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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2013. A Review of Genwest's Final Report on Effective Daily Recovery Capacity (EDRC): A Letter Report. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18579.
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A Review of Genwest’s Final Report on
Effective Daily Recovery Capacity
(EDRC)

A Letter Report


Committee to Review the EDRC Project Final Report



Ocean Studies Board
Division on Earth and Life Studies

NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL
OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES

THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS

Washington, D.C.

www.nap.edu

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2013. A Review of Genwest's Final Report on Effective Daily Recovery Capacity (EDRC): A Letter Report. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18579.
×

THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS   500 Fifth Street, NW   Washington, DC 20001

NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the committee responsible for the report were chosen for their special competences and with regard for appropriate balance.

This study was supported by Contract E13PC0007 between the National Academy of Sciences and the BSEE Oil Spill Division. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the organizations or agencies that provided support for the project.

Available online at http://www.nap.edu.

Copyright 2013 by the National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.

Printed in the United States of America.

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2013. A Review of Genwest's Final Report on Effective Daily Recovery Capacity (EDRC): A Letter Report. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18579.
×

THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES

Advisers to the Nation on Science, Engineering, and Medicine

The National Academy of Sciences is a private, nonprofit, self-perpetuating society of distinguished scholars engaged in scientific and engineering research, dedicated to the furtherance of science and technology and to their use for the general welfare. Upon the authority of the charter granted to it by the Congress in 1863, the Academy has a mandate that requires it to advise the federal government on scientific and technical matters. Dr. Ralph J. Cicerone is president of the National Academy of Sciences.

The National Academy of Engineering was established in 1964, under the charter of the National Academy of Sciences, as a parallel organization of outstanding engineers. It is autonomous in its administration and in the selection of its members, sharing with the National Academy of Sciences the responsibility for advising the federal government. The National Academy of Engineering also sponsors engineering programs aimed at meeting national needs, encourages education and research, and recognizes the superior achievements of engineers. Dr. C. D. Mote, Jr., is president of the National Academy of Engineering.

The Institute of Medicine was established in 1970 by the National Academy of Sciences to secure the services of eminent members of appropriate professions in the examination of policy matters pertaining to the health of the public. The Institute acts under the responsibility given to the National Academy of Sciences by its congressional charter to be an adviser to the federal government and, upon its own initiative, to identify issues of medical care, research, and education. Dr. Harvey V. Fineberg is president of the Institute of Medicine.

The National Research Council was organized by the National Academy of Sciences in 1916 to associate the broad community of science and technology with the Academy’s purposes of furthering knowledge and advising the federal government. Functioning in accordance with general policies determined by the Academy, the Council has become the principal operating agency of both the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering in providing services to the government, the public, and the scientific and engineering communities. The Council is administered jointly by both Academies and the Institute of Medicine. Dr. Ralph J. Cicerone and Dr. C. D. Mote, Jr., are chair and vice chair, respectively, of the National Research Council.

www.national-academies.org.

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2013. A Review of Genwest's Final Report on Effective Daily Recovery Capacity (EDRC): A Letter Report. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18579.
×

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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2013. A Review of Genwest's Final Report on Effective Daily Recovery Capacity (EDRC): A Letter Report. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18579.
×

COMMITTEE TO REVIEW THE EDRC PROJECT FINAL REPORT

MEMBERS

STEVE E. RAMBERG (Chair), Pennsylvania State University, Washington, DC

MICHEL BOUFADEL, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, New Jersey

VICTORIA BROJE, Shell Exploration and Production Company, Houston, Texas

DEBORAH FRENCH MCCAY, RPS ASA, South Kingston, Rhode Island

ANTONIO POSSOLO, National Institute of Standards & Technology, Gaithersburg, Maryland

STAFF

KARA N. LANEY, Study Director

BEVERLY HUEY, Study Director

KATHLEEN REIMER, Senior Program Assistant

SUSAN ROBERTS, Director, Ocean Studies Board

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2013. A Review of Genwest's Final Report on Effective Daily Recovery Capacity (EDRC): A Letter Report. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18579.
×

OCEAN STUDIES BOARD

STAFF

ROBERT A. DUCE, Chair, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas

E. VIRGINIA ARMBRUST, University of Washington, Seattle

EDWARD A. BOYLE, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge

RITA R. COLWELL, University of Maryland, College Park

SARAH W. COOKSEY, State of Delaware, Dover

CORTIS K. COOPER, Chevron Corporation, San Ramon, California

ROBERT HALLBERG, NOAA/GFDL and Princeton University, New Jersey

DAVID HALPERN, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California

BARBARA A. KNUTH, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York

GEORGE I. MATSUMOTO, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, Moss Landing, California

