APRIL 22, 2016--In an effort to supplement existing Marine Environmental Response (MER) training provided to U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) pollution responders, the District 11 staff hosted an MER Capstone Course this week the week of April 18 in the San Francisco Bay area.

The advanced topics course addressed a myriad of subjects beyond those that USCG pollution responders typically receive when attaining their pollution qualifications and/or at other spill training like NOAA’s own Science of Oil Spills (SOS) class. Attended by experienced USCG responders, topics included: crude-by-rail, abandoned/derelict vessels, government-initiated unannounced exercises, stakeholder management and public affairs, oil sampling and analysis, Endangered Species Act consultations, etc.

OR&R Emergency Response Division staff presented on information management for responses, touching on matters of evolving tools, effective field data, information management plans and data-related lessons learned from numerous incidents like Hurricanes Katrina and Isaac, Deepwater Horizon oil spill, Crescent City tsunami response, Refugio pipeline spill, and Super Storm Sandy.

For more information, contact Jordan.Stout@noaa.gov.

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