Dr. Riki Ott brings her expertise to Pensacola to discuss ways we can strengthen oil spill prevention and response.
What: EPA National Contingency Plan and the Gulf of Mexico: A Talk by Riki Ott
Where: Bayview Senior Resource Center, 2000 E. Lloyd St., Pensacola, FL 32503
When: Tuesday, June 10, 7 p.m.
350 Pensacola will host a talk by Dr. Riki Ott on Tuesday, June 10, at 7 p.m. Dr. Ott will update participants on the Environmental Protection Agency’s upcoming revisions to the National Contingency Plan that are based on the EPA’s findings after the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster.
The last time the EPA updated the the National Contingency Plan was 1994, after learning the lessons of the Exxon Valdez spill. In 1994, EPA created an Incident Command System that essentially put the spiller in charge, and EPA mandated that every area have a plan to expedite dispersant use.
Riki Ott, Ph.D., is a marine toxicologist, author and activist who witnessed firsthand the Exxon Valdex spill in Prince William Sound, Alaska. In May 2010, Ott brought her expertise to the Gulf of Mexico, volunteering for one year to expose a public health crisis of chemical illness and to help with local community organizing.
In this presentation, Ott will discuss the outdated National Contingency Plan and illustrate how the plan is designed for conventional crude oil spills at sea, not tars sands oil that sinks or extremely volatile frack oil that explodes when spilled. The plan states a priority to protect public health during spill response but does not outline how to do this. Ott will summarize the scientific evidence that crude oil is hazardous to humans, and extreme oils are ultra-hazardous.
Ott will also cover details of the public comment period and a supplement to an original petition filed by Citizens’ Coalition to Ban Toxic Dispersants calling for revisions to the National Contingency Plan.
To learn more,visit http://dispersantban.org/