Petroleum products are crucial to the function of our society. Hydrocarbons provide the fuel, lubricants and are the raw material for many products we use in our daily lives. However, these organic chemical compounds in their many forms, when released into the environment, can cause serious environmental and economic damage. Passed as a result of the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill in Prince William Sound, Alaska, the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 mandated the development of contingency plans for response to future spills of varying magnitude. Area Contingency Plans, prepared by local Area Committees, are part of the response structure established by the OPA 90. Their function is to define the steps to be taken in the first hours after a spill to protect resources areas that may be threatened. In the period since the establishment of the current response structure, geospatial technologies have matured into useful tools for oil spill planning and response.
Each Area Contingency Plan has protection strategies, also referred to as geographic response plans, which contain the spatial and attribute data needed in a response effort. This research examines the application of geospatial technology to the development of geospatially enabled protection strategies, also known as Geographic Response Plans (GRPs) for ecologically and economically sensitive areas in the western basin of Lake Erie, including part of the states of Ohio and Michigan. It reviews existing plans and proposes a development process for geospatially enabled protection strategies in the Western Lake Erie basin.
Geospatially enabled protection strategies take advantage of existing data and the capabilities of a GIS to develop variations of protection strategies to allow for strategic changes to plans as a result of seasonal or meteorological conditions. It also allows the analysis, display and distribution of geospatial data in a manner that meet the different needs of planners, responders and incident managers. Data distribution options are discussed, including multiple paper and electronic publication options including, but not limited to Adobe Acrobat, GEOPDF, ArcReader, Google Earth and ArcIMS to make data available in the appropriate format to all personnel who require it.