Effective October 1, 2002, the Minerals Management Service (MMS) is revising their guidance (aka Notice to Lessees, or NTL) concerning Oil Spill Response Plans (OSRPs) for the Gulf of Mexico (GOM). The new NTL is number 2002-G09. This NTL provides clarification, guidance, and information to operators of facilities and leases located seaward of the coastline regarding who is required to submit a regional OSRP and how to prepare and submit a regional OSRP in the Gulf of Mexico OCS Region (GOMR). Note that this guidance also applies to pipeline right-of-way holders in the GOM. This NTL supersedes NTL No. 98-30, effective March 1, 1999, and NTL No. 98-30, Addendum No. 1, effective April 25, 2001. It provides for subregional Oil Spill Response Plans (OSRP’s) in the Eastern Planning Area of the Gulf of Mexico, allows you to submit OSRP’s in digital format on CD-ROM, adds guidance on calculating worst case scenario volumes, provides for a discussion of dispersant effectiveness over time, and makes a few minor technical amendments.
The new NTL can be downloaded from RCP’s website here.
And, if we didn’t already write your MMS OSRP, we’d be glad to do it now…..