JUNE 10, 2019 — During the week of June 3, NOAA OR&R staff held their annual Science of Oil Spills (SOS) training in Seattle, Washington at NOAA’s Western Regional Center.

JUNE 10, 2019 — The week of June 3, OR&R’s Assessment and Restoration Division partnered with the Hudson River Estuary Program/Hudson River National Estuarine Research Reserve at the Great Fish Count at Lemon Creek Park in Staten Island.

JUNE 3, 2019 — OR&R’s Emergency Response Division Chief, Scott Lundgren, met with the leadership of the American Salvage Association (ASA) on May 23.

JUNE 3, 2019 — On May 28, Marine Debris Program (MDP) staff participated in the Virginia Stormwater and Litter workshop held in Woodbridge, Virginia.

JUNE 3, 2019 — On May 21 and 22, the Marine Debris Program (MDP) hosted more than 65 partners for the Florida Marine Debris Reduction Workshop at the Nova Southeastern University Guy Harvey Oceanographic Center in Hollywood, Florida.

JUNE 3, 2019 — The U.S. Department of the Interior’s International Technical Assistance Program (ITAP) together with the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Commercial Law Development Program (CLDP) played host to the government of Argentina in New Orleans, Louisiana, on May 22-24 as part of its continued engagement on sustainable oil and gas sector development, as supported by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Energy Resources (DOS/ENR).

MAY 28, 2019 — NOAA Scientific Support Coordinator LCDR Jim Rosenberg participated in an oil spill response exercise in partnership with the U.S. Coast Guard, Washington Department of Ecology, and the British Columbia Ministry of Environment in the Strait of Juan de Fuca on May 22.

MAY 28, 2019 — In early May, members of the CAMEO® software team attended the National Association of SARA Title III Program Officials (NASTTPO) conference to discuss CAMEO’s chemical emergency software and gain insights on the current needs and situations of planners across the nation.

MAY 28, 2019 — To best prepare experts for oil spills where sea turtles could be impacted, NOAA has released “Guidelines for Oil Spill Response and Natural Resource Damage Assessment: Sea Turtles.”

MAY 28, 2019 — Oceanographers Christopher Barker and Dylan Righi visited the responders at the Sección de Respuesta a Emergencias (Emergency Response Section), ACP (Panama Canal Authority) May 21-23 to provide training and support for an updated version of NOAA's General NOAA Operational Modeling Environment (GNOME) model for the Panama Canal.

MAY 28, 2019 —OR&R staff from the Emergency Response Division (ERD) and the Assessment and Restoration Division (ARD) participated in Chevron’s 2019 Preparedness for Response Exercise Program (PREP) exercise this week held in Covington, Louisiana.

MAY 20, 2019 —On May 13 and 14 OR&R participated in a coastal protection workshop conducted in coastal city of Tuy Hoa, Vietnam, as part of Pacific Partnership 2019.

MAY 20, 2019 — Oil removal operations continue on the sunken World War II tanker near Long Island, New York that the U.S. Coast Guard confirmed to be leaking during an underwater assessment last month. More than 62,000 gallons of oil has been removed from the tanks of the Coimbra since pumping operations began on May 11, 2019.

MAY 20, 2019 — On May 14-16, LT Michael E. Doig attended the Great Lakes Regional Collaboration Team (GLRCT) Meeting in Madison, Wisconsin.

  MAY 20, 2019 — On April 11, OR&R’s Emergency Response Division Chief Scott Lundgren and Senior Scientist Lisa DiPinto attended the Arctic Domain Awareness Center (ADAC) Annual Meeting at U.S. Coast Guard Headquarters. 

MAY 20, 2019 — On May 13, the Marine Debris Program staff, Steve Morrison, participated in a meeting between the United States government (USG) and government officials from the Republic of Korea (ROK), led by their Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to discuss US/ROK collaborative work under the Korea/US Free Trade Agreement (KORUS).

MAY 20, 2019 — Steve Morrison is the lead for international activities and partnership coordination for the Marine Debris Program (MDP) and works in the Silver Spring office.

