- (a) This subchapter sets forth planning requirements for oil spill prevention and response for nontank vessels (300 gross tons or greater) in California. These planning requirements specify that the owner or operator of a nontank vessel must own or have contracted for on-water recovery and storage resources sufficient to respond to all spills up to the reasonable worst-case spill volume in the time frames specified. The nontank vessel owner or operator must also demonstrate through contract(s) or other approved means, the response resources necessary to protect all applicable environmental sensitive sites in the time frames required by section 828.1. Equipment in addition to that under contract must be identified, and a call-out procedure in place to access additional response resources if needed. For the purpose of meeting the requirements herein, contracts for booming, on-water recovery and storage, and environmental sensitive site protection services can only be made with oil spill response organizations rated by the Office of Spill Prevention and Response. For other required services (e.g., shoreline cleanup, waste management, spill response management, etc.) contracts or other approved means with non-rated oil spill response organizations may be used.
- (b) The equipment that the owner or operator has available must also be applicable to the areas of intended use. A nontank vessel owner or operator must demonstrate adequate emergency services as described, by sufficient in-house capability or a signed, valid contract with a vessel emergency services provider.
- (c) The information required by this subchapter must be submitted to the Office of Spill Prevention and Response, and maintained by the owner or operator, in separate volumes. A principal volume must be compiled to contain all the required information, calculations, studies, maps and related data. A separate volume must be set up as an initial response activity manual and must contain only the information that response personnel will need at the time of a spill to facilitate the required immediate notification and response actions.
- (d) To the greatest extent possible, California has endeavored that this subchapter be consistent with the scope and intent of California's tank vessel oil spill contingency plan regulations, the enabling legislation Senate Bill 1644 (Chapter 964, Statutes of 1998), the federal oil spill response regulations, and the area contingency plans completed by the United States Coast Guard, state agencies, and local governments, with public participation, as required by the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (Title 33 United States Code section 2701, et seq.). Consideration will be given to the differences in environmental risk between spills from nontank vessels and tank vessels. Information developed to demonstrate compliance with other applicable federal, state, and international (e.g., International Maritime Organization, etc.) requirements may be used to demonstrate compliance with all or part of this subchapter to the extent that the information meets the requirements of this subchapter.
Note: Authority cited: Sections 8670.28 and 8670.29, Government Code. Reference: Sections 8670.28 and 8670.29, Government Code.
History
1. New section filed 12-28-99; operative 2-3-2000 pursuant to Government Code section 11343.4 (Register 99, No. 53).
2. Change without regulatory effect amending last two paragraphs filed 3-30-2005 pursuant to section 100, title 1, California Code of Regulations (Register 2005, No. 13).
3. Amendment of section and Note filed 3-20-2007; operative 5-1-2007 (Register 2007, No. 12).
4. Amendment of first paragraph filed 12-19-2013; operative 12-19-2013 pursuant to Government Code section 11343.4(b)(3) (Register 2013, No. 51).
5. Amendment filed 8-22-2025; operative 1-1-2026 pursuant to Government Code section 11343(b)(2) (Register 2025, No. 34).