SL Ross Environmental Research Ltd. services

Relatively small spills may occur frequently, but have low impact, whereas large spills occur rarely, but have more impact. At SL Ross most contingency planning projects for specific areas or specific petroleum activities begin with an oil spill risk assessment of the situation. This means identification of the major sources of spills in the study area, an assessment of spill probability, and an assessment of the potential impact of spills from these sources. The goal is to identify "worst-case" and average-size spills that should be the focus of contingency planning and response preparedness.

SL Ross specializes in oil spill countermeasures. We have investigated virtually every aspect of oil spill countermeasures in the laboratory and in the field. Three particular areas of expertise are in situ burning, dispersant use, and countermeasures for Arctic applications. We also have considerable experience in equipment for shoreline cleanup and disposal, sorbent testing and evaluation, and numerous studies on the behavior of oil spills. SL Ross has developed a systematic and quantitative approach for evaluating countermeasures effectiveness for specific applications.

Good oil spill contingency planning and response calls for an ability to predict the behavior and fate of spills over time. At SL Ross we have developed a sophisticated model that can deal with all kinds of oil spill situations. The model works best if the properties of the spilled oil are fully understood beforehand, so we have developed a laboratory testing program, involving spill-related experiments with oils of interest, to provide oil property data for input to the model.