MARCH 17,2017--On March 7-9, 2017, a NOAA Scientific Support Team (SST) assembled in Houma, Louisiana, to provide technical support for testing plans, processes, and procedures developed to respond to a large (but fictional) oil spill 250 miles offshore.

The exercise, a joint venture between Marine Safety Unit (MSU) Morgan City, and Coast Guard District 8, was one of the National Preparedness for Response Exercise Program (PREP) drills required of each Coast Guard Captain of the Port Zone every four years. An additional feature to this exercise was an international element – responding to oil in the Mexican EEZ – intended to test the MEXUSGULF Annex, a plan developed to facilitate interaction between the U.S Coast Guard, and the Mexican Secretaría de Marina (SEMAR).

The SST, comprised of members from OR&R’s Emergency Response Division (ERD), Assessment and Restoration Division (ARD), Disaster Response Center (DRC); Marine Mammal and Sea Turtle Stranding Network, General Counsel – Natural Resources, worked to provide input on biological resources, dispersant (both surface and subsea) use and data evaluation, data management, and development of oil and water sampling plans to support response decision-making and natural resource damage assessment. NMFS Southwest Regional Office (SERO) provided remote support, helping shape plans and assessments associated with listed species, marine mammals, and Gulf of Mexico fisheries.

The scenario, a deep water well loss of control during drilling operations near the Economic Exclusion Zone (EEZ) boundary between the U.S. and Mexico, is entirely plausible given continued drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, and expansion of drilling operations into deeper water as drilling technology improves.
The NOAA team, working with federal, state, and industry partners, wrote plans and carried out (virtual) operations to approve, monitor, and document dispersant use; recover and rehabilitate oiled wildlife; inform decisions on fisheries management and seafood safety; and collate and manage data collected in the response. Plans written and relationships fostered during this exercise set the stage for an efficient and effective response should such an incident occur.

For further information, contact Paige.Doelling@noaa.gov.

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