USA Banner

Official US Government Icon

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure Site Icon

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Site Notification

Site Notification

U.S. Department of Transportation U.S. Department of Transportation Icon United States Department of Transportation United States Department of Transportation

Table 4-54: Petroleum Oil Spills Impacting Navigable U.S. Waterways

Friday, February 3, 2017

Excel | CSV

Source 1985 1990 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004
Incidents Gallons spilled Incidents Gallons spilled Incidents Gallons spilled Incidents Gallons spilled Incidents Gallons spilled Incidents Gallons spilled Incidents Gallons spilled Incidents Gallons spilled Incidents Gallons spilled Incidents Gallons spilled Incidents Gallons spilled Incidents Gallons spilled
TOTAL all spills 6,169 8,436,248 8,177 7,915,007 9,038 2,638,229 9,335 3,117,831 8,624 942,574 8,315 885,303 8,539 1,172,449 8,354 1,431,370 7,559 854,520 4,497 638,883 4,192 401,139 3,897 1,416,713
Vessel sources, total 1,662 4,862,911 2,485 6,387,158 5,478 1,624,153 5,586 1,681,020 5,347 380,879 5,172 621,235 5,680 576,475 5,560 1,033,643 5,021 569,856 1,816 247,382 1,715 210,805 1,705 1,306,557
Tankship 164 732,397 249 4,977,251 148 125,491 122 219,311 124 22,429 104 56,673 92 8,414 111 608,176 95 125,217 55 4,753 38 4,450 35 636,834
Tank barge 385 3,683,548 457 992,025 353 1,101,938 313 1,163,258 252 165,649 220 248,089 227 158,977 229 133,540 246 212,298 126 30,219 156 102,874 143 215,822
Other vesselsa 1,113 446,966 1,779 417,882 4,977 396,724 5,151 298,451 4,971 192,801 4,848 316,473 5,361 409,084 5,220 291,927 4,680 232,341 1,635 212,410 1,521 103,481 1,527 453,901
Nonvessel sources, total 2,802 3,250,229 2,584 1,408,472 1,116 958,222 1,078 1,408,303 1,356 501,265 1,553 246,716 1,615 551,381 1,645 373,761 1,465 270,523 1,286 200,871 1,140 93,515 1,137 70,456
Offshore pipelines 23 17,977 73 46,228 7 1,143 4 386 13 810 10 843 5 35,707 4 17 13 1,241 0 0 1 14,952 0 0
Onshore pipelines 362 759,040 76 270,700 23 10,751 13 978,006 19 223,312 35 47,020 20 433 21 17,004 21 12,336 0 0 0 0 1 15,000
Otherb 2,417 2,473,212 2,435 1,091,544 1,086 946,328 1,061 429,911 1,324 277,143 1,508 198,853 1,590 515,241 1,620 356,740 1,431 256,946 1,286 200,871 1,139 78,563 1,136 55,456
Mysteryc 1,705 323,108 3,108 119,377 2,444 55,854 2,671 28,508 1,921 60,430 1,590 17,352 1,244 44,593 1,149 23,966 1,073 14,141 1,395 190,630 1,337 96,819 1,055 39,700

 

Source 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
Incidents Gallons spilled Incidents Gallons spilled Incidents Gallons spilled Incidents Gallons spilled Incidents Gallons spilled Incidents Gallons spilled Incidents Gallons spilled Incidents Gallons spilled Incidents Gallons spilled Incidents Gallons spilled Incidents Gallons spilled
TOTAL all spills 3,881 9,926,580 4,184 2,836,307 3,808 705,342 3,400 760,230 3,304 211,601 3,008 207,712,793 3,065 210,271 3,266 196,183 3,223 497,710 3,077 668,363 2,413 304,689
Vessel sources, total 1,835 2,124,808 1,993 416,987 1,928 235,340 1,644 536,141 1,645 126,658 1,508 894,934 1,531 107,663 1,824 131,986 1,721 207,106 1,716 273,432 1,375 276,059
Tankship 37 2,976 38 4,292 42 46,731 34 1,337 28 14,417 23 421,583 26 1,702 27 3,864 20 711 18 146 21 461
Tank barge 126 2,006,774 134 287,343 113 4,516 106 286,637 98 4,424 73 965 67 15,852 93 33,268 100 19,568 89 199,667 70 144,046
Other vesselsa 1,672 115,058 1,821 125,352 1,773 184,093 1,504 248,167 1,519 107,816 1,412 472,386 1,438 90,109 1,704 94,854 1,601 186,827 1,609 73,619 1,284 131,553
Nonvessel sources, total 1,146 7,771,646 1,258 2,290,803 1,233 439,723 1,148 197,525 979 54,275 1,008 206,809,141 1,159 94,759 1,048 51,040 1,048 284,513 963 386,350 681 26,782
Offshore pipelines 23 26,465 20 1,719 36 295,165 36 14,809 16 1,657 34 4,627 38 1,687 16 251 35 6,028 41 5,267 25 432
Onshore pipelines 1 110,000 1 510 N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N
Otherb 1,122 7,635,181 1,237 2,288,574 1,197 144,558 1,112 182,716 963 52,619 974 206,804,514 1,121 93,072 1,032 50,789 1,013 278,485 922 381,083 656 26,350
Mysteryc 900 30,126 933 128,517 647 30,279 608 26,564 680 30,667 492 8,718 375 7,849 394 13,157 454 6,091 398 8,581 357 1,847