MAY 13, 2019 — After ongoing underwater assessment, the U.S. Coast Guard will be removing oil that has reportedly been leaking from a sunken World War II tanker near Long Island, New York.

MAY 13, 2019 — The Disaster Preparedness Program (DPP) has started planning for FY2020! DPP staff gathered at the Disaster Response Center (DRC) May 7-9 for an FY2020 operational planning meeting.

MAY 13, 2019 — On May 1, the Marine Debris Program’s Gulf of Mexico Regional Coordinator, Caitlin Wessel, worked with the Weeks Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve and the beachfront towns of Orange Beach and Gulf Shores, Alabama to educate their summer employees about marine debris issues through a one-day class.

MAY 13, 2019 — On April 30 and May 1, partners representing organizations in Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia gathered at the Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office in Gloucester, Massachusetts to finalize the Gulf of Maine Marine Debris Action Plan, which aims to coordinate efforts to prevent, study, and remove marine debris.

MAY 13, 2019 — On May 9, the U.S. Coast Guard hosted a joint press conference to discuss the ongoing operations at the wreck site of a sunken WWII Tanker near Long Island, New York.

MAY 6, 2019 — Lieutenant Commander Jim Rosenberg re-joined OR&R in April. He is the new scientific support coordinator for the Northwest Continental U.S.

MAY 6, 2019 — On April 9, OR&R’s biological oceanographer Dr. Carl Childs from the Emergency Response Division attended a colloquium on “Microbial Genomics of the Global Ocean System” on April 9-10, 2019. The event was a part of the ongoing Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative’s Legacy and Synthesis effort to consolidate scientific research that followed the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

MAY 6, 2019 — On April 16-17, Sarah Latshaw, Southeast regional coordinator for the Marine Debris Program, and Raishan Peterson, grants management specialist with the NOAA Grants Management Division, visited the Georgia Department of Natural Resources (GA DNR) office in Brunswick, Georgia.

MAY 6, 2019 — During the summer of 2017, the Caribbean was pounded and devastated by two major hurricanes (Irma and Maria). Two years later, recovery continues. With the 2019 official hurricane season nearing, a NOAA Regional Preparedness Training Workshop was held in San Juan, Puerto Rico April 23-25, 2019.

APRIL 26, 2019 — On April 24, Brad Benggio, of OR&R’s Emergency Response Division, and Dan Hahn of the Assessment and Restoration Division, presented at the Sea Grant Oil Spill Science Workshop: How does science guide oil spill response? Collaborating before, during and after a spill in St. Petersburg, Florida.

APRIL 26, 2019 — On April 16-18, Adam Davis, LT Michael Doig, and Ed Levine attended the Clean Waterways conference in Cincinnati, Ohio.

APRIL 19, 2019 — On April 16-18, 2019, staff from NOAA’s Assessment and Restoration Division, NOAA’s Restoration Center, and NOAA’s Office of General Counsel for Natural Resources participated in the biannual Texas Trustee Summit held in Port Aransas, Texas.

APRIL 18, 2019 — On April 10, Marine Debris Program California Regional Coordinator, Sherry Lippiatt, was the invited speaker for the Sonoma Valley Rotary Club luncheon.

APRIL 19, 2019 — On April 10, Amy Holman, NOAA Regional Coordinator for Alaska led a remote NOAA communications exercise in support of Alaska Shield, a tri-annual state-wide emergency response exercise.

APRIL 19, 2019 — On April 10, Amy Holman, NOAA Regional Coordinator for Alaska led a remote NOAA communications exercise in support of Alaska Shield, a tri-annual state-wide emergency response exercise.

APRIL 12, 2019 — On April 3-5, OR&R’s LT Michael Doig and LT Joshua Valdivia, of the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) provided spill response training for USCG Sector Buffalo.

APRIL 12, 2019 — On April 9 and 10, the Marine Debris Program (MDP) hosted a workshop in Silver Spring, Maryland, for divisions across the Office of Response and Restoration (OR&R) to better understand roles and responsibilities both during and outside of emergency response.

APRIL 5, 2019 — During the week of March 25, NOAA OR&R staff held their annual Science of Oil Spill (SOS) training in Mobile, Alabama at NOAA’s Gulf of Mexico Disaster Response Center.

