Ban on use of detergents to disperse oil spills

Ceejay

Ceejay

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I noticed in PBO this month that as of 1st April it is now an offence under the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009 to use detergent products to disperse oil spills.
Does anyone know of a place where I might read more on this subject, written in plain english. I can't find any reference to the subject except for the PBO item, and the Act itself is written in the customary legalese.
Finally does anyone know if this, or a similar, ban on the use of detergents applies in Scotland?
CJ
 
Hmmm, so you think perhaps PBO made it all up?.....
or perhaps an April Fool in the May issue?
 
a simple explanation of why detergents are not used.

http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/chem00/chem00896.htm

with a more complex one, with citations.

http://www.thefullwiki.org/Oil_spill


I am ferreting around with contacts in the oil industry to find out more about the legal stuff.


EDIT

That excellent Scottish company Oiltechnics (no affiliation !) has some general information on the use of detergents on controlled areas, and details of their bio-remediation products.

http://www.oiltechnics.co.uk/Sales_...ntaminationSolutions-OilRecyclingIndustry.pdf
 
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Ceejay said:
I noticed in PBO this month that as of 1st April it is now an offence under the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009 to use detergent products to disperse oil spills.
Click to expand...

Try Googling, er, "Marine and Coastal Access Act". Only about 178,000 hits.

"Hmmm, so you think perhaps PBO made it all up?.....
or perhaps an April Fool in the May issue?"

Sorry Ceejay: I'm on a very slow and clunky connection. That was my first reaction until I checked. Tried then to edit my earlier post but only managed to make it disappear altogether, which left you answering a post which no longer exists.
 
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Try Googling, er, "Marine and Coastal Access Act". Only about 178,000 hits.
Click to expand...

I've tried that, but can't find anything giving guidlines or information to the general public in plain english. ai'm also interested to know if this law applies in Scotland perhaps as part of the Marine Scotland Act 2010.
Thanks for replies thus far
CJ
 
No detergents in the sea

No more washing up then? Good-oh!

Mealtimes will in future be marked by a trail of disposable paper 'crockery' floating astern. Might be a useful means of estimating leeway.
 
It's our old friends, the Marine Management Organisation.


Loads of information here:-

http://www.marinemanagement.org.uk/protecting/pollution/review.htm



and some detailed stuff here:-

http://www.marinemanagement.org.uk/protecting/pollution/documents/review2011_consulation.pdf


There does seem to be some confusion in their statement:-

"The MMO is responsible for administering the testing and approval of oil spill treatment products for UK waters, and for approving the use of products on the waters adjacent to England and Wales."


I guess it must be SECA being responsible for Scottish waters ?


There is also the MCA's National Contingency Plan:-

http://www.dft.gov.uk/mca/mcga07-ho...ironmental-counter-pollution/mcga2007-ncp.htm


which covers the whole of UK waters, with local authorities in England, Wales, Scotland (under the Scotland Act 1973), and NI, having extensive and very strong powers to deal with an incident.
 
Oh dear, does that mean that I can no longer follow my usual practice of adding a capfull of Bilgex to he bilge after pumping out? Like many boat owners with an older engine, there is a smal leakage of diesel into the bilge. On my engine, it seems to come from two inaccessible bolts on the high pressure fuel pump. There is not much leakage, only about a litre per year, but I find that the bilgex and an absorbant sock do a good job of keeping the bilge clean.
 
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