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NOAA Participates in Marine Oil Pollution Preparedness and Response Arctic Workshop

OCTOBER 23, 2015--Last month, members from the Office of Response and Restoration participated in a workshop under the auspices of the Emergency Prevention, Preparedness, and Response Working Group (EPPR) of the Arctic Council.


The workshop brought together members from eight Arctic nations in continued efforts to test the Agreement on Cooperation on Marine Oil Pollution, Preparedness and Response in the Arctic (MOSPA). The three-day meeting was held at U.S. Coast Guard Headquarters in Washington, D.C, and attendees discussed lessons learned from previous international exercises and planned for the 2016 U.S.-led EPPR Arctic Oil Spill Response Exercise.

To plan for the 2016 response exercise, representatives from each Arctic nation identified two high-risk Arctic scenarios that could be used for a future exercise. Scenarios ranged from offshore drilling incidents to vessel collisions spanning a wide range of geographic regions. Attendees provided data for OR&R’s Arctic Environmental Response Management Application (ERMA) to display interactive data layers at multiple zoom levels for each scenario

Following the presentations from each Arctic nation, the working group determined the planning team should consider the U.S scenario of an Aleutian Islands tanker grounding, Norway’s scenario of a collision involving tankers , or a hybrid of both. The U.S scenario involved a vessel grounding at Unimak Pass, an ecologically important area. Norway’s scenario involved a vessel collision outside of Vard, Norway near the Russian border.

The work group also determined that objectives for the 2016 exercise should build upon the 2014 Canada-led exercise and incorporate additional levels of complexity. Attendees agreed that a common operational platform, like ERMA, should be tested in the 2016 exercise as well as reinforcing basic elements of MOSPA: notifications, communications, and requests for assistance. Additionally, the pan-Arctic equipment database currently under development by the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) should be utilized if available.

The meeting gave Arctic nations the ability to highlight ongoing regional activities and make proposals on how to improve the multinational agreement. The EPPR working group and a U.S. Coast Guard exercise support team will finalize objectives, scenarios, and logistics for the 2016 exercise.

For further information, contact Jay.Coady@noaa.gov.

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Last updated Monday, March 13, 2023 10:21am PDT