APRIL 5, 2019 — At the request of U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) Sector Puget Sound's Incident Management Division, OR&R personnel facilitated a group exercise at the USCG Air Station in Port Angeles, Washington on April 3.

APRIL 5, 2019 — OR&R Restoration staff participated in U.S. Coast Guard, Sector Juneau’s National Preparedness for Response Exercise Program (PREP) full scale exercise in Juneau, Alaska.

MARCH 29, 2019 — On March 23, the NOAA Marine Debris Program’s Florida and Caribbean regional coordinator, Charles Grisafi, participated in the fifth “Ghost Trap Rodeo” event in Tampa, Florida.

MARCH 29, 2019 — This week, leveraging our longstanding relationship with the Coastal Response Research Center at the University of New Hampshire, OR&R’s senior scientist collaborated with researchers from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, the Environmental Protection Agency, Water Mapping LLC, and Sea Scan MK2 ECA Group on a project to calibrate various sensors under development for detecting and characterizing oil in the water column.

MARCH 29, 2019 — The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service held a Northeast (Region 5) freshwater mussel workshop at the Virginia Commonwealth University, Rice Rivers Center, in Charles City, Virginia from March 18 to March 20.

MARCH 22, 2019 — Working under the 2001 Memorandum of Agreement between the National Response Team and the Panama Canal Authority (in Spanish – Authoridad del Canal de Panama - ACP), OR&R’s Emergency Response Division (ERD) is collaborating to update the hydrography of the Canal Zone for trajectory model analysis.

MARCH 22, 2019 — On March 7 and 8, Dr. Chris Barker, an oceanographer with OR&R who develops and operates our oil and chemical spill models, joined Emergency Response Division Chief Scott Lundgren in visits with several NOAA and interagency partners to ensure familiarity with our products and services including model development plans and to discuss partner initiatives and interests.

Genwest Contractor, Katie Krushinski is the exercise coordinator for OR&R’s Disaster Preparedness Program. She is responsible for supporting exercise design, development, delivery, and evaluation for exercises. Exercises — or simulated scenarios that mimic potential events — are extremely important, allowing us and our partners to test our ability to ensure we can carry out our missions effectively and efficiently.

MARCH 15, 2019 — On March 12-13, representatives of the Oregon marine debris community convened for the 2019 Oregon Marine Debris Action Plan Workshop.

MARCH 15, 2019 — The OR&R Disaster Preparedness Program (DPP), established just over a year ago, is fully staffed and moving full steam ahead.

MARCH 15, 2019 — On March 9, 2019, the Marine Debris Program’s Gulf of Mexico Regional Coordinator, Caitlin Wessel, attended the Mobile Baykeeper’s post-Mardi Gras cleanup on One Mile Creek in downtown Mobile, Alabama.

MARCH 8, 2019 — For the first time in over a decade, OR&R staff will host training for oil spill planners and responders in Hagatna, Guam on March 11.

MARCH 8, 2019 — OR&R staff and scientists are busy preparing for a number of upcoming trainings for the U.S. Coast Guard and other response partners.

MARCH 1, 2019 – If you are an oil or chemical spill responder or planner seeking spill response training, here are more upcoming opportunities!

MARCH 1, 2019 — Alyson Finn, a Genwest contractor, works as an Emergency Planning Specialist for OR&R’s Disaster Preparedness Program (DPP), based out of Silver Spring, Maryland. 

MARCH 1, 2019 — On February 26, the Marine Debris Program’s Northeast Regional Coordinator, Demi Fox, attended SWANApalooza, the Solid Waste Association of North America’s annual conference and trade show in Boston, Massachusetts.

FEBRUARY 22, 2019 — OR&R’s Assessment and Restoration Division's Northeast Branch participated in the Tenth International Conference on Remediation and Management of Contaminated Sediments held in New Orleans, Louisiana, on February 11-14.

FEBRUARY 22, 2019 — Each year, the Alaska Forum on the Environment brings together a diverse audience to discuss ongoing and emerging environmental issues such as contaminants, hazardous waste cleanup, hazardous materials management, and pollution prevention within Alaska’s many different communities and regions.

