In 2019, the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) sponsored a project in cooperation with the United States Coast Guard (USCG) to improve the content of the coastal zone area contingency plans (ACPs) with respect to the information necessary to effectively plan for and respond to large oil spills from offshore oil and gas facilities. This collaboration between BSEE, U.S. Coast Guard (USCG), resource trustees, state agencies, oil spill removal organizations (OSROs), and Area Committees resulted in a series of technical documents that provide offshore information on:

• Oil and Gas Infrastructure: This document provides general information on the geomorphology of offshore environment (from the coast line to the extent of the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ)), the existing oil and gas infrastructure (including leases, platforms, wells, and pipelines, and the oils being produced, stored and handled).
• Worst Case Discharge (WCD) Scenarios: This document (and any associated appendices) contain information on the WCD scenarios selected for inclusion in the ACP by the affiliated Area Committee for their planning areas.
• Response Concept of Operations (CONOPS): The CONOPS is a framework for planning, rapidly organizing, and responding to a Worst Case Discharge (WCD) incident in an offshore setting.
• Response Strategies and Best Management Practices (BMP): This document contains an overall discussion regarding the potential use of different response countermeasures (and supporting BMPs for wildlife protection during response activities) in the offshore environment.
• Sensitive Species Profiles: Sensitive species profiles contain descriptions of species of interest, their distribution across the area, their vulnerabilities to oil, and species-specific BMPs for their protection while conducting response operations.

These documents were developed specifically for incorporation by reference into the coastal zone ACPs and are hosted on the BSEE Oil Spill Preparedness Division’s (OSPD) website. In addition to these technical documents, an inventory of offshore spill response equipment and a set of offshore Environmental Sensitivity Indices (ESI) maps are being created and will be embedded in NOAA’s Environmental Response Management Application (ERMA) at a future date. Collectively, these materials provide a foundation of risk assessment, resources at risk, and conceptual response information to inform coastal zone ACP planning and responses to a significant offshore facility oil spill incident.