AMERICAN SALVAGE ASSOCIATION TO SPONSOR “WRECKS OF THE WORLD: HIDDEN RISKS OF THE DEEP”

The American Salvage Association (ASA), supported by the Association of Diving Contractors International (ADCI), International Salvage Union (ISU), Marine Technology Society (MTS), North American Marine Environmental Protection Association (NAMEPA), Spill Control Association of America (SCAA), and the World Ocean Council (WOC), will sponsor a conference, “Wrecks of the World: Hidden Risks of the Deep (WOW)”onWednesday, September 9, 2009 at the Maritime Institute of Technology and Graduate Studies (MITAGS) in the Washington, DC area (Linthicum Heights, MD) USA. The conference, part of the ASA-supported Wreck Oil Removal Program (WORP), will explore the myriad issues ( pollution threat, impact modeling, risk assessment, oil removal and remediation, implications to the environment, legal, insurance and funding issues, next steps) related to the more than 8,500 sunken vessels in the world, many of them World War II-era. By way of background, these wrecks may contain as much as 20 million tons of oil and other hazardous materials. Sporadic or continuous leakages or potential sudden massive spillages from these wrecks pose a continual risk across the globe. The problem of potentially-polluting wrecks has long been discussed and recent incidents around the world have caused government agencies and responsible parties to look proactively at preventing catastrophic oil and other chemical releases from long submerged shipwrecks. The risk of oil and other hazardous materials seeping out of sunken shipwrecks is growing yearly, and the likelihood of leakage or even a massive spill occurring increases, as do the potential costs. Taking a proactive rather than a reactive approach to mitigating this risk will save not only dollars in response costs, but also reduce the threat of environmental and socioeconomic damages. From the viewpoint of environmental and economic impacts, there is little difference between oil spilling from a sunken vessel and oil spilling from a modern day vessel casualty, with the exception that, while there is no way to predict the location or timing of the next major oil spill, potentially-polluting wreck sites are known and the probability of a spill event is quantifiable or even inevitable. There is ample evidence that there are a large number of wrecks in U.S. coastal waters that are spills waiting to happen. Responses to continuous oil leakage episodes that appear as “mystery spills” or to a massive oil release from one or more of these wrecks will cost hundreds of millions of dollars, probably significantly more. The response costs and damages will be significantly greater when the responses occur on a reactive basis than the costs that would be associated with planned and controlled proac.ve oil removal operations. Implementing WORP will mitigate damage and costs before there is an emergency and the oil is in the water and on shorelines. The following is a preliminary program: BREAKFAST (7:00AM – 7:45AM) KEYNOTE ADDRESS (8:00AM – 8:30AM) Congressman Elijah E. Cummings, Chairman, House Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation (invited) MORNING SESSIONS A (8:30AM – 9:45AM) Moderator: Carleen Lyden-Kluss, NAMEPA 8:30a.m.: Opening Remarks: Public Awareness of Oil Pollution Issues, Clay Maitland, NAMEPA 8:45a.m.: Magnitude of Potentially-Polluting Wreck Problem (Presentations) Dr. Ida-Maja Hassellöv, Chalmers University, Sweden Dr. Dagmar Schmidt Etkin, Environmental Research Consulting (International Data) 9:15am: Reactive Strategy – Examples: Luckenbach, Mississinewa, etc. (Presentations) Capt. Hans-Werner Monsees, Central Command for Maritime Emergencies, Germany (invited) Capt. Anthony S. Lloyd, Chief, US Coast Guard Office of Incident Management & Preparedness MORNING SESSIONS B (10:15 A.M. – 12:30 P.M.) Moderator: Carleen Lyden-Kluss, NAMEPA 10:15 a.m.: Repercussions of a Reactive Strategy and Need for Pro-Active Strategy Dave Westerholm, Director, NOAA Office of Response and Restoration 10:30 a.m.: Assessing Presence of Oil and Probability of Leakage (Presentation) Dr. Ezio Amato, Instituto Centrale per la Ricerca Scientifica e Tecnologica Applicata al Mare (ICRAM), member IMO MEPC Working Group on Technical Guidelines on Sunken Oil Assessment and Removal Techniques (invited) 11:00 a.m.: Applying Spill Impact Modeling to Wreck Risk Assessment (Presentation) Dr. Deborah French McCay, Applied Science Associates 11:30 a.m.: Cost-Benefit Analyses of Wreck Oil Removal Projects (Presentation) Dr. Dagmar Schmidt Etkin, Environmental Research Consulting 12:00 p.m.: Prioritization of Wrecks for Oil/Chemical Removal (Presentation) Xavier Kremer, CEDRE (DEEPP Project) (invited) LUNCHEON (12:30 P.M. – 2:00 P.M.) 1:00 p.m.: Luncheon Speaker: Salvage Technological Advances and Challenges Hans van Rooij, Global Marine Solutions AFTERNOON SESSIONS A (2:00 P.M. – 4:00 P.M.) Moderator: Clay Maitland, NAMEPA 2:00 p.m. Panel: Legal and Insurance Liability Issues Sample topics: Whose oil is it anyway? Whose responsibility is it to pay for the removal? What is the role of the international wreck convention? For wrecks in international waters, who is responsible? What if more than one jurisdiction is involved? Whose responsibility is it to pay for any spillage that might occur during a wreck removal operation (and who would pay for that spillage from a wreck in the absence of any removal operations)? How can industry take a stewardship role? Panelists Lizabeth Burrell, Esq., Cur/s, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle LLP Jonathan Waldron, Esq., Blank Rome LLP Matteo Barada, Director General, Italian Ministry for the Environment, Central Inspectorate for Sea Protection (Invited) Pia Bucella, Director Communication, Legal Affairs & Civil Protection, European Commission (Invited) 3:00 p.m. Panel: Funding Issues Sample topics: How will wreck removals be funded? What about World War II wrecks and other wrecks with no existing owner? How is this handled by national funding institutions? (e.g., US OSLTF). How is this handled by IOPC Fund? What role do insurers play? What is needed to get funding from spill-related sources (e.g., demonstration of “substantial threat”)? What resources should pay for preliminary risk assessment studies? How can the costs of removal operations be controlled? Panelists Charles Anderson, Skuld North America, Inc. (invited) José Maura Barandiaran, Head Claims Dept., International Oil Pollution Compensation Fund (invited) Tim Eastman, National Pollution Fund Center/Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund (invited) AFTERNOON SESSIONS B (4:30 P.M. – 5:30 P.M.) Moderator: Clay Maitland, NAMEPA 4:30 p.m. Wrap-Up: Next Steps, How Do We Move Forward? (Panel Discussion) Capt. Anthony S. Lloyd, Chief, US Coast Guard Office of Incident Management & Preparedness Hans Peter Mortensholm, Norwegian Central Administration (invited) Dave Westerholm, Director, NOAA Office of Response and Restoration COCKTAIL RECEPTION/ MITAGS TRAINING Media are invited to attend at no charge, but by RSVP. Cost for other participants is $300.00 USD ($250.00 for government representatives and students). For details, visit www.americansalvage.org to register contact Patricia Welch, 703/373-2293, pwelch@vesselalliance.com. The American Salvage Association is a trade association promoting professionalism and improving marine casualty response in American coastal and inland waters.