OCT. 18, 2024 — On August 21, the Greek-flagged oil product tanker Sounion caught fire and was abandoned after being attacked by the Houthis in the southwest Red Sea. The tanker was reported to be carrying 140,000 metric tons (roughly 42 million gallons) of crude oil.

On August 23, the U.S. Coast Guard, which oversees marine pollution response, contacted NOAA’s Office of Response and Restoration (OR&R) to request expertise and scientific support for a potential oil spill response to the Sounion. OR&R worked quickly to identify environmental resources at risk in the event of a release of oil and provided a hypothetical oil spill fate and effects analysis based on seasonal weather and oceanographic trends. Additionally, NOAA’s National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS) provided satellite imagery and analysis. Information provided by OR&R was used by the National Response Team to brief federal officials working on the incident.

After several weeks of negotiations and planning, the Sounion was successfully towed to a safer location for repairs. The fires onboard the vessel continued to burn during the towing operation. There was international concern that the large volume of crude oil on board (up to four times the amount spilled from the Exxon Valdez) could lead to a severe ecological disaster. At time of publishing, the fires aboard the Sounion were extinguished, with a potential disaster from this vessel averted.

The environmental concern associated with the Sounion was similar to the threat posed by the decaying floating storage and offloading facility Safer off Yemen’s coast in 2020, the response to which NOAA scientists supported. With about one million barrels aboard, Safer threatened an environmental and humanitarian catastrophe by risking pristine reefs, coastal mangroves, and other sea life across the Red Sea; exposing millions of people to pollution; and cutting off food, fuel, and other life-saving supplies.

Earlier in 2024, NOAA scientists from OR&R and National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science also supported the response to the 563-foot bulk carrier M/V Rubymar, which sustained damage from a Houthi missile strike in the Red Sea. NOAA determined the potential effects from an uncontrolled release of the 21,000 metric tons of ammonium phosphate sulfate fertilizer aboard the Rubymar.

In support of the Philippines government, the U.S. National Response Team (NRT) mobilized a seven-person team, composed of six U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) specialists and one from NOAA’s Office of Response and Restoration (OR&R), to provide subject matter expertise in various areas of spill response. An OR&R biologist already located in the Philippines also supported the NRT.

Prior to the specialists’ deployment, OR&R provided remote support to the University of Philippines Marine Science Institute, which was using modeling tools within the General NOAA Operational Modeling Environment (GNOME) suite to estimate the fate and transport of the seeping oil. Once specialists were in-country, OR&R provided hybrid training and support to assist other Philippine agencies and organizations using GNOME for spill modeling, including the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) Marine Science Investigation Force (MSIF) and the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration.

In addition, the NOAA team compiled and provided the Philippine Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources with seafood safety and associated outreach resources from authoritative U.S. and international sources, including NOAA, USCG, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the California Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, and ITOPF Limited. Resources included seafood sampling plans, toxicity levels of concern, and reopening protocols for closed fisheries.

As part of the response, the PCG conducted Shoreline Cleanup Assessment Technique (SCAT) in several areas impacted by oil. At PCG’s request, OR&R reviewed SCAT maps created by the PCG MSIF, offered recommendations related to the maps, and explained how to aggregate SCAT data for shoreline cleanup decisions. OR&R specialists demonstrated ERMA® (Environmental Response Management Application), the tool that NOAA uses as its Common Operating Picture (COP) for spill responses. OR&R provided guidance on how PCG could improve its COP tools and shared lessons learned from its own responses.

Cleanup endpoints—when a segment of oiled shoreline has received enough treatment—are an important milestone of any oil spill. The two OR&R response specialists conducted a presentation to MSIF staff located across the country on determining appropriate shoreline cleanup endpoints, shared examples that balance shoreline cleaning with minimal disturbance to native wildlife, and discussed the benefits of including environmental agencies in the development of endpoints. OR&R also offered to provide follow-up training documentation on endpoints and help in reviewing any endpoints that MSIF staff create for this spill. Before demobilizing on August 17, OR&R provided an exit brief to the U.S. Embassy, PCG District, and the PCG Commandant.

