When hurricanes push displaced boats into shipping channels or sensitive habitats, they need to be cleared out fast. NOAA uses the Environmental Response Management Application (ERMA®) to gather and display information about boats that are displaced during hurricanes so responders can efficiently address these threats. 

Learn more about ERMA and NOAA’s work with displaced vessels on our new story map.

For NOAA’s Office of Response and Restoration (OR&R), Fiscal Year 2019 was a year filled with new challenges and new achievements. In FY19: we provided scientific support for 133 pollution-related incidents (including a historic World War II tanker); we provided disaster coordination during the 2019 hurricane season through the Disaster Preparedness Program; we helped to settle seven pollution cases, resulting in $28 million for natural resource restoration; and we made major advances in data management. 

Each year, we put annual report as an overview of the efforts in oil and chemical spill response, shoreline restoration, marine debris reduction, and the many other tasks OR&R accomplished. These accomplishments show our dedication to science-based solutions for protecting and restoring natural resources from coastal hazards.

Find out more about OR&R’s work for the past fiscal year by viewing our 2019 Accomplishments Report.

"Scott [Lundgren] is an outstanding choice as our new director and I'm leaving OR&R in highly capable hands," said former director, David Westerholm, who retired last week. "Scott's range of experience, demonstrated leadership, environmental stewardship and compelling vision will serve as a solid foundation for OR&R. More importantly his commitment to our people will ensure this office always has a promising future."

Lundgren joined NOAA in 2015 as the chief of the Emergency Response Division — the group within OR&R that provides scientific support for preparedness and response to spills and other coastal emergencies. During his time as division chief, Lundgren led scientific support for preparedness for and response to over 600 significant spills and coastal incidents, including extensive response following recent hurricane seasons. 

Prior to NOAA, Lundgren served as a 23 year civilian employee of the Coast Guard in several environmental response and incident management positions from the field to headquarters. He was the senior technical advisor to the Coast Guard’s Marine Environmental Response program office and led the Coast Guard’s all hazards preparedness division. 

Lundgren lives with his wife and high school son in Fairfax, Virginia. Their daughter is currently a college sophomore in Boston. Lundgren holds a master’s degree in natural resources management and biology from Harvard University Extension School, a master’s degree in national security and strategic studies from the Naval War College, and a bachelor’s degree in biology and environmental studies from Tufts University.

“OR&R has been a key partner throughout my professional career. I was drawn to NOAA by the talent, passion, and knowledge of the OR&R team and my affinity for its mission. I’m excited to lead the range of OR&R roles, from oil and chemical spill response and restoration, marine debris, and disaster preparedness,” Lundgren said. “I am looking forward to getting to know the staff as well as our partners and stakeholders as we continue to advance and evolve OR&R’s capacity to provide important products and services that benefit the environment, the public, and the economy.”

A substantial amount of oil was discovered during an underwater assessment of the Coimbra in May 2019. The Coast Guard decided removal would be needed and scheduled operations to begin later that month. 

The Coimbra, a British tanker, was torpedoed and sunk during World War II by a German U-Boat in the Battle of the Atlantic on Jan. 15, 1942. The vessel is one of 87 wrecks prioritized for oil pollution risk in a 2010 NOAA study — a continuation of the Remediation of Underwater Legacy Environmental Threats (RULET) project, a joint effort with the Coast Guard to address threats from vessels sunk off U.S. shores that contain significant volumes of oil. These shipwrecks are routinely monitored, and the NOAA Satellite and Information Service Satellite Analysis Branch, has observed oil slicks over the years that showed the wreck was still actively leaking.

A unified command was set up to support the removal operations, which began on May 11, 2019. More than 100 government, industry, and environmental specialists are supporting the U.S. Coast Guard and New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, including NOAA’s Office of Response and Restoration and other NOAA offices. 

OR&R coordinated and participated in the collection of sheen samples over the last two years, including analysis of samples to help characterize the oil as bunker oil and lube oil. OR&R has also been providing oceanographic products, including potential trajectory analyses, in case any release occurred during the survey and removal process. OR&R also worked with NOAA’s Office of National Marine Sanctuaries to synthesize the available historical information on the wreck.

