The Office of Spill Prevention and Response (OSPR) in collaboration with industry representatives and state and federal trustee agencies have developed Ephemeral Data Collection Plans (EDCPs) to better facilitate collection of environmental samples (e.g., water, sediment, and tissue) in the event of an accidental release of petroleum and petroleum-related products in marine environments. Ephemeral data are types of information that change rapidly over time and may be lost if not collected immediately (e.g., within days or weeks). Theses plans describe and prioritize ephemeral data collection that may be implemented by Natural Resources Damage Assessment (NRDA) trustee and industry representatives.
The sampling methods described within each plan may be modified depending on incident circumstances. These plans may be used as guidance documents when developing sampling plans for NRDAs of various pollution and other deleterious substance incidents. They also have been used to direct ambient or pre-spill samples for understanding potential baseline or pre-spill conditions. These plans cannot be assumed to contain every acceptable sampling procedure, medium, or analysis objective; thus, additional considerations may be appropriate under the circumstances surrounding a given incident.
Current Marine EDCPs
Future Marine EDCPs