The 2014 Canada/United States (CANUS) North exercise was hosted by U.S. Coast Guard District 17 in Juneau, Alaska on Sept 9-11, 2014.

This exercise focused on increasing awareness of potential spill response issues associated with a major well control incident, which could occur from an accident during future exploratory drilling activities in the Canadian Beaufort Sea. The primary goals for this exercise related to assessing the situation; establishing command and control organizations; mobilizing equipment and field responders; and coordinating logistical support to maintain operations.

Participants included U.S. and Canada Federal, State and Provincial agencies, industry, and industry’s oil spill recovery organization. NOAA Scientific Support Coordinator for Alaska Catherine Berg participated on the exercise Joint Design Team and gave a presentation on Scientific Support for Incident Response; Glenn Watabayashi with OR&R’s Emergency Response Division introduced the participants to NOAA’s Trajectory Analysis Tools; and Amy Merten with OR&R’s Assessment and Restoration Division showed the participants NOAA’s common operating picture tool, ERMA, and demonstrated its capabilities for situational awareness and data management.

The Joint Design Team agreed that the exercise was well executed and well received and are already setting the stage for the next CANUS North Exercise in 2016.

For further information, contact Catherine.Berg@noaa.gov.
 

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