APRIL 11, 2023 — Two oil spill response specialists from NOAA have returned to the United States after being deployed to the Philippines for 16 days as part of a larger U.S. team that is assisting the government of the Philippines with an oil spill off Naujan, Oriental Mindoro.

The spill resulted from the tanker Princess Empress, which was carrying 800,000-900,000 liters of industrial fuel oil en route from Bataan to Iloilo, when it lost power and sank on Feb. 28. 

In support of the Philippines government, the U.S. National Response Team (NRT) mobilized a seven-person team to provide subject matter expertise in various areas of spill response. 

Prior to the deployment of the scientists, NOAA’s Office of Response and Restoration provided remote support for the use of the NOAA spill trajectory model GNOME by the University of Philippines – Marine Science Institute, which was using GNOME to estimate the fate and transport of the spill. 

Marine pollution surveillance reports, produced from satellite imagery by NOAA’s National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service, continue to be posted to the website of The International Charter Space and Major Disasters.  

With funding through the U.S. Agency for International Development, two NOAA scientific support coordinators were deployed to the Philippines on March 17. In their role there, they met with the Philippine Coast Guard Incident Command Post in Batangas and visited some of the hardest hit shoreline areas in the Pola Municipality. They also visited Verde Island—considered one of the most biodiverse areas in the country and a focus of concern for protection. 

The coordinators joined personnel from the Philippine Coast Guard and the International Tanker Owners Pollution Federation in conducting overflights of the impacted area, and met with the Philippines Department of Environment and Natural Resources – Biodiversity Management Board on activities and observations. Their contributions included guidance on topics such as: reopening closed fisheries, appropriate protective equipment for cleanup workers, shoreline cleanup assessment techniques, protection strategies for sensitive shorelines, aerial oil observation techniques, and appropriate shoreline cleanup endpoints.

Once the sunken Princess Empress was located via remotely-operated vehicle (ROV), OR&R joined other agencies in reviewing the ROV imagery and strategizing on-water pollution response operations.

The scientific support coordinators attended the Governor’s Press Conference and briefed the mayor of Pola as well as several Agency secretaries on NOAA’s observations. They also assisted various members of the incident management team with the development and refinement of the incident command system planning process.

As the response to the spill continues, NOAA will be available to provide remote science and technical support to the Philippine government (as part of the NRT effort), and welcomes opportunities for future collaboration in oil spill planning and response.

NOAA’s Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory (GLERL) in Ann Arbor, Michigan is a center of research for ecological dynamics, integrated physical and ecological modeling and forecasting, and scientific observing and technology, specifically for the Great Lakes.

The GLERL facility has a close relationship with the new U.S. Coast Guard National Center of Expertise—a research and teaching facility that opened in August 2022 at Lake Superior State University in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. Together, the two facilities will serve as the hub for the Great Lakes research, observing, and modeling for oil spills in freshwater environments. 

GLERL recently became the base for the NOAA scientific support coordinator (SSC) for the Great Lakes—which is a great fit. All of NOAA’s Great Lakes science is coordinated through this facility, which provides a focus for NOAA’s environmental and ecosystem research in the region and coastal marine environments.

“The NOAA SSCs are part of a greater NOAA team. Moving the Great Lakes SSC from the federal building in Cleveland to the GLERL in Ann Arbor allows that person to easily bring together NOAA research and services, such as weather, emerging technologies, harmful algal blooms, invasive species, water levels, as well as products from other groups who have connections through GLERL. Overall, the GLERL location will give NOAA better reachback with local experts on the Great Lakes,” said Doug Helton, regional operations supervisor for OR&R’s Emergency Response Division.

NOAA SSCs have broad and varied responsibilities. Among them, they serve as natural resource trustees after an oil spill or other disaster, primarily in the emergency response phase but also through the restoration and recovery processes. They assist with modeling of oil spills to estimate the transport and fate of spills on the water; identify the resources at risk in an affected area; conduct aerial observations of oil on the water; oversee shoreline assessments; evaluate clean-up strategies to obtain the best possible outcome; and analyze pollutant chemistry and environmental effects. They also manage large quantities of spill and response data, and train other emergency responders.

The MT Princess Empress had sailed from Bataan en route to Iloilo with 20 crew members, all of whom were rescued by a passing cargo ship. The partially submerged tanker began to sink off Naujan and is now resting 389 meters (1,276 feet) below the surface. The vessel has resulted in oil impacts on multiple areas and shorelines.

In response to the Philippine government’s request, the U.S. National Response Team (NRT) was activated on March 8. The NRT is a network of 15 federal agencies that provides guidance, assistance, and resources for managing pollution incidents. NOAA's Office of Response and Restoration (OR&R) represents NOAA on the NRT. 

The Philippine government’s request included: oil spill and Incident Command team experts, and satellite imagery to inform oil spill monitoring and forecasting. NOAA is coordinating with NRT member agencies to assess and fulfill these requests. 

Through funding from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), two oil spill response specialists from OR&R joined the NRT members deployed to Manila, Pola, and Calapan, Oriental Mindoro on March 17 to support the response. They met with representatives from the Philippine Coast Guard, the Japan Disaster Relief Team, USAID, U.S. Navy Supervisor of Salvage and Diving, U.S. Coast Guard, Embassy representatives, and a group of press/reporters. 

The NOAA team has been providing satellite imagery from the Satellite Analysis Branch of NOAA's National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service. NOAA OR&R has been providing analysis and review of response methods, and guidance on topics such as reopening closed fisheries, appropriate protective equipment for clean-up workers, protection strategies for sensitive shorelines, aerial oil observation techniques, and appropriate shoreline clean-up endpoints. Additionally, OR&R staff are remotely supporting the scientific modeling efforts of the University of the Philippines Marine Science Institute using OR&R’s trajectory model, GNOME (General NOAA Operational Modeling Environment) to estimate the movement and fate of the spill.

Marine Pollution Surveillance Reports produced by NOAA’s National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service, and maps produced by the Philippine Space Agency are assisting the Philippine government, and are posted to the website of The International Charter Space and Major Disasters.

Damage from the oil spill may affect biodiversity (including the global center of marine biodiversity located in the Verde Island Passage), tourism revenues, and food security in the area. Local authorities have declared states of emergency as the spill grows. The submerged vessel is being continuously monitored at the surface for oil releases (by an oil spill clean-up company) and at depth with a remotely operated vehicle (initial ROV from Japan, and now by U.S. Navy Supervisor of Salvage and Diving).