Improving EPA's Oil Spill Preparedness, Response, and Assessment Webinar
About the Webinar
Originally presented December 14, 2022
When it comes to oil spills, many tend to think of the big ocean spills such as Deepwater Horizon in the Gulf of America. But there are oil spills happening almost every day at a smaller scale and closer to our communities. EPA researchers and their partners are working together to develop tools and methods for assessing the impacts of these oil and fuel spills, and the environmental hazards of response agents including dispersants, surface washing agents, and solidifiers. This information helps support EPA, state, and local responders involved in emergency planning.
EPA is authorized as the lead Federal Agency for inland oil spills in the United States by the National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan, also known as the NCP. To assist with oil spill response efforts, the agency is also responsible for listing agents that may be used during a spill response. This webinar will provide an overview of EPA's role in oil spills and the research and technical support advancing the agency's regulation, preparedness, response, and assessment of spill agents and petroleum products.
About the Presenter
Dr. Mace G. Barron is a senior research toxicologist at the U.S. EPA's Office of Research and Development. Dr. Barron obtained B.S. and M.S. degrees in Fisheries Science, and a Ph.D. in Pharmacology/Toxicology. He has published over 150 peer reviewed journal articles and book chapters on chemical bioaccumulation, ecological risk assessment, and the toxicity and risks of oil and Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs). He has served as an expert for the U.S. Department of Justice and EPA, and conducted research on numerous pipeline, wellhead, and tanker spills, including Guadalupe, Colonial Pipeline, Exxon Valdez, Deepwater Horizon, and Greka. He was a member of EPA's Deepwater Horizon Science Team, and testified in deposition as the U.S. Government's expert on oil and dispersant toxicology and in Federal District Court as an expert witness on environmental harm of oil spills. Dr. Barron has been invited to speak on oil spill ecotoxicology at conferences in the U.S., Canada, Europe, and Korea. He was a 12-year member and former Chair of EPA's Risk Assessment Forum composed of the Agency's senior scientists. Dr. Barron is currently serving as a subject matter expert on oil and spill agent ecotoxicology assisting EPA in revising the Subpart J of the U.S. National Contingency Plan.