New Delhi: The Centre, for the first time, has come up with dedicated rules for the management of tar balls – the weathered product of oil spills causing marine pollution due to offshore oil exploration activities, oil tanker/ship/vessel accidents or pipeline leakages – and proposed mandatory provisions for owners of oil facilities for its collection, transportation and disposal in an environmentally safe manner.Tar balls cause marine pollution both offshore and offshore, threatening the survival of shorebirds, sea turtles and marine life. Tar balls always affect the beaches in Maharashtra, Goa, Gujarat and Karnataka as they get washed ashore due to strong winds and currents especially during monsoon.The Environment Ministry had last week notified a draft rule in this regard, which also provided for penalty (environment compensation) for defaulter ‘oil facility owners’ on the polluter pays principle, and assigned specific responsibilities to state governments, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, CPCB and Ministry of Defense (Indian Coast Guard) for eco-friendly management of tar balls.The rules describe ‘oil facility owners’ as persons or companies who own or control or operate a facility/ship/vessel where oil (crude or fuel or both) is extracted, explored, used, transported or handled.Notifying the draft rules titled Tar-Balls Management Rules, 2026, the ministry sought comments/suggestions of stakeholders on the proposal within the next sixty days. Final rules will be notified after examining the suggestions, if any. “They (rules) will come into force after one year from the date of publication of the final notification in the Official Gazette,” the ministry said in its draft proposal.Outlining the penalty provisions, it says, “Where any oil facility owner fails to manage oil in an environmentally sound manner and causes any oil spillage which causes harm, damage or injury to the environment or public health, including the formation of tar balls, he shall be liable to pay environmental compensation equal to the amount of such harm, damage or injury and the expenditure incurred or to be incurred by the district administration for the management of the tar balls Could.“Assigning responsibilities to the Indian Coast Guard, the rules state that the Defense Ministry body will implement the National Oil Spill Disaster Contingency Plan (NOS-DCP) to effectively manage oil spill management and tar balls formation.“The Indian Coast Guard will conduct regular aerial and surface surveillance for oil spills in the Indian EEZ and inform relevant stakeholders for necessary preparedness and response measures,” the draft rules said.In addition, the National Remote Sensing Agency will monitor and detect oil spill incidents and tar ball hot-spots through satellite, aerial, drones, sensor equipped buoys or any other means and support the combat agencies.As per the rules, the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas will have to provide quarterly oil spill or spill incident reports of each installation (up to 500 metres) through its offshore establishments to the Indian Coast Guard, nearby coastal state governments, respective State Pollution Control Boards and CPCB.“The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas shall take all preventive steps to control oil leakage from offshore oil exploration establishments/facilities,” the draft notification said.