater existed when the blowout occurred. BP's Initial Exploration Plan for the area that included the Macondo prospect identified only one response option by name: a relief well, which would take months to drill. Although BP was able to develop new source-control technologies in a compressed timeframe, the containment effort would have benefited from prior preparation and contingency planning.

¶Recommendation D2: The Department of the Interior should require offshore operators to provide detailed plans for source control as part of their oil spill response plans and applications for permits to drill.

¶Consistent with the enhanced planning process described above in Recommendation C1, oil spill response plans should be required to include detailed plans for source control. These plans should demonstrate that an operator's containment technology is immediately deployable and effective. (BOEMRE has recently issued a Notice to Lessees requiring operators to demonstrate, as part of the spill response planning process, that they have "access to and can deploy surface and subsea containment resources that would be adequate to promptly respond to a blowout or other loss of well control."²⁰²⁰ Department of the Interior, National Notice to Lessees and Operators of Federal Oil and Gas Leases, Outer Continental Shelf No. 2010-N10 (November 8, 2010), http://www.gomr.boemre.gov/homepg/regulate/regs/ntls/2010NTLs/10- n10.pdf. In enforcing this Notice, BOEMRE must ensure that operators provide detailed descriptions of their technology and demonstrate that it is deployable and effective.)

¶In applications for permits to drill, the Department of the Interior should require operators to provide a specific source-control analysis for each well. The analysis must demonstrate that an operator's containment technology is compatible with the well. (The Department of the Interior could implement this requirement through amendments to existing regulations²¹²¹ 30 C.F.R. §§ 250.410-418. or through a Notice to Lessees.²²²² 30 C.F.R. § 250.418(j). The latter option could be implemented more quickly, though the former might be more permanent.)

¶As with oil spill response plans, source-control plans should be reviewed and approved by agencies with relevant expertise, including the Department of the Interior and the Coast Guard.

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The Need for Improved Capability to Develop Accurate Flow Rate Estimates

¶As described in Chapter 5, early flow rate estimates were highly variable and difficult to determine accurately. However, the understated estimates of the amount of oil spilling from the Macondo well appear to have impeded planning for and analysis of source-control efforts like the cofferdam and especially the top kill. U.S. Geological Survey Director Marcia McNutt stated that if a similar blowout occurs in the future, the government will be able to quickly and reliably estimate oil flow using the oceanographic techniques that eventually provided an accurate estimate of the flow rate from the Macondo well.²³²³ Transcript, Deepwater Blowout Containment Conference (September 22, 2010), http://www.doi.gov/news/video/ Deepwater-Blowout-Containment-Conference.cfm.

¶Recommendation D3: The National Response Team should develop and maintain expertise within the federal government to obtain accurate estimates of flow rate or spill volume early in a source-control effort.

¶The National Response Team should create an interagency group—including representation from the Department of the Interior, the Coast Guard, the national laboratories, and NOAA—to develop and maintain expertise in estimating flow rates and spill volumes, potentially through consultation with outside scientists.

¶In addition, EPA should amend the National Contingency Plan to create a protocol for the government to obtain accurate estimates of flow rate or spill volume from the outset of a spill. This protocol should require the responsible party to provide the government with all data necessary to estimate flow rate or spill volume.