Environment and Oil Spill Response (EOS) : an Analytic Tool for Environmental Assessments to Support Oil Spill Response Planning. The Handbook.

Abstract

The EOS is a desktop analysis based on oil spill scenarios and published as well as expert knowledge on the environment in the assessment area. The EOS tool can support decisions of inclusion of mechanical recovery, in situ burning and chemical dispersants in national oil spill contingency plans in relation to minimizing and mitigating the environmental impacts. In addition, the results obtained through the EOS tool can be used for establishment of cross-border and trans-boundary cooperation and agreements on oil spill response. The EOS tool is based on an Excel spreadsheet, with references to explanatory boxes provided in the EOS Handbook. The EOS analysis goes through 5 steps for each of the oil spill response methods and for each season: Gathering basic environmental data and information for the assessment area; Assessments of basic data and oil spill modelling results; Indices calculations; Decision trees for each oil spill response technology; Interpretation and dissemination of EOS results.