NRS Notification and Decision Process

This is an overview of how some of the key NRS components at the local, state, tribal, and federal levels of government fit together during the incident notification and response processes. As explained earlier, federal law requires responsible parties to report spills of oil and hazardous substances to the NRC. The NRC then forwards these notifications to the pre-designated Federal On-Scene Coordinator assigned to the area for the incident. The NRC also forwards these notifications to other appropriate federal and state entities, including the DHS National Operations Center. The Federal On-Scene Coordinator gathers information about the incident in order to determine whether a federal response is warranted. The Federal On-Scene Coordinator may gather information via phone from state and local agencies and the responsible party, or may deploy to the site to collect information, depending on the incident. If the incident impacts resources overseen by a federal or state natural resource trustee, the Federal On-Scene Coordinator would also notify that trustee. A Federal On-Scene Coordinator may determine that a federal response is not required if appropriate actions are already being taken by a state or local agency or the responsible party and the release doesn’t constitute a significant public health or environmental threat. If a federal response is warranted, the Federal On-Scene Coordinator typically enters into a unified command with responding state/local agencies, and possibly the responsible party when appropriate. The Federal On-Scene Coordinator may call upon other NRS assets for assistance as needed, including the federal special teams, the RRTs, and NRT. Full description (alt text) of the NRS Notification and Decision Process graphic.