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OR&R Receives NAMEPA Environmental Product Award

Man speaking at a podium with others standing around.
Scott Lundgren speaking at the 2016 Annual Conference and Awards Dinner. (NOAA)

NOVEMBER 3, 2016--OR&R proudly received the 2016 Environmental Product award on October 27 issued by the North American Marine Environmental Protection Association (NAMEPA) for OR&R’s Chemical Aquatic Fate and Effects (CAFE) database. CAFE is a unique program that allows spill responders to estimate the fate and effects of thousands of chemicals, dispersants, oils, and dispersed oils on freshwater and marine resources.

This award was received at NAMEPA’s 2016 Annual Conference and Awards Dinner held at the historic Victorian era Pier A Harbor House near Manhattan’s Battery Park. OR&R was represented by the Emergency Response Division (ERD) Chief, Scott Lundgren. In accepting this award, Scott noted the strong alignment of vision between the organizations, particularly elements of NAMEPA’s vision relating to marine environmental protection, stewardship, and protection of global ocean, lake, and river resources and the clear alignment of purpose with OR&R’s vision of the Nation’s Oceans and Coasts healthy for future generations -- protected from pollution and other environmental threats.

Scott remarked that while spill volumes are generally down, having a strong response capability is an important complement to a robust and effective prevention regime. Furthermore, a cleaner environment increases the expectations and demand for robust response. While the recently ended 2016 fiscal year was not characterized by nationally significant spills, it was ERD’s third busiest year in its 40 year history with 160 notifications and requests for scientific support. The reduced tolerance for any size spill that might be considered “routine” was noted as something all could celebrate.

Award and program cover.
(NOAA)

Scott credited the award to the CAFE development team consisting of Dr. Jim Farr, Nicolle Rutherford, Polly Jenne, Dr. Adrianna Bejerano, and Valerie Chu. Their imagination and hard work is behind the addition of CAFE to the constellation of models and tools for oil and chemical spills developed by ERD. As a result of this tool, the NOAA team and other preparedness and response professionals around the world can rapidly access needed information from over 100,000 aquatic toxicity records, on over 3,600 chemicals, and 200 oils/dispersant/and dispersed oil combinations. CAFE makes accessible a vast amount of information relevant to responders; answering key questions on aquatic fate and allowing visualization of effects on aquatic organisms using species sensitivity distribution curves.

For more information, contact Scott.Lundgren@noaa.gov or Nicolle.Rutherford@noaa.gov.

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Last updated Tuesday, November 8, 2022 1:45pm PST