The Coimbra went down carrying approximately 2.7 millions gallons of lubricating oil, much of which was probably lost during initial sinking.  The amount of oil left was enough to pose a risk to natural resources, prompting the recent underwater intervention. Now, with as much as 99% of the remaining recoverable oil removed, the operations have prevented any major leak from occurring at this site. According to the latest Coast Guard press release, the wreck was largely left undisturbed and remains in place 30 miles offshore of Shinnecock, New York, serving as a natural reef for marine life. 

“The amount remaining in the vessel is very small and any sheening poses minimal risk to the local environment and no risk to the shoreline,” said Steve Lehmann, OR&R senior scientific support coordinator, in the release. 

For more information and to stay up to date on the Coimbra RULET project, visit the Incident News link here. 

The Duwamish River has been a hazardous waste site since the mid-1900s. Though it was once a wide, meandering river with large areas of mudflats and marshes, by the 1940s the 9-mile estuary had transformed into a 5-mile industrial waterway — destroying 97% of the original habitat. 

The river is still highly developed, with many industrial and commercial facilities lining its banks. Hazardous substances have been released since the early 1900s, resulting in injuries to fish, birds, wildlife, and their habitats. 

Cleanup operations for the river are ongoing, and will continue for many years. Though the cleanup is not yet over, NOAA and its various partners in government and industry have already begun working on restoration efforts to compensate for the lost natural resources.

To help tell the story of this important urban river — from its polluted history to the restoration projects that promise a cleaner future — OR&R, with help from last year's summer intern Kavya Varkey, has put together a new story map. To learn more, view the new story map here. 

The Coimbra was a British supply ship during WWII that was torpedoed and sunk by a German U-boat in the Battle of the Atlantic. The vessel now sits 180 feet below the surface about 30 miles off the coast of Shinnecock, New York. The Coimbra went down carrying 2.7 million gallons of oil. In 2015, NOAA’s National Environmental Satellite Data and Information Service (NESDIS) discovered abnormalities at the wreck site that appeared to be an oil sheen.

Oil sheens have been reported at the site with growing frequency. The Coast Guard determined that the Coimbra posed a substantial threat to the environment and opened the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund for an underwater assessment.

Deep-water divers continue to drill into the ship using a process called hot tapping in order to extract oil samples and determine the best removal process. Initial dive operations began earlier this month and will continue over the next few weeks until all the recoverable oil is removed and the tanker no longer poses an environmental threat.

“There are a lot of moving parts to this one operation in order to safely remove the oil product in the tanks that far below the surface,” said Cmdr. Keith Donohue, the on-scene federal incident commander, in a Coast Guard press release. “Each person aboard the Shelia Bordelon has a very specific role to play in these daily movements, whether it is a diver working on the wreck itself, to the dive supervisors keeping a close eye on his particular diver, to the those working with the salvaged piece of hull so that we can determine the best way to drill into the tanks, extract the oil and have as minimal impact on the maritime environment as possible.”

OR&R's Steve Lehmann is providing scientific support to the mission from the region. OR&R’s Emergency Response Division continues to provide trajectories in case a spill should occur during the operation.

The U.S. Coast Guard announced in a press release last month that an underwater assessment would be conducted to determine the possibility of oil removal operations on the Coimbra. The Coast Guard contracted Resolve Marine Group to conduct a full assessment of oil remaining on the Coimbra wreck. A substantial amount of oil was discovered during an assessment on Tuesday, May 7, and the Coast Guard said removal operations would take place prior to the end of May.

A British supply ship during World War II, the Coimbra was torpedoed and sunk by a German U-boat in the Battle of the Atlantic on Jan. 15, 1942. The vessel went down carrying approximately 2.7 million gallons of lubricating oil. Though most of the oil is thought to have spilled or burned immediately following the incident, divers have reported sheens appearing near the wreck site over the years. After a recreational diver surfaced reportedly covered in oil from the area, scientists began to suspect the leak was getting worse.

