FOREWORD This, the 1987 Oil Spill Conference, is our tenth biennial meeting. Our efforts to share the knowledge needed to understand the prevention, behavior, control, and cleanup of oil spills now span two full decades of experience. Today's conference is a major international forum with representatives from many countries around the world in attendance. As in the past, the conference continues to remain responsive to a changing environment. The focus has been broadened to address not only response to and cleanup of surface water spills, but also new areas of leadership in oil spill response and prevention as they emerge. Sessions at this conference will take an in-depth look at damage assessment, underground spills, a more responsible use of dispersants, and community involvement in response to spill incidents. Moreover, environmental professionals today find themselves taking a more proactive stance, rather than a reactive one, in the response to oil spills and their prevention. The sponsoring organizations--the United States Coast Guard, the American Petroleum Institute, and the Environmental Protection Agency--have provided leadership and guidance in a cooperative effort between industry and government to provide a varied program of timeliness and technical merit for this conference. Planning has been ongoing for nearly all of the two years since the last meeting. We hope that the knowledge and contacts developed at this conference will influence your decision to participate in the eleventh biennial Oil Spill Conference to be held in San Antonio, Texas, in 1989.