FEBRUARY 15, 2019 — On December 31, 2018, the Washington Coast Derelict Fishing Gear Removal Project came to a successful completion, meeting or exceeding its stated goals.

FEBRUARY 15, 2019 — On February 13, OR&R Deputy Director LaTonya Burgess announced the selection of Kate Wheelock to the position of the Disaster Preparedness Program Chief.

FEBRUARY 8, 2019 — The NOS Disaster Preparedness Program (DPP) is offering a NOAA-specific ICS-300 (Incident Command System) class on April 23-25 in Charleston, South Carolina, that meets the requirements of the National Incident Management System (NIMS) used by federal agencies during expanding incidents as required by Executive Order.

FEBRUARY 8, 2019 — The Office of Response and Restoration had strong participation in this year’s Gulf of Mexico Oil Spills and Ecosystem Science Conference (GOMOSES).

FEBRUARY 8, 2019 — On December 12 and 13, the NOAA Marine Debris Program collaborated with the Gulf of Mexico Alliance (GOMA) and the Environmental Protection Agency to host more than 40 partners at the GOMA Marine Debris Mid-year Meeting and Workshop.

FEBRUARY 8, 2019 — Lindsey Palardy is the Communications and Policy Specialist for NOAA’s Marine Debris Program.

DECEMBER 21, 2018 — On December 18, the Marine Debris Program announced the release of its “Texas Marine Debris Emergency Response Guide.”

DECEMBER 14, 2018 — From December 3-7, the Marine Debris Program’s Director, Nancy Wallace, represented OR&R at the United Nation’s second meeting of the Ad Hoc Open-Ended Expert Group on Marine Litter and Microplastics in Geneva, Switzerland.

DECEMBER 14, 2018 — This week in Silver Spring, Maryland, OR&R’s Disaster Preparedness Program (DPP) held a three day NOAA-Specific Incident Command System 300 Level Training (ICS 300).

DECEMBER 14, 2018 — From December 3-7, the Marine Debris Program’s science team met with FY17 Marine Debris Research Grant recipient, Dr. Beth Polidoro, at Arizona State University to learn about an exciting microplastics project.

DEC. 13, 2018 — NOAA’s Office of Response and Restoration has staff on scene near Port Sulphur, Louisiana following an equipment failure on a wellhead casing in the Lake Washington-Rattlesnake Bayou area. The U.S. Coast Guard notified OR&R of the failure on Sunday, Dec. 9.

DECEMBER 7, 2018 — The NOAA Damage Assessment, Remediation and Restoration Program (DARRP) sponsored the second in a series of workshops on Long Term Data Management in the Gulf of Mexico on December 4 – 6 at NOAA's Disaster Response Center in Mobile, Alabama.

DECEMBER 7, 2018 — On November 30, the Disaster Preparedness Program activated accountability procedures for NOS staff within the projected area of impact (below from ERMA*) for the 7.0 Alaska earthquake, including the coastal tsunami warning area.

NOVEMBER 30, 2018 — West Coast federal and state trustees and oil industry representatives convened in Portland, Oregon, for the West Coast Joint Assessment Team (JAT) meeting on November 27.

NOVEMBER 30, 2018 — OR&R staff participated in the biennial conference of the New York and New Jersey Harbor Estuary Program (HEP). 

NOVEMBER 30, 2018 — On November 16, the NOAA Marine Debris Program announced $17.2 million in grants to coastal states and territories impacted by Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria.

NOVEMBER 30, 2018 — OR&R’s Ken Finkelstein, Jim Turek of the National Marine Fisheries Service Restoration Center, and Grant Blumberg of NOAA’s General Counsel participated in a public meeting on November 19 in Stratford, Connecticut. 

This feature is part of a monthly series profiling scientists and technicians who provide exemplary contributions to the mission of NOAA’s Office of Response and Restoration (OR&R). This month’s featured scientist is Ed Levine, a scientific support coordinator and supervisor in OR&R’s Emergency Response Division.