The Coimbra is one of 87 wrecks prioritized for oil pollution risk in a 2010 NOAA study — a continuation of the Remediation of Underwater Legacy Environmental Threats (RULET) project, a joint effort with the Coast Guard to address threats from vessels sunk off U.S. shores that contain significant volumes of oil. After looking into about 20,000 known shipwrecks, the two agencies identified the 87 high level risk wrecks. Those sites are routinely monitored by the NOAA Satellite and Information Service Satellite Analysis Branch.

OR&R coordinated and participated in the collection of sheen samples over the last two years, including analysis of the samples to help characterize the oils as bunker oil and lube oil. OR&R has also been providing oceanographic products, including potential trajectory analyses, in case any releases occurred during the survey process.

After extensive planning supported by OR&R and other NOAA programs, The Coast Guard and partners contracted Resolve Marine Group for assessment and potential subsequent oil removal on April 28, 2019. On Tuesday, May 7, the incident command reported that a substantial amount of oil on board was available for mitigation.

The Coast Guard reported that oil was found in at least eight of the vessel’s tanks, though the total amount of oil remaining is still unknown. Divers found that the oil was discharging slowly from a pinhole leak in one of the tanks and dissipating before reaching the shore. Of six intact cargo tanks that were hot tapped — a process in which divers drill into the ship using special equipment designed to handle the displacement of liquids and other underwater complications— four contained significant quantities with three of them having 6 feet of cargo. Oil removal operations will help to resolve the risk of a major spill and its effects on trust resources.

In a press conference on Thursday, May 9,Capt. Kevin Reed, commander of Coast Guard Sector Long Island Sound, said, “Starting in 2015 the Coast Guard began receiving pollution reports from the National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service via NOAA. Those notices showed anomalies that appeared to be an oil sheen in the vicinity of the Coimbra wreck. I used this information to determine that Coimbra poses a substantial threat to the environment, and opened the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund to complete an assessment of the vessel.”

“We established a Unified Command between the U.S. Coast Guard and New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. Through the use of ROV [remotely operated underwater vehicle] we were able to identify a pinhole leak. We were assessing the tanks and then would determine the amount of recoverable oil that is inside of each tank that we are probing. Then we will be moving to the recovery phase.”

NOAA support and assessment to this removal is ongoing. In addition to the Office of Response and Restoration’s involvement in this incident, other NOAA offices have been essential in this project, including the National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS), which has leveraged the use of their recent agreement with Canada for greater satellite coverage during the operation. The Office of National Marine Sanctuaries also worked on the original RULET project and helped to gather historical information about the Coimbra and other wrecks. OR&R was also supported by the National Weather Service Ocean Prediction Center with detailed spot forecasts critical for offshore operations, and the National Marine Fisheries Service provided environmental consultations.

For more information and to stay up to date on the Coimbra RULET project, visit the Incident News link here.

According to a Coast Guard press release, the tug was transporting two barges — each loaded with about 25,000 barrels of gasoline blend stock. The official amount released from the Kirby is believed to be about 9,000 barrels, or 378,000 gallons. The Genesis River was loaded with butane and propane, but was not reported to be spilling any petroleum cargo.

The Coast Guard established a Unified Command with the Texas General Land Office and Kirby Inland Marine on Friday. OR&R’s Emergency Response Division has provided weather, trajectory, resources at risk, and hazard analysis products and preliminary discussion and scoping efforts have begun to assess environmental impacts. The Unified Command has also been conducting air sampling and is responding to citizen questions about air quality and potential health risks from exposure to the spilled material. 

Shoreline Cleanup Assessment Technique (SCAT) teams continue to check for areas where oil may have reached the shore. OR&R’s Assessment and Restoration Division has also sent staff on scene to begin assessing the damage to natural resources in the area. There are reports of wildlife impacts and a sizeable fish kill was reported.

As of Sunday, May 13, the sheens in the waterway near the damaged barge were significantly reduced from the day before. Operations to transfer cargo to another vessel began yesterday. The capsized barge is still intact with no visible sheening. Some of the darker oil near the barge Kirby and along the shoreline is being recovered.

