MSRC is a non-profit oil spill response organization with its primary response capability located in the coastal regions of the United States, including the U.S. Virgin Islands and Hawaii. MSRC is a progressive company which has evolved to meet its customers' ever changing needs as the U.S. federal and state regulatory environment changes.
To understand the MSRC of today, we must first look at the history of the organization, the events that created MSRC, and the changes that have occurred since 1989, both external and internal to MSRC. This will help explain the evolution of MSRC which has occurred to meet the needs of its customers - including the members of the Marine Preservation Association.
Milestones in the Marine Spill Response Corporation's Development
The history of MSRC is traced to a sequence of events in the United States beginning with the oil spill in Prince William Sound Alaska in March of 1989. Like many catastrophic events, this one led to the enactment of legislation in the United States Congress to not only provide for a response system in the United States, but also to attempt to prevent such environmental disasters. This law is known as the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, or OPA-90. While the U.S. Congress was debating the provisions of this law, the U.S. oil industry through the American Petroleum Institute, or API, was also taking action to determine what the industry as a whole could do to both prevent and respond to such an incident in the future.
Prince William Sound Oil Spill - March 1989
The oil spill in Prince William Sound was the catalyst for the creation of MSRC and its national response capability. The incident raised serious questions within the minds of oil industry executives about the ability of the industry to respond to incidents of such magnitude. The industry created a task force under the auspices of the American Petroleum Institute to study not only the current U.S. response capability, but also what capabilities needed to be created to respond adequately to such a spill.
This Task Force's members consisted of 8 high level oil company executives representing Amoco, Arco, BP America, Chevron, Exxon, Mobil, Shell and Texaco. The Task Force was chaired by Allen Murray, then Chairman of Mobil Corporation. The Task Force's mission was to review current U.S. response capabilities and prevention efforts.
The Task Force released their findings barely 3 months after the Prince William Sound incident. The report stated that the U.S. - industry and government - was not prepared to deal with a catastrophic spill. The Task Force considered a catastrophic spill to be defined as a release of oil in the offshore environment similar to the size of the Prince William Sound spill - about 30,000 t, or as any release beyond the local response infrastructure which could be a lot less than 30,000 t in some areas.
The Task Force Report also included recommendations including the support of prevention programs and the establishment of the Petroleum Industry Response Organization, or PIRO.
Petroleum Industry Reponse Organization (PIRO) - Fall 1989
When the Task Force issued their Report in June 1989 they also established a Steering Committee to make recommendations on the implementation of PIRO. By the time the Streering Committee Report was issued in January 1990, the membership in PIRO had grown from the original 8 major oil companies to 20 companies. They had also established committees to study personnel, equipment, vessels, training, insurance and other issues to include about 75 of the oil industry experts in each of their respective fields.
The Steering Committee Report recommended the formation of 2 organizations, one to be the funding organization the other to be operational. When the Steering Committee Report was issued the estimated 5-year costs for the 2 organizations (MPA/MSRC) were approximately US $400 million. This included US $145 million for capital equipment, an annual operating budget of US $65-$70 million and a 5-year research and development budget of US $30-35 million and an organization consisting of 303 people nationwide.
Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA-90) - August 1990
At the same time that industry was creating PIRO, the U.S. Congress was drafting legislation in both houses of Congress to not only prevent but to also respond to such environmental disasters as the Prince William Sound incident. 17 months after the vessel ran aground in Prince William Sound the President signed the Oil Pollution