NOVEMBER 16, 2018 — On November 3-10, Doug Helton and Catherine Berg from the OR&R's Emergency Response Division traveled with colleagues from the U.S. Coast Guard and the State of Alaska, to Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, Russia to participate in a "Seminar on Understanding Maritime Pollution Threats and Response Systems in the Russian Federation-United States Trans-Boundary Area".

NOVEMBER 16, 2018 — On November 9, Tri-State Rescue and Rehabilitation, Inc. presented an award to NOAA at their annual "Fly Me to the Loon: Night to Benefit the Birds" fundraising event.

NOVEMBER 9, 2018 — On November 6, the Marine Debris Program’s California Regional Coordinator, Sherry Lippiatt, gave the morning keynote for the Marine Debris Solutions Conference in San Diego, California.

NOVEMBER 9, 2018 — In October 2018, OR&R’s director, chiefs of OR&R’s Emergency Response and Marine Debris Divisions, and staff participated in a series of industry partnership information-sharing meetings.

In 2018 NOAA reached agreements with cooperating companies across America to restore natural resources damaged by industrial pollution and oil spills. Six pollution cases were settled, totaling $34.3 million that will go toward restoration.

NOVEMBER 2, 2018 — On Halloween - Wednesday, October 31, scientists from OR&R participated in a seep oil technology demonstration off of Coal Oil Point near Santa Barbara, California. 

NOVEMBER 2, 2018 — On October 31, OR&R’s Diversity and Inclusion team held an event focused on substance sensitivities in the workplace.

NOVEMBER 2, 2018 — Cold Spring, New York, is situated in the Hudson Valley on the east bank of the Hudson River across from West Point and Crow’s Nest, about 60 miles north of New York City.

NOVEMBER 2, 2018 — On October 27, Charles Grisafi, Florida and Caribbean Regional Coordinator for the NOAA Marine Debris Program, participated in the first-ever Ghost Trap Rodeo event at Fort De Soto Park in Tierra Verde, Florida.

OCTOBER 26, 2018 — Simeon Hahn and Diane Evers attended the 2018 Urban Waters Federal Partnership National Training Workshop held at EPA Headquarters October 17-19.

OCTOBER 26, 2018 — Over the past 13 years, OR&R’s Emergency Response Division has teamed up with California’s Office of Spill Prevention and Response (OSPR) to provide oil spill science training known as Environmental Response to Oil Spills (EROS).

OCTOBER 26, 2018 — On October 13, the Marine Debris Program’s Northeast Regional Coordinator, Demi Fox, led a workshop at the Long Island Sound Educators Conference at Maritime Aquarium in Norwalk, Connecticut.

OCTOBER 26, 2018 — Members of the Disaster Preparedness Program (DPP) participated in the International Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM) Annual Conference this week in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

OCTOBER 19, 2018 — On October 10 and 11, OR&R staff participated in the Crowley Alaska Tankers "Shippers" Exercise in Valdez, Alaska.

OCTOBER 19, 2018 —Dr. Amy Merten and Rob Neely, of OR&R’s Assessment and Restoration Division, traveled to Port Angeles, Washington, on October 9-10 to conduct site visits and meet with Elwha tribal staff.

OCTOBER 19, 2018 — Thomas Peltzer, Ruth Yender, Catherine Berg, and Matt Bissell, all Scientific Support Coordinators (SSCs) with OR&R, taught a Shoreline Cleanup and Assessment Techniques (SCAT) training course on October 16 - 18 at the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) Sector Columbia River Air Station in Astoria, Oregon.

OCTOBER 19, 2018 — On October 11, RDML Tim Gallaudet joined President Trump, Secretary Ross, Senator Whitehouse, and Senator Sullivan and Julie Fate Sullivan, at a signing ceremony for the “Save our Seas Act of 2018.”

OCTOBER 12, 2018 — On September 21, Nir Barnea, the NOAA Marine Debris Program’s Pacific Northwest Regional Coordinator, met with project managers for the Makah Tribe to review the Tribe’s new derelict crab pot removal project.