Doug Helton, operations coordinator for OR&R’s Emergency Response Division, said the operations to empty and refloat the capsized barge will be challenging due to the barge’s double hull and its current position. The barge is upside down, with all the hatches and vents now grounded in the mud at the bottom of the bay adjacent to the shipping channel. The oil is also highly flammable, and responders will have to approach the tanks with extreme caution to avoid an explosive reaction.

A Unified Command press release stated that 334 federal, state, and local response personnel are engaged in planning and implementing response and cleanup operations. Eight skimmers are in operation and more than 20,000 feet of product containment and absorbent boom have been deployed to limit further contamination.

Update: As of Wednesday, May 15, the two barges were successfully removed from the Houston Ship Channel. The estimated spill volume from the damaged barge was increased to 11,276 barrels (473,600 gallons). 

The Port of Houston-Galveston has reopened the Houston Ship Channel without restrictions and normal vessel traffic has resumed. Air monitoring is ongoing as the scene of the incident, and skimming operations are also ongoing to collect product from the sheen at the site. Water quality sampling is being conducted and environmental samples of discharged product are being analyzed. 

OR&R is continuing to provide trajectory information for potential discharges of product remaining in the damaged barge. NOAA is also assisting with the shoreline survey efforts and characterization of the spilled materials. 

Team members spent time discussing future activities and evaluating new opportunities for the coming fiscal year. The DPP team will work to finalize the FY20 operational plan in the coming months, including reaching out to folks across NOS and NOAA to solidify partnership activities and projects for FY20. Many thanks to everyone who provided input to the pre-meeting survey. Every last bit of input was evaluated. The DPP is the newest division level program in the NOAA Office of Response and Restoration (OR&R) and includes the DRC in Mobile, AL. Together, the DPP and the DRC help NOS prepare for disasters of all kinds, nationwide.

If you would like to learn more about the DPP, please contact Kate.Wheelock@noaa.gov.

Return to OR&R Weekly Report.

Alaska Shield 2019 is sponsored by the Alaska Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, with a grant from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency. Representatives from local, state, federal, tribal, non-governmental and private sector organizations participated in the exercise.

As stated in the Alaska Shield 2019 Exercise Plan, the overall purpose of the exercise was to, “Capitalize on lessons learned and further refine prevention, protection, response and recovery partnerships in response to a homeland security event.  Utilize the whole community approach to evaluate current response plans and capabilities.”   

For the NOAA communications component, Amy Holman (in Alaska) remotely led Seattle-based communicators Marjorie Mooney-Seus of the Alaska Fisheries Science Center; Crescent Moegling of the Office of Coast Survey; Vicki Loe of the Office of Response and Restoration; and Juneau based NMFS Alaska Region PIO Julie Speegle in a four-hour session, developing hypothetical actions including responses to injects and crafting an initial press release and social media. The group determined when and who to contact (had this been a real emergency) in NOAA leadership as well as involving the NOAA headquarters communications team in Washington, D.C.

Amy and her team will regroup for a call to discuss how well the NOAA regional group did in the initial stage of the hypothetical disaster.

For further information, contact Vicki.Loe@noaa.gov.

Return to OR&R Weekly Report.

APRIL 8, 2019 — On March 28, the U.S. Coast Guard notified NOAA that a container vessel’s hull was damaged during heavy sea conditions when a container fell from the deck — losing between 12 and 16 containers and resulting in the release of an unknown amount of #6 bunker fuel in the Arthur Kill waterway.

The crew of the Dublin Express observed an oil sheen as the vessel was docking. Areas along the shore of Elizabeth, New Jersey were impacted. The Coast Guard requested a trajectory for the release.

Shoreline cleanup assessment technique (SCAT) teams found tar balls on the shoreline along rockaway Beach on March 31. According to a Coast Guard press release, the vessel was carrying approximately 300,000 gallons of fuel. After evaluating the data collected on board, the Coast Guard believes that up to 100,000 gallons of heavy fuel-oil was released by the vessel throughout the time it was traveling along the East Coast to New York. The fuel spilled from a 15-inch hole in one of the fuel tanks.

“This response was a joint effort between state and federal agencies and the responsible party,” said Capt. Jason Tama, federal on-scene coordinator, in the release. “We take any release of oil into the maritime environment extremely seriously, and we are thankful for the quick and efficient response from all agencies involved.”

