The Indian government has notified draft rules for the management of tar balls that wash ashore, proposing that pollution from them be declared a state disaster. Tar balls are sticky, balled up remnants of petroleum from oil spills and oil extraction activity, which are considered hazardous for both health and the environment.
The rules propose making oil “generators” — including oil tankers, oil companies, ships, oil facility owners and transporters — responsible for preventing oil spills by following protocols under the National Oil Spill Disaster Contingency Plan (NOSDCP), set by the Indian Coast Guard. Failure to prevent oil spills would result in generators paying environmental compensation for any “loss, damage or injury and expenditure incurred” from the spill. Tar balls are considered hazardous for health and the environment because they carry heavy metals and organic pollutants.
The Central Pollution Control Board is expected to come up with a standard operating procedure for the handling of tar balls. Once the tar balls wash up along the coasts, state governments must take action under the Disaster Management Act, the draft rules say. District authorities are responsible for the collection, management, and transportation of tar balls to a Treatment, Storage and Disposal Facility (TSDF) “in an environmentally sound manner.” State and district authorities are also liable to pay environmental compensation if they fail to clean up the tar balls, the draft rules say.
Because tar balls are high in calorific value, the rules also make provisions for their disposal either through incineration in waste-to-energy plants or cement plants. Both the Indian Coast Guard and National Remote Sensing Agency will provide support in terms of surveillance and detection of oil spills.
Tar balls are typically deposited along the Indian coast in the monsoon months due to wind circulation patterns. In 2019, researchers from the National Institute of Oceanography linked tar balls along the coast of Goa with the Bombay High offshore oil rig using biomarker fingerprints. The study decisively revealed that tar balls not only came from oil spills, but also from rigging activity and tanker-washing — a practice where oil tankers are cleaned out between voyages using crude oil.
The rules, once finally notified, will come into effect after one year. The draft notification is open to suggestions and objections till June 2.
Banner image: An oil tar ball washed ashore on a beach. Representative image. (AP Photo/Dave Martin)
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