OCTOBER 12, 2018 — Dr. Christopher Barker returned from a one month-collaboration with the Maritime, Marine, Environmental and Safety Management group at NHL Stenden University  in Leeuwarden, Netherlands.

During the first week of September, Hurricane Florence, a Category 4 hurricane still located hundreds of miles offshore, was setting its sights to make landfall along the North Carolina-South Carolina coast. While some residents waited to see where its path would lead, others decided to heed warnings issued by the governor of North Carolina to evacuate their low-lying coastal homes.

OCTOBER 5, 2018 — Researchers at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI), Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), and University of Alaska’s Arctic Domain Awareness Center (ADAC) are developing a small Long-Range Autonomous Underwater Vehicle system (Tethys LRAUV) to detect oil spills in some of the most challenging oceanic environments on the planet, under arctic sea ice. 

OCTOBER 5, 2018 — On September 26-28, the NOAA Marine Debris Program’s Pacific Islands Regional Coordinator, Mark Manuel, traveled to Panama to participate in the Ghost Gear Dive Recovery Workshop held at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute.

SEPTEMBER 28, 2018 — Alexis joined the Marine Debris Program (MDP) as a Communications and Education Specialist in July of 2018.

SEPTEMBER 28, 2018 — On September 16, the NOAA Marine Debris Program’s Pacific Northwest Coordinator, Nir Barnea, joined the University of Washington’s Coastal Observation and Seabird Survey Team (COASST) and other volunteers in a field exercise to support a study funded by the NOAA Marine Debris Program.

SEPTEMBER 28, 2018 — The October 2018 online/open access issue of the Water Environment Research Journal includes a multi-authored review of 2017 literature on Effects of Pollution on Marine Organisms. Four NOAA scientists were among the eight co-authors.

SEPTEMBER 28, 2018 — Juvenile American shad were captured for the first time upstream of the recently removed Weston Mill Dam on the Millstone River in New Jersey by sampling crews conducting biannual monitoring of this natural resource damage (NRD) restoration project.

SEPT. 21, 2018 — Last week NOAA’s Office of Response and Restoration deployed personnel to North and South Carolina to provide NOAA scientific support to the U.S. Coast Guard following Hurricane Florence, which hit the coast last Thursday.

SEPTEMBER 21, 2018 — On September 13, Sherry Lippiatt, California Regional Coordinator for the Marine Debris Program, participated in a virtual classroom event for Exploring by the Seat of Your Pants.

SEPTEMBER 21, 2018 — It pays to arrive early to an International Coastal Cleanup event on September 15 - you get to pick up the best debris around.

SEPTEMBER 21, 2018 — On September 12, the NOAA Marine Debris Program supported the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Division of Aquaculture (FDACS) in hosting a shellfish aquaculture gear management workshop in Cedar Key, Florida.

SEPTEMBER 14, 2018 — As Hurricane Florence continues to impact North Carolina and South Carolina throughout Friday, NOAA’s Office of Response and Restoration is beginning to deploy personnel on scene to provide NOAA scientific support to the U.S. Coast Guard.

SEPTEMBER 14, 2018 — For the fifth year in a row, the Hudson River Park will host the SUBMERGE Marine Science Festival, where NOAA scientists and other experts share knowledge of our oceans, coasts, and conservation. 

SEPTEMBER 14, 2018 — OR&R’s Emergency Response Division Chief Scott Lundgren and Physical Oceanographer Dylan Righi attended the NOAA 2018 General Modeling Meeting and Fair in College Park, Maryland, at the NOAA Center for Weather and Climate Prediction on September 10 - 12.

SEPTEMBER 14, 2018 — Exercise: On September 6, during an offshore lightering operation involving two large oil tankers, 1,000,000 gallons of Palanca crude oil is spilled into the Atlantic Ocean 30 miles east of Cape Henlopen, Delaware.

SEPTEMBER 14, 2018 — On September 8, Peter Murphy, Alaska Regional Coordinator for the Marine Debris Program, presented at the inaugural Alaska Net Hack Challenge in Anchorage, with remote participation from Kodiak.