This October and November, NOAA OR&R, with funding from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), will provide oil spill training to members of the Philippine government environmental agencies, primarily the Department of Environment and Natural Resources. This training will focus on SCAT and provide instruction to prepare the Philippine government for future oil spill incidents.

As the response to this spill continues, NOAA remains 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.

August 8, 2024 — For the third year in a row, NOAA’s Office Response and Restoration (OR&R) and National Sea Grant College Program (Sea Grant) are partnering to support coastal communities to prepare for, respond to and recover from natural or human-caused disasters. A total of $791,395 in fiscal year 2024 federal funds is anticipated to support four projects over two years in Alaska, Connecticut, the Northern Gulf of Mexico region and South Carolina, focused on strengthening local disaster readiness and recovery in underserved communities. 

OR&R’s Disaster Preparedness Program coordinates current operational capabilities and facilitates knowledge from across the National Ocean Service and NOAA to ensure that commerce, communities and natural resources can recover as quickly as possible from all hazards. 

“The Disaster Preparedness Program is pleased to continue to support these projects in vulnerable coastal communities. While we cannot prevent disasters from happening, we can attempt to reduce their impacts. We believe these projects will provide the public with the additional resources needed to mitigate the impacts of potential coastal disasters,” said Kate Wheelock, Director of the Disaster Preparedness Program. 

Through the Disaster Preparedness Program’s support and partnership with Sea Grant, the four projects will ensure coastal communities are better equipped to move through the preparedness cycle efficiently, safely and effectively. Each project will take an individualized and localized approach to disaster preparedness:  

• Alaska Sea Grant will help create an innovative regional landslide warning system, bringing critical and lifesaving information to a severely underserved region. This project is an extension of work using models recently developed in Sitka, Alaska by the Sitka Sound Science Center in partnership with Central Council Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska and six communities in the region, which helps communities prepare for landslides and other geohazard events and prevent the loss of human life. This new project will extend that work by adding two additional communities that recently experienced fatal or disruptive landslides.
• Connecticut Sea Grant will develop an emergency preparedness programming, training and partnership platform to be piloted in the cities of Stamford, West Haven and New London that will provide preparedness instructions, supplies and companionship/ambassador training in support of aging residents and their caregivers. This project aims to ensure that vulnerable aging residents in coastal communities are properly equipped ahead of weather events and climate-induced hazard risks.
• In the Northern Gulf of Mexico (Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana), the Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium in partnership with Boat People SOS, will address risk communication gaps in Vietnamese-American communities. The project seeks to improve the ability of underrepresented communities to manage impacts from natural and human-caused disasters. Additionally, the project aims to increase awareness among weather communicators regarding the language and cultural barriers faced by Vietnamese-American communities. Researchers will equip weather communicators with strategies to effectively address gaps in their communication efforts.
• South Carolina Sea Grant Consortium will evaluate and enhance the resilience of Gullah communities—one historically marginalized group from South Carolina that is facing increased social vulnerabilities due to persistent flooding. The project aims to analyze the cultural, environmental and economic impacts of flooding on Gullah communities and seeks to understand the limitations of current strategies. The ultimate goal is to outline new adaptation approaches that respect Gullah traditions and promote culturally sensitive environmental resilience strategies.

See the full project descriptions on Sea Grant's website.

“As a trusted partner and broker of information in local communities, Sea Grant is uniquely positioned to help communities address disaster preparedness challenges in thoughtful, collaborative ways,” said Jonathan Pennock, Director of the National Sea Grant College Program. “This partnership with the Disaster Preparedness Program brings together the expertise of both programs to meaningfully contribute to coastal community resilience.”

In fiscal years 2022 and 2023, OR&R’s Disaster Preparedness Program and Sea Grant partnered on three and four competitively selected projects, respectively. Read more about the fiscal year 2022 projects and the fiscal year 2023 projects.

Fiscal year 2024 awards pending final approval and issuance.