The Dublin Express has been cleaned, repaired, and approved for departure. NOAA trajectories do not predict further impacts at this time. The cause of the incident remains under investigation by the U.S. Coast Guard.

Jason Murray’s first project when he came to NOAA in 2014 was to help finalize the natural resource damage assessment (NRDA) for Deepwater Horizon — the 2010 oil spill that released millions of barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. Luckily, Jason is adept at working on complex and sensitive tasks. His career as an environmental economist spans from academia, to research diving expeditions in Central America, and circles back to the Mid-Atlantic.  

Jason grew up on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, sailing and exploring the Chesapeake Bay with his father who he describes as “deeply obsessed with fishing.” He and his family enjoyed fishing and sailing, which helped inspire his early love of nature.

Jason attended the University of Virginia, graduating with degrees in math and economics in 2001. He earned his doctorate in economics from the University of California San Diego in 2007. Throughout his studies Jason worked on marine resource economic research projects, specifically bioeconomic modeling.

Bioeconomics incorporates ecological science into economic models to better represent real world processes. This allows for a more nuanced understanding of the relationships between people and the environment. These ideas are a recurring theme in Jason’s work.

Jason’s passion for the marine environment also took him into the field. In 2004 he joined the National Science Foundation Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship program in marine biodiversity and conservation at the famous Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

Over the duration of a summer course, he met leading marine ecologists and laid the foundations for many professional collaborations. Jason also trained as a scientific diver at Scripps, working on interdisciplinary research projects in Mexico and Belize.

In 2007 Jason returned to the Atlantic coast, this time as faculty at the University of South Carolina working jointly with the university’s business and environment schools. He was able to influence young minds to think holistically about environmental issues.

His research publications focused on fisheries management, ecosystem service valuation, the benefits of marine protected areas, and the economics of mangrove ecosystems in Mexico. In both his teaching and research, Jason asked important questions about the relationships between human and ecological systems.

This brings us to 2014, when Jason first came to NOAA’s Assessment and Restoration Division (ARD), where he found himself in the intense closing stages of Deepwater Horizon’s natural resource damage assessment. The historic $8.8 billion settlement was approved on April 4, 2016, almost six years to the day after the oil rig explosion, for restoration projects in the Gulf of Mexico.

Based in Silver Spring, Maryland in suburban Washington, D.C., he gets to work on cases both across the country and close to home and is currently assisting in more than 20 marine pollution assessment cases.

Recently Jason celebrated his second settlement in a case he was involved with, the first since Deepwater Horizon. The 68th Street Dump in Baltimore, was a unique urban pollution case, and used innovative restoration methods in its planning. The restoration plan scaled urban trash input to tidal wetlands, and involved marine debris removal methods. Jason believes this project sets a good example for supporting marine debris projects as NRDA restoration.

“What I love most about my job are the many different roles and tasks, it never gets boring,” Jason said. “At the end of the day, our work is a concrete physical improvement to natural ecosystems, and a benefit to the American public.”

Coming to work at NOAA brought Jason full-circle, back to the Mid-Atlantic. He lives in Petworth, Washington D.C. with his wife Tiffany, and their 15-month-old son, Bear. They enjoy living close to extended family. In his free time he enjoys cooking, smoking meats, and spending time near the water with his family.

MARCH 27, 2019 — On March 17, 2019, the U.S. Coast Guard notified NOAA’s Office of Response and Restoration about a tank farm fire at the Intercontinental Terminals Company (ITC) Deer Park facility near Houston. The Environmental Protection Agency is the federal on-scene coordinator for the incident. EPA has conducted, and continues to conduct, ground level air monitoring. Emergency responders extinguished the fires.

OR&R’s scientific support coordinator for the region has been on scene to provide support to the Unified Command that consists of the EPA, Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, Harris County Pollution Control Services, ITC, and U.S. Coast Guard on chemical properties, response options, and resources at risk. Other NOAA team members have provided weather, modeling, and chemistry support. OR&R is also coordinating with other state and federal agencies to assess potential impacts to natural resources.

