NOAA's Office of Response and Restoration works to minimize environmental damages and prepare coastal communities to better deal with the impacts of marine debris, oil spills, and hazardous materials.

Our accomplishments in fiscal year 2016 shows our dedication to science-based solutions for protecting and restoring natural resources from coastal hazards.

• 178. That's the number of oil spills, chemical releases, and other threats we responded to.
• 28. That's the number of training and response events hosted at the Gulf of Mexico Disaster Response Center.
• $1,807,787. That's the amount awarded for marine debris prevention and removal projects.
• 2054 That's the number of people we trained in oil and chemical spill response and planning.
• $67,843,894. That's the amount of dollars for restoration recovered from responsible parties from settlements at two oil spills and one waste site.

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NOAA's Gulf of Mexico Disaster Response Center (DRC) brings together NOAA-wide resources to improve preparedness, planning, and response capacity for natural and man-made disasters along the Gulf Coast. Located in Mobile, Alabama, the center is focused on the five states bordering the Gulf of Mexico. The facility is designed to survive up to Category 5 hurricane winds, contains a Force-5 tornado shelter, and has backup power systems to continue operations in the midst of severe weather. Intended to serve as a safe and ready command center during major disaster responses in the Gulf, the DRC also offers facilities for drills, training, workshops, and planning activities.

OR&R’s Assessment and Restoration Division worked with the Restoration Center and the Office of the General Counsel Natural Resources Section and multiple trustee agencies to produce the Programmatic Damage Assessment and Restoration Plan/Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PDARP/PEIS) for the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The 1,400+ page report was the basis for the record settlement of $8.8 billion for the restoration of injured natural resources between the natural resource trustees and BP.

In 2016, OR&R’s Emergency Response Division (ERD) and NOAA’s Disaster Response Center launched the Science of Chemical Releases (SOCR) class. Over 30 SOCR students learned critical chemical hazard information and received hands-on training in the use of chemical response and planning software tools, including CAMEO Chemicals, ALOHA, and MARPLOT.

Shoreline Cleanup and Assessment Technique taught 275 responders this critical program that drives operational decisions and deployment of assets during a spill response. In addition, ERD reached 495 responders through the online training, created in partnership with The COMET® Program, covering aerial observation of oil on water.

Other countries expanded on the training to the Panama Canal Authority under the auspices of the Memorandum of Agreement between the Panama Canal Authority and the U.S. National Response Team on the use of NOAA software tools for chemical response (CAMEO) and oil spill transport and fate (GNOME, ADIOS). Responders and planners in Panama, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Belize, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Guatemala now have information and tools to better manage and plan for responses to oil and chemical incidents.

From flooding events to oil spills, NOAA works to ensure that local, state, and federal responders are prepared and understand threats, potential consequences, agency authorities and responsibilities, and available products and services aids in planning, mitigation, response, and recovery efforts. NOAA’s Gulf of Mexico Disaster Response Center, part of the Office of Response and Restoration, developed and provided three stakeholder-focused NOAA Regional Preparedness Trainings (NRPTs) across the Gulf to address specific response issues and enhance regional preparedness within NOAA and partnership agencies and groups.

The first NRPT, in Galveston, Texas, focused on improving response for oil spills impacting the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary. The course examined response options such as dispersants and in situ burning in highly sensitive protected areas. The NRPT in Mobile, Alabama, focused on understanding affected stakeholders and threats from a natural disaster and concurrent spill on commerce and the environment in the Port of Mobile and adjacent sensitive habitats. The third NRPT, St. Petersburg, Florida focused on improving responders’ knowledge and abilities to communicate information regarding controversial and alarming publicly sensitive topics - such as dispersant use, seafood safety, fisheries impacts, and public health concerns - to the public.

The NOAA Marine Debris Program marked ten years of combating marine debris in 2016. The program has accomplished much during this time, including activities ranging from supporting over 100 marine debris removal projects which have removed over 5,500 tons of debris, funding over 30 prevention projects and numerous research projects, and creating powerful education and outreach materials including curricula, displays, and award-winning outreach tools to help raise awareness about and prevent more marine debris. In this time period, the program has expanded nationwide to include ten regions, responded to four severe marine debris events, and has led the development of severe marine debris response plans and action plans across the country. The NOAA Marine Debris Program is proud of what it has accomplished over the last ten years and will continue to work towards the vision of a global ocean and its coasts free from the impacts of marine debris in the years to come.

The US Coast Guard (USCG) conducted an assessment dive of the the sunken wreck of Tank Barge Argo, lost in 1937 in Lake Erie, when an active chemical plume and odors were noted above the tank barge. The benzene cargo was characterized and ultimately removed. NOAA Office of Response and Restoration’s Emergency Response Division (ERD), with state and federal partners, managed the development of environmental monitoring, water sampling, sediment sampling, and waste disposal plans for the Argo response. Two tug boats collided on the Mississippi River near Columbus, Kentucky, spilling an estimated 120,500 gallons of oil. The oil was heavier than water and was at the bottom of a murky, flowing river; posing unique challenges. ERD provided river flow forecasts, chemistry of the spilled oil, a submerged oil assessment, assistance with a side scan sonar, and assistance with the selection of unique response technologies, such as environmental clamshell dredging. ERD supported the USCG response to an oil spill in the Green Canyon oil reserve area in the Gulf of Mexico, providing oil spill trajectory analysis and information on natural resources potentially at risk from the oil, including species and habitats in the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary.

In 2016, the NOAA Marine Debris Program launched the “Get Started Toolbox” for the Marine Debris Monitoring and Assessment Project (MDMAP), the Marine Debris Program’s flagship citizen science initiative which engages partner organizations and volunteers across the nation to survey and record the amount and types of marine debris on shorelines. The Get Started Toolbox serves as a resource for current and new project participants and includes a tutorial series that covers the basics of the MDMAP, a collection of protocol documents and user guides, data analysis tools, a searchable photo gallery of marine debris items, answers to frequently asked questions, and even a quiz to test your marine debris monitoring knowledge. These resources aid participants in continuing their MDMAP monitoring efforts, which include over 188 regularly-surveyed sites throughout the country. The data collected through this program provides baseline data that can be used to guide marine debris policy development, education and outreach, and addresses important research questions.