STEVEN A. MURAWSKI, University of South Florida, St. Petersburg

CLAUDIA BENITEZ-NELSON, University of South Carolina, Columbia

JOHN A. ORCUTT, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, California

H. TUBA ÖZKAN-HALLER, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon

STEVEN E. RAMBERG, Penn State Applied Research Lab, Washington, DC

ANDREW A. ROSENBERG, Union of Concerned Scientists, Cambridge, MA

DANIEL L. RUDNICK, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, California

MARTIN D. SMITH, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina

PETER L. TYACK, University of Saint Andrews, United Kingdom

DON WALSH, International Maritime Incorporated, Myrtle Point, Oregon

DAWN J. WRIGHT, Environmental Systems Research Institute, Redlands, California

JAMES A. YODER, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Massachusetts

Ex-Officio

MARY (MISSY) H. FEELEY, ExxonMobil Exploration Company, Houston, Texas

STAFF

SUSAN ROBERTS, Board Director

CLAUDIA MENGELT, Senior Program Officer

DEBORAH GLICKSON, Senior Program Officer

PAMELA LEWIS, Administrative Coordinator

PAYTON KULINA, Program Assistant

SHUBHA BANSKOTA, Financial Associate

CONSTANCE KARRAS, Research Associate

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2013. A Review of Genwest's Final Report on Effective Daily Recovery Capacity (EDRC): A Letter Report. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18579.
×

Acknowledgements

This report has been reviewed in draft form by persons chosen for their diverse perspectives and technical expertise in accordance with procedures approved by the National Research Council Report Review Committee. The purpose of the independent review is to provide candid and critical comments that will assist the institution in making its published report as sound as possible and to ensure that the report meets institutional standards of 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 for their review of the report:

Kenneth Arnold, WorleyParsons
William Chameides, Duke University
Cortis Cooper, Chevron Energy Technology Company
Ali Khelifa, Environment Canada
William Lerch, ExxonMobil (retired)
Edward Overton, Louisiana State University

Although the reviewers listed above have provided many constructive comments and suggestions, they were not asked to endorse the conclusions or recommendations, nor did they see the final draft of the report before its release. The review of the report was overseen by George M. Hornberger, Vanderbilt University. Appointed by the National Academy of Sciences, he was responsible for making certain that an independent examination of the report was carried out in accordance with institutional procedures and that all review comments were carefully considered. Responsibility for the final content of the report rests entirely with the author committee and the institution.

Page viii Cite
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2013. A Review of Genwest's Final Report on Effective Daily Recovery Capacity (EDRC): A Letter Report. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18579.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2013. A Review of Genwest's Final Report on Effective Daily Recovery Capacity (EDRC): A Letter Report. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18579.
×

THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES

Advisers to the Nation on Science, Engineering, and Medicine

OCEAN STUDIES BOARD

 

500 Fifth Street, NW
Washington, DC 20001
Phone: 202 334 2714
Fax: 202 334 2885
E-mail: osbfeedback@nas.edu

November 14, 2013

Mr. David M. Moore
Chief, Oil Spill Response Division
Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement
U.S. Department of the Interior
381 Elden Street
Herndon, VA 20170

Dear Mr. Moore:

In the spring of 2013, representatives of the U.S. Department of the Interior Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) approached the National Research Council’s Ocean Studies Board (OSB) to ask for an objective technical evaluation of the report produced by Genwest Systems, Inc., on the Effective Daily Recovery Capacity (EDRC) approach to estimating the efficiency of oil skimmers at recovering oil in contingency planning for a spill event. OSB assembled a committee of five members and charged it with evaluating the scientific basis of the methodology, applicability, and modeling approach used in the Genwest report. (See Appendix B for the committee’s statement of task.)

The members of the committee are pleased to provide this letter report containing their findings. (See Appendix C for committee member biographies.) On July 15, 2013, the committee held a public meeting, at which BSEE representatives discussed the statement of task. The committee queried the authors of the Genwest report in a teleconference on July 25, 2013. The committee then held a series of closed-session teleconferences to deliberate.