Thirty years ago on March 24, 1989, the Exxon Valdez oil spill occurred. It was America's largest oil spill at the time, and is largely credited with the passage of the Oil Pollution Act.

But it was not the only big spill of 1989. Between June 23 and 24, three different oil tankers accidentally poured their cargo into U.S. coastal waters.

Explore this story map to learn about how the spills of 1989 influenced the work that NOAA does today to respond to and restore the environment after oil spills.

In addition to this month’s training events in Hagatna, Guam and at NOAA’s Disaster Response Center in Mobile, Alabama, OR&R is planning for the following training events over the next few months. We encourage you to apply!

In Seattle, Washington, OR&R’s popular Science of Oil Spills (SOS) training will be offered the week of June 3. In the Great Lakes region (Independence, Ohio), the last SOS class of the fiscal year will be offered the week of July 22. Interested applicants should use the SOS Application Form to apply.

For those who respond to chemical and hazardous materials spills, Science of Chemical Releases (SOCR) training will be hosted the week of June 17 in Seattle. Use the SOCR Application Form to apply for this training.

Charleston, South Carolina will be the venue for a NOAA-Specific ICS-300 training on April 23-25, hosted by the NOS Disaster Preparedness Program for NOAA employees only. Unlike other ICS-300 courses, this class includes key information about NOAA’s authorities and responsibilities relative to preparedness, emergency response, resilience, and recovery activities for major incidents and natural disasters.

Finally, in Wells, Maine, at the Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve, OR&R will host training in Shoreline Cleanup Assessment Technique (SCAT). The training will be held May 13-16. Each SCAT class is coordinated and conducted by the NOAA Scientific Support Coordinator (SSC) for a given region, in response to a request from the U.S. Coast Guard. SCAT classes are generally fairly small, and primarily filled with Federal and State responders, with some limited participation from industry. If you are interested in taking the training, please contact the scientific support coordinator for your region.
 

For more information, contact Kimberly.Albins@noaa.gov.

When people look out on the Great Lakes for the first time, they often compare them to the ocean. In some ways the analogy works. The five Laurentian Great Lakes are incredibly vast, when you stand on the shore of Lake Superior there’s nothing but steely blue water until the lake meets the horizon. If all you saw was a photo, you could mistake it for the ocean.

But comparing the Great Lakes to the ocean is like comparing sand to snow, it overlooks their fundamental differences. The Great Lakes are incredibly unique. They are in fact a singular body of water. They’re home to a rich diversity of life, and account for a fifth of all freshwater on the surface of the planet.

Lake Superior is the largest, deepest, and oldest of the five. It fueled the growth of industry and transportation in otherwise remote communities of northern Minnesota, and connects the United States and Canada. It’s an incredibly important environmental, cultural, and economic resource.

As far back as 800 A.D, long before the colonization of what is now America, the ancestors of the present day Chippewa (Ojibwe) people lived on the shores of Lake Superior. The Ojibwe name for Fond du Lac, a band of the Lake Superior Chippewa, is “Nagaajiwanaang” which means “where the water stops” — similar to the French translation “the foot, or the bottom, of the lake.” The Fond du Lac Reservation in Duluth, Minnesota was established in 1854 and today includes over 4,200 members.

The Saint Louis estuary, where the Saint Louis River meets Lake Superior, used to sustain 2,000 to 3,000 acres of wild rice. Wild rice was one of the most important sources of food for the Ojibwe people, and remains an integral source of cultural heritage.

Unfortunately, as result of historical industrial operations along the St. Louis River, numerous hazardous chemicals were released into the environment. Activities at the site have included coking plants, tar and chemical companies, the production of pig iron, and meat-packing.

The contaminated sediments had long lasting negative impacts on the freshwater environment. Fish, invertebrates, and aquatic plants were damaged. Recreational fishing and swimming were discouraged for human health concerns. Wild rice in the estuary was almost wiped out.

But the story doesn’t end here. In 1983 the Saint Louis River/Interlake/ Duluth Tar site was listed as a Superfund site on the National Priorities List. NOAA and other trustees, including the Fond du Lac Band, came together to undertake a Natural Resource Damage Assessment and draft restoration plans.