SEPT. 7, 2018 — On Aug. 15, members from the NOAA Marine Debris Program conducted a site visit to the James Campbell National Wildlife Refuge and installed signage on a newly-purchased marine debris collection bin. This bin represents a collaborative effort to deal with O‘ahu’s long-standing issue of marine debris disposals at local convenience centers.

SEPT. 7, 2018 — The Bloede Dam, located within Patapsco Valley State Park in Maryland, has stood as a public safety hazard and barrier to wildlife for more than a century. Its removal is one of the largest and most complicated dam removals undertaken by NOAA.

AUG. 31, 2018 — On Aug. 16, the NOAA Marine Debris Program hosted a Maryland Regional Response Planning workshop at the Annapolis Mariner’s Museum. Thirty-three individuals representing federal, state, and local government attended and crafted a vision for Maryland’s new emergency response guide.

This is the 11th in a monthly series profiling scientists and technicians who provide exemplary contributions to the mission of NOAA’s Office of Response and Restoration (OR&R). This month’s featured scientist is Marine Debris Program Great Lakes Regional Coordinator Sarah Lowe.

AUG. 24, 2018 — On August 21-23, 2018, NOAA joined the U.S. Coast Guard, State of Alaska, and representatives from the Russian Federation, in a seminar on "Understanding Maritime Pollution Threats and Response Systems in the Russian Federation - United States Trans-Boundary Area". 

Update: Aug. 29, 2018 — Though the Office of Response and Restoration has not yet been activated for response, parts of Hawaii were damaged by Hurricane Lane. The Big Island in particular experienced excessive amounts of rain and flooding, which may take some time to recover from. OR&R continues to stand by in the event of debris and pollution related incidents resulting from Lane. 

AUG. 24, 2018 — On August 20, the Marine Debris Program announced its FY19 “Marine Debris Removal” federal funding opportunity.

AUG. 24, 2018 — This summer Demi Fox, the Marine Debris Program’s Northeast Regional Coordinator, co-advised NOAA intern Theany Su on the launch of a Massachusetts monofilament recycling pilot program.

AUG. 24, 2018 — On Monday, August 20, Scott Lundgren and LT Michael Doig attended the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation hearing entitled “Pipeline Safety in the Great Lakes: Incident Prevention and Response Efforts at the Straits of Mackinac.”

AUGUST 17, 2018 — On August 16, the NOAA Marine Debris Program announced the 23 recipients of its 2018 prevention and removal grant awards totaling approximately $2.5 million in federal funds. 

AUGUST 17, 2018 — On August 3-6, Sherry Lippiatt and Tom Barry with the Marine Debris Program (MDP) joined California State University Channel Islands (CSUCI) at the Channel Islands National Park to remove marine debris from ecologically sensitive shorelines on Santa Rosa Island, off the coast of southern California.

AUGUST 17, 2018 — The U.S. Coast Guard’s (USCG) District 11 Response Advisory Team (D-11 DRAT) works extensively with OR&R’s Emergency Response Division providing direct operational decision support to USCG responders during oil spills.

AUG. 15, 2018 — NOAA’s Office of Response and Restoration is providing trajectory assistance to the U.S. Coast Guard for an estimated 200 gallons of diesel fuel that were released from a grounded vessel near Santa Cruz, California on Sunday evening.

AUGUST 10, 2018 — OR&R’s Emergency Response Division, in collaboration with the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG), and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS), conducted a three-day Shoreline Cleanup and Assessment Technique (SCAT) training course in Mackinaw City, Michigan on August 7-9, 2018.

AUGUST 10, 2018 — OR&R senior economist, Norman Meade, is a co-author on a recent article that details how the impact of the Deepwater Horizon (DWH) oil spill on lost recreational use was valued.  

AUG. 3, 2018 — On July 24, staff from the Marine Debris Program (MDP) met with the Consortium for Ocean Leadership (COL) in Washington, D.C. 

July 31, 2018 — NOAA and the other Elliot Bay Trustees conducting the Lower Duwamish Natural Resources Damage Assessment, have announced a 30-day comment period for the Lower Duwamish Natural Resources Injury Assessment Plan (PDF, 79 pg).