The format of this report, a brief document prepared over a short time, is well suited to the task at hand in view of the urgency perceived by the agency in revising regulations for planning for oil spill events. The aim of the committee was to advise BSEE on the soundness of the Genwest report’s results in order for BSEE to consider its next steps. The committee’s letter report assumes some familiarity with the contents of the Genwest report. The committee understood the Genwest report to be a final report.

In response to its statement of task, the committee found the new approach for estimating the efficiency of oil skimmers presented by Genwest, the Estimated Recovery System Potential

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2013. A Review of Genwest's Final Report on Effective Daily Recovery Capacity (EDRC): A Letter Report. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18579.
×

(ERSP), to be basically sound and a substantial improvement over methods currently employed by BSEE in its rule-making. However, there are a number of simple improvements that can and should be made to the ERSP approach that would be extremely useful. For example:

•     Use of “derated” nameplate recovery capacity could be replaced with the standard test results from ASTM International.

•     The computer model, with defaults and guidelines, could allow more input variables to be entered into the model, including estimates of oil thickness.

•     The approach could provide a stronger accounting for the effects of patchiness in oil spills as it relates to the effectiveness of skimmers.

•     The ranges of uncertainty associated with input variables could be carried into the outputs calculated by the computer model, and the equations could be made available to the community for review and comment.

•     A user manual that documents the limitations of use of the ERSP approach and provides guidance to the user for choosing input values in accordance with different planning scenarios would be helpful.

This letter report provides more detail in the above areas as well as several others in the body of the report. It notes how the model works well and how it does not and identifies specific model deficiencies.

The Genwest version of ERSP, or a version with the improvements offered above, is not intended to reflect circumstances that control recovery during an actual spill but is intended solely for planning purposes under various scenarios. The committee wishes to emphasize, as Genwest describes in its report, that mechanical skimmers are only one of several methods for responding to an oil spill event, and thus are only one element of an integrated approach for oil spill response planning.

Sincerely,

Steven E. Ramberg, Chair
Committee to Review the Effective Daily Recovery Capacity (EDRC) Project Final Report

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2013. A Review of Genwest's Final Report on Effective Daily Recovery Capacity (EDRC): A Letter Report. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18579.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2013. A Review of Genwest's Final Report on Effective Daily Recovery Capacity (EDRC): A Letter Report. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18579.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2013. A Review of Genwest's Final Report on Effective Daily Recovery Capacity (EDRC): A Letter Report. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18579.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2013. A Review of Genwest's Final Report on Effective Daily Recovery Capacity (EDRC): A Letter Report. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18579.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2013. A Review of Genwest's Final Report on Effective Daily Recovery Capacity (EDRC): A Letter Report. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18579.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2013. A Review of Genwest's Final Report on Effective Daily Recovery Capacity (EDRC): A Letter Report. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18579.
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Page viii Cite
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2013. A Review of Genwest's Final Report on Effective Daily Recovery Capacity (EDRC): A Letter Report. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18579.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2013. A Review of Genwest's Final Report on Effective Daily Recovery Capacity (EDRC): A Letter Report. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18579.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2013. A Review of Genwest's Final Report on Effective Daily Recovery Capacity (EDRC): A Letter Report. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18579.
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The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) enforces compliance with oil spill response requirements for facilities located seaward of the coast line. It commissioned Genwest Systems, Inc., to assess the existing planning standard for response to offshore oil spills with mechanical oil skimming systems, known as the Effective Daily Recovery Capacity (EDRC), and to consider improvements to that standard. In its report, Genwest proposed an Estimated Recovery System Potential (ERSP) calculation as an alternative to EDRC. BSEE specifically asked the National Research Council committee to consider three aspects of the ERSP approach in the Genwest report: the proposed methodology of ERSP, its applicability, and the computer model behind ERSP.

A Review of Genwest Effective Daily Recovery Capacity (EDRC) Project Final Report is an objective technical evaluation of the report produced by Genwest Systems, Inc., on the Effective Daily Recovery Capacity (EDRC). This report evaluates the scientific basis of the methodology, applicability, and modeling approach used in the Genwest report. In response to its statement of task, the authoring committee found the new approach for estimating the efficiency of oil skimmers presented by Genwest, (ERSP), to be basically sound and a substantial improvement over methods currently employed by BSEE in its rule-making. However, there are a number of simple improvements that can and should be made to the ERSP approach that would be extremely useful. This report examines the methodology and applicability of the ERSP calculation and discusses Genwests’s computer model.

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