Our office is accepting applications for the following classes:

• Science of Oil Spills (SOS) training to be held in Seattle, Washington the week of June 3, 2019: The application period for this class will be open through April 12. Applicants will be notified of their acceptance status by April 26.
   
• Science of Chemical Releases (SOCR) training to be held in Seattle, Washington the week of June 17, 2019: The application period for this class will be open through April 26. Applicants will be notified of their acceptance status by May 10.

SOS classes are designed to help spill responders and planners increase their understanding of oil spill science when analyzing spills and making risk-based decisions to protect public health, safety, and the environment.

The class offers a broad, science-based approach to understanding the framework for spill responses for the purpose of increasing awareness and preparedness, and reducing uncertainty and risk associated with these types of incidents

SOCR classes are primarily intended for new and mid-level spill responders, planners, and stakeholders from government and public agencies. Upon completion of the class, students will be able to demonstrate increased awareness and preparedness by employing science-based decision-making in planning for and responding to chemical incidents.

Both classes will be held at NOAA's Western Regional Center in Seattle.

By Donna L. Roberts, Office of Response and Restoration

Catherine Berg is a wildlife biologist who joined OR&R’s Emergency Response Division in 2013. As the Scientific Support Coordinator (SSC) for Alaska, she serves as NOAA’s principal technical adviser to the federal on-scene coordinator during spill responses.

Prior to joining OR&R, Catherine worked for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Alaska for 30 years, serving much of that time in the Environmental Contaminants Division, focusing on wildlife response,  natural resource damage assessment, and oil spill response issues.

Catherine’s first oil spill was the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in Prince William Sound, where she primarily worked with oiled and dead animals being brought from the field to the rehab unit or the wildlife morgue. It was an impactful start to her career. Since that time, she has been part of the Alaska spill response and planning community, becoming a well-known point of contact for the protection and recovery of oiled wildlife in Alaska and other environments.

Getting from A to B

Working as an SSC in Alaska has its differences from the lower 48. Besides having to deal with a harsher climate and different dangers in response work in Alaska, Catherine points out that a major difference is the daunting logistical challenges. In Alaska, responders are rarely able to drive to a spill. Because of the remoteness of this region, she almost always travels by aircraft or boat, and sometimes both. For example, in February 2018, a spill of crude oil into Shuyak Strait resulted when a rubber fuel bladder fell from a pier structure in bad weather. To get to this spill, Catherine first took a commercial flight from Anchorage to Kodiak, then a float plane to the spill site about 50 miles north, then lived and worked from a vessel while she was deployed.

Rich Rewards

Luckily, there are numerous rewards to her work in Alaska. She particularly enjoys the collaboration that is required when numerous agencies (local, state, federal, tribal units, and industry) work to agree—based on the available science—how best to respond to different spill situations. As a group, they must consider the ecological risk, as well as the economic aspects, of various response options based on varying spill conditions and locations.

Among these efforts was a Response Technology Adoption Workshop with Alaska’s Oil Spill Recovery Institute in 2015, in which the group focused on the process involved in getting new spill technologies from concept to market. This involved developing a framework to understand whether a new spill response technology was ready to be applied to actual spills, and to determine whether that technology has the potential to reach commercialization.

Also rewarding are the opportunities to travel and participate in spill exercises/drills and trainings in Alaska, across the U.S., and in foreign countries. She regularly participates in joint exercises with Canada and equipment deployment exercises. In 2017, she joined the original veterinary team from the Exxon Valdez oil spill to test the functionality of a modular sea otter rehabilitation facility—including set up, testing, and repair of the 20 shipping containers making up the facility, and demonstration of techniques for receiving, evaluating, weighing, sedating, cleaning, drying, and attending to oiled sea otters—using mock otters.

Similarly, in 2017, Catherine participated in the simulation of an oil pipeline leak in the Beaufort Sea. Part of the exercise tested whether the group could rescue a (simulated) oil-injured polar bear—tranquilizing it, pulling it from the water, cleaning it, and caging it before it “woke up.”