• Part 300, also known as the National Contingency Plan or NCP, provides the federal government’s blueprint for responding to oil spills and other hazardous substance releases that require a national response.

Part 300 is called “National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan.” The plan, more commonly called the National Contingency Plan or NCP, is essentially the federal government's blueprint for responding to both oil spills and hazardous substance releases that require a national response. The NCP provides the framework for our National Response System and the way in which the different levels of responding organizations coordinate their efforts.

The latest NCP, laid out by Part 300, is structured as follows:

• Subpart A — Introduction
• Subpart B — Responsibility and organization for response
• Subpart C — Planning and preparedness
• Subpart D — Operational response phases for oil removal
• Subpart E — Hazardous substance response
• Subpart F — State involvement in hazardous substance response
• Subpart G — Trustees for natural resources
• Subpart H — Participation by other persons
• Subpart I — Administrative record for selection of response action
• Subpart J — Use of dispersants, and other chemical and biological agents
• Subpart K — Federal facilities [reserved]
• Subpart L — National oil and hazardous substances pollution contingency plan; Involuntary acquisition of property by the government
• Appendix A — The hazard ranking system
• Appendix B — National priorities list
• Appendix C — Requirements for product testing protocols and summary test data: Dispersant baffled flask efficacy and toxicity tests; standard acute toxicity test for bioremediation agents, surface washing agents, herding agents, and solidifiers; and bioremediation agent efficacy test
• Appendix D — Appropriate actions and methods of remedying releases

For more information, refer to:

• Discharges of Oil
• CERCLA: National Contingency Plan