A total of 34 students attended the class, representing a wide variety of federal agencies, such as the U.S. Coast Guard, NOAA, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as well as state agencies in Florida. Also participating were representatives from the University of Maritime in Szczecin, Poland; environmental consulting firm, CTEH; marine services company, Resolve Marine; and refined products pipeline company, Colonial Pipeline.

Among the topics covered in OR&R’s SOS class were oil chemistry, oil fate and transport, observations of oil, spill cleanup alternatives, damage assessment and restoration, and the history of oil spills.

The class was taught using a scenario-based exercise of a collision between a cargo vessel and tank barge in Mobile Bay. This scenario allowed the students to ask relevant science-based questions and put lectures into practice with in-class and field activities related to the scenario. Instructors accompanied the students on a field trip to Dauphin Island, where they were able to reinforce some of the lessons learned, discussing Shoreline Cleanup Assessment Technique (SCAT), marine ecology, and oil spill trajectories.

The class was led by the NOAA Scientific Support Coordinators for New Orleans, LA, Brandi Todd, and for Mobile, AL, Adam Davis. The extended OR&R instructor team included: oceanographer Dylan Righi; chemist and Director of the NOAA Disaster Response Center, Charlie Henry; biologist Nicolle Rutherford; OR&R chief scientist Lisa DiPinto; regional response coordinator Daniel Hahn; Environmental Response Management Application (ERMA®) developer George Marino; and facilitator Nickie Scillo.

OR&R extends a big “thank you” to several other subject-matter experts who presented on their particular field of expertise including representatives from Clean Gulf Associates, NOAA Fisheries’ Office of Protected Resources, and the Wildlife Response Network.

Early in the week, Nicolle Rutherford and Blair Englebrecht of OR&R’s Emergency Response Division had an opportunity to brief staffers—from Senator Roger Wicker’s office and Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith's office, both representing Mississippi—on the activities and accomplishments of OR&R and the Science of Oil Spills training that the office offers throughout the year. The next SOS class will be held in Seattle, Washington in June. More information can be found at OR&R’s 2024 training schedule.