California's Response to USCG Nationwide Standardization of Area Contingency Plans

Abstract

California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) - Office of Spill Prevention and Response (OSPR), working with the United States Coast Guard (USCG), and Area Committee members, made significant strides to streamline the Area Contingency Plans (ACPs) for improved efficiency and statewide consistency to adhere to new USCG guidance. Beginning with Sector San Diego's ACP, which underwent major revision in 2018, and Sector Los Angeles/Long Beach in 2019, OSPR worked closely with USCG to ensure that there is comparable information statewide, improved maps and GIS compatibility, and updated environmentally and economically sensitive site information. OSPR created a new environmental sensitive site database, including more user-friendly Geographic Response Strategy pages for those identified sites. OSPR also revised the content of Section 9800, which describes the environmental, cultural, historic, and economic sensitivities of a given ACP area, and includes the Geographic Response Strategies. This paper describes in detail the contributions and changes that OSPR has made to California ACPs since 2018. It highlights its approaches to streamlining for efficiency and statewide consistency and lessons learned from the new revision and approval processes.