KEY: N = data do not exit.

a Other vessels include commercial vessels, fishing boats, freight barges, freight ships, industrial vessels, oil recovery vessels, passenger vessels, unclassified public vessels, recreational boats, research vessels, school ships, tow and tug boats, mobile offshore drilling units, offshore supply vessels, publicly owned tank and freight ships, as well as vessels not fitting any particular class (unclassified).

b Other nonvessel sources include deepwater ports, designated waterfront facilities, nonmarine land facilities, fixed offshore and inshore platforms, mobile facility, municipal facility, aircraft, land vehicles, railroad equipment, bridges, factories, fleeting areas, industrial facilities, intakes, locks, marinas, MARPOL reception facilities, nonvessel common carrier facilities, outfalls, sewers, drains, permanently moored facilities, shipyards, ship repair facilities.

cMystery spills are spills from unknown or unidentified sources. U.S. Coast Guard investigators are unable to identify the vessel or facility that spilled the oil into U.S. navigable waters.

NOTES

Any offshore pipeline spills off shore now are addressed jointly by the Coast Guard (CG), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) and Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM). The latter two were the Minerals Management Service (MMS) prior to the DEEPWATER HORIZON casualty in 2010. The CG does generate offshore spill statistics which NOAA uses in their work.

Any spills inshore (pipeline or not) are typically handled by the EPA and the associated state government agency. Spills involving interstate pipelines would have oversight by the DOT Pipelines Administration. The former was established in a memorandum of understanding (MOU) back in the 70s.

In shore pipeline spills may also be addressed by the Chemical Safety Board, which is a relatively new federal agency involving production and manufacturing facilities.

CG has a MOU agreement with the EPA on who is the leading federal agency for response (Federal On-Scene Coordinator) and subsequent investigations. These statistics reflect the pollution incidents the CG has investigated as the lead agency. CG does not have any data on spills where the EPA or any of the state authorities are the lead agency.

The spike in Gallons spilled for 2005 can be attributed to the passage of Hurricane Katrina in Louisiana and Mississippi on Aug. 29, 2005, which caused numerous spills approximating 8 million gallons of oil in U.S. waters. The largest spill in U. S. waters began on April 20, 2010 with an explosion and fire on the mobile offshore drilling unit (MODU) DEEPWATER HORIZON. Subsequently, the MODU sank, leaving an open exploratory well to discharge crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico for several weeks. The most commonly accepted spill amount from the well is approximately 206.6 million gallons, plus approximately 400,000 gallons of oil products from the MODU. The totals in this table may be different from those that appear in the source, due to rounding by the source.

After 2006, the CG to not distinguish between onshore pipelines from offshore pipelines on its analysis systems. This change was in response to issues on offshore spills and pipelines and the overlapping jurisdiction with MMS, as well as the lack of significant inshore spills and response to incidents on the mainland.

SOURCES

1985 - 2011: U.S. Coast Guard, Polluting Incidents In and Around U.S. Waters, A Spill/Release Compendium: 1969-2011 (Washington, DC: January 2013), tables Number of Spills by Source, Volume of Spills by Source (Gallons) and Oil Spills In U.S. Waters Calendar Year, available at http://homeport.uscg.mil/ as of Aug 6, 2013.

2012-14: U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Coast Guard, Office of Investigations and Analysis (CG-INV), personal communication, Aug. 27, 2015, and Apr. 21, 2016.