oil spill
An oil spill is the release of a liquid petroleum hydrocarbon into the environment, especially the marine ecosystem, due to human activity, and is a form of pollution. The term is usually given to marine oil spills, where oil is released into th ...
management company in the United States
Background
Company founder Jim O'Brien fought his first oil spill in 1969 as an officer with the
United States Coast Guard
The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and Admiralty law, law enforcement military branch, service branch of the armed forces of the United States. It is one of the country's eight Uniformed services ...
. In 1983 he retired to form his own company, O'Brien's Oil Pollution Service, known as "OOPS Inc.", in
Slidell, Louisiana
Slidell is a city on the northeast shore of Lake Pontchartrain in St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana, St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 28,781 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the sixteenth-most ...
. O'Brien soon gained fame in the 1980s as the "
Red Adair
Paul Neal "Red" Adair (June 18, 1915 – August 7, 2004)Obituary: Red Adair O'Brien also helped manage the
Exxon Valdez oil spill
The ''Exxon Valdez'' oil spill was a major environmental disaster that occurred in Alaska's Prince William Sound on March 24, 1989. The spill occurred when ''Exxon Valdez'', an oil supertanker owned by Exxon Shipping Company, bound for Long Be ...
of 1989. Following that event the United States enacted the
Oil Pollution Act of 1990
The Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA) was passed by the 101st United States Congress and signed by President George H. W. Bush. It works to avoid oil spills from vessels and facilities by enforcing removal of spilled oil and assigning liability f ...
, requiring ships to carry sufficient insurance and hire a management company to handle any oil spill.
The company was bought by
Seacor Holdings
SEACOR Holdings, based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, provides equipment and services to the offshore petroleum industry and the marine transportation industry. An American corporation, the company holds a 70% ownership stake in a bioethanol plant ...
Inc. in 1997 and later renamed the O'Brien's Group, with O'Brien remaining as President. In 2004, the company helped clean 265,000 gallons of oil that spilled into the
Delaware River
The Delaware River is a major river in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States and is the longest free-flowing (undammed) river in the Eastern United States. From the meeting of its branches in Hancock, New York, the river flows for a ...
from the Athos I. It oversaw recovery for the Murphy Oil Spill in
Chalmette, Louisiana
Chalmette ( ) is a census-designated place (CDP) in, and the parish seat of, St. Bernard Parish in southeastern Louisiana, United States. The 2010 census reported that Chalmette had 16,751 people; 2011 population was listed as 17,119; however, th ...
following
Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina was a powerful, devastating and historic tropical cyclone that caused 1,392 fatalities and damages estimated at $125 billion in late August 2005, particularly in the city of New Orleans and its surrounding area. ...
. In July 2007, the company oversaw remediation efforts when refineries near
Coffeyville, Kansas
Coffeyville is a city in southeastern Montgomery County, Kansas, United States, located along the Verdigris River in the state's southeastern region. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 8,826. Coffeyville is the most pop ...
spilled 71,400 gallons of oil into the
Verdigris River
The Verdigris River is a tributary of the Arkansas River in southeastern Kansas and northeastern Oklahoma in the United States. It is about long.U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map ...
during a flood. The company was also responsible for managing clean-up efforts after the Cosco Busan spilled 58,000 gallons of
bunker oil
A bunker is a defensive military fortification designed to protect people and valued materials from falling bombs, artillery, or other attacks. Bunkers are almost always underground, in contrast to blockhouses which are mostly above ground. T ...
into the
San Francisco Bay
San Francisco Bay (Chochenyo language, Chochenyo: 'ommu) is a large tidal estuary in the United States, U.S. state of California, and gives its name to the San Francisco Bay Area. It is dominated by the cities of San Francisco, California, San ...
on November 7, 2007. It deployed approximately 1,500 workers to clean up that spill.
As of 2007, O'Brien's Response Management represents approximately 400 shipping companies, 5,000 ships, and 200
oil and gas
A fossil fuel is a flammable carbon compound- or hydrocarbon-containing material formed naturally in the Earth's crust from the buried remains of prehistoric organisms (animals, plants or microplanktons), a process that occurs within geologi ...
companies, and has worked on over 400 spills in the past three years.