Timothy Wyant
Kenneth J. Lanfear
James Richard Slack
1978
<p><span>An oilspill risk analysis was conducted to determine the relative </span><span>environmental hazards of developing oil in different regions of the </span><span>Southern California Outer Continental Shelf lease area. The study analyzed </span><span>the probability of spill occurrences, likely paths of the spilled oil, </span><span>and locations in space and time of such objects as recreational and </span><span>biological resources likely to be vulnerable. These results combined </span><span>yield estimates of the overall oilspill risks </span><span>associated with</span><span> </span><span>development of the proposed lease area. The analysis implicitly includes </span><span>estimates of weathering rates and slick dispersion and an indication </span><span>of the </span><span>p</span><span>ossible mitigating effects of cleanups. </span><span>The leasing of the </span><span>tracts </span><span>p</span><span>roposed for Sale 48 will increase the expected number of spills </span><span>by about 50-55% over the number expected from the existing Federal </span><span>leases. The probability that an object, such as land, will be contacted </span><span>by a spill is increased by less than 17 percentage points; however, </span><span>this increase varies greatly for the different objects. </span></p>
application/pdf
10.3133/wri7880
en
U.S. Geological Survey
An oilspill risk analysis for the southern California (proposed sale 48) Outer Continental Shelf lease area
reports