Engineering Standards for Marine Oil Terminals and Other Natural Hazard Threats

Abstract

Marine Oil Terminals, when inadequately designed or maintained can pose a significant risk to public safety, and the environment. Natural hazard threats such as earthquakes, high winds, and excessive currents from runoff, and tsunamis should be considered for both new and existing Terminals Damage to or collapse of a wharf or pier carrying pipelines may result in an oil spill. In order to protect the public health, safety, and the environment, the California legislature passed the Lempert-Keene-Seastrand Oil Spill Prevention and Response Act in 1990 (the Act). The Marine Facilities Division was formed to implement the Act. It soon became obvious that there were no rehabilitation or upgrade standards for these aging facilities. Significantly, seismic standards did not exist when the vast majority of the facilities were built. The new comprehensive engineering standards developed specifically for Marine Oil Terminals in the U.S. The standards fulfill the mandate of providing regulations for the performance standards of marine oil terminals, to minimize the possibilities of a discharge of oil. In this study the criteria defined by standards, seismic analysis of design criteria, mooring loads for the marine oil terminals are presented. However, much of the criterion is equally applicable to other types of marine structures. It is expected that these standards will form the basis for similar standards developed for other state, federal, and international regulatory agencies.