Spill of National Significance
Spill of National Significance :
"The Oil Pollution Act 90 (OPA 90) was drafted in response to the catastrophic oil spill in Valdez, AK with the intent of improving readiness for the threat of future oil spills. The law required the National Oil and Hazardous Substance Pollution Contingency Plan, also known as the National Contingency Plan (NCP), to be amended to include a section that addressed a Spill of National Significance (SONS). A SONS is defined as: "a spill that, due to its severity, size, location, actual or potential impact on the public health and welfare or the environment, or the necessary response effort, is so complex that it requires extraordinary coordination of federal, state, local, and responsible party resources to contain and clean up the discharge"(40 CFR 300.5)". (Spill of National Significance Website, SONS FAQs, December 14, 2007 Update, p. 1)