JULY 27, 2018 — On January 19-20, NOS Deputy Assistant Administrator Nicole LeBoeuf joined OR&R Chief Scientist Lisa DiPinto and a team of over 60 national and international researchers in Grand Isle, Louisiana, to observe ongoing bottlenose dolphin health assessment studies in Barataria Bay that focused on cardiac assessments. 

JULY 27, 2018 — The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) organized its second Disasters Workshop on July 24-25, 2018 at the NOAA Auditorium in Silver Spring, Maryland.

JULY 27, 2018 — On July 19, 2018, the OR&R Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) Committee sponsored an event focused on hidden/invisible disabilities. 

JULY 27, 2018 — On Sunday, July 15, the Marine Debris Program joined a multi-beach cleanup across Northern Massachusetts organized by Salem Sound Coastwatch.

JULY 20, 2018 — On July 17, Lisa Rosman, of OR&R's Assessment and Restoration Division, participated in an informal roundtable focusing on natural resource damage assessments.

JULY 20, 2018 — On July 11, Sarah Lowe, of the NOAA Marine Debris Program (MDP) participated in a summer institute on Teaching STEM and the Power of Place.

JULY 20, 2018 — I’ve worked for NOAA in Seattle since the late 1970s, starting as a student processing oceanographic data for a deep-ocean mining project, then progressing to help with the development of the NOAA Status and Trends Program. 

JULY 20, 2018 — OR&R Assessment and Restoration Division (ARD) and Emergency Response Division (ERD) staff recently participated in the biannual West Coast Joint Assessment Team (JAT) meeting.

JULY 13, 2018 — On June 11-15, the Marine Debris Program (MDP) participated in the Gulf of Mexico Alliance’s (Alliance) 2018 All Hands Meeting in St. Petersburg, Florida.

JULY 13, 2018 — Annie Gibbs (OR&R ARD) co-authored a journal article that was judged to be the best paper published in 2017 in the scientific journal Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management.

JULY 13, 2018 — Annie Gibbs, of OR&R’s Assessment and Restoration Division, participated in the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC) abstract review committee for the annual North America meeting.

JULY 13, 2018 — CAMEO Chemicals, a database of hazardous materials, has a fresh new update that is available in all four program platforms--mobile app, desktop program, website, and mobile website.

JUNE 29, 2018 — On June 11-15, the Marine Debris Program’s Chief Scientist Amy V. Uhrin participated in Working Group 40 of the Joint Group of Experts on the Scientific Aspects of Marine Environmental Protection (GESAMP) held in Bangkok, Thailand. 

JUNE 29, 2018 — NOAA and Department of the Interior (DOI) staff met with shipping industry representatives to exchange information and discuss ways to facilitate communication and cooperation before, during and after vessel oil spills.

JUNE 29, 2018 — On June 19-21, 2018, OR&R staff participated in the 2018 Clean Pacific conference in Portland, Oregon. Clean Pacific is an annual conference of government, tribes, NGOs, and industry experts involved with pollution response.

This is the fifth blog in a week-long series to highlight the importance of disaster preparedness. Follow us this week as we take a look at how NOAA prepares for natural and human-made disasters, and how you can prepare for the 2018 hurricane season.

This is the fourth blog in a week-long series to highlight the importance of disaster preparedness. Follow us this week as we take a look at how NOAA prepares for natural and human-made disasters, and how you can prepare for the 2018 hurricane season.

This is the second blog in a week-long series to highlight the importance of disaster preparedness. Follow us this week as we take a look at how NOAA prepares for natural and human-made disasters, and how you can prepare for the 2018 hurricane season.

JUNE 22, 2018 — On June 8 and 10, regional coordinators for NOAA’s Marine Debris Program (MDP) joined communities around the world to celebrate and honor our ocean, and raise public awareness around marine debris.

JUNE 22, 2018 — From June 18-20, OR&R scientist Ed Levine attended the Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science Boot Camp at the State University of New York in Stony Brook, New York.

JUNE 22, 2018 — During the week of June 18, OR&R’s Emergency Response Division team of oil spill scientists conducted a “Science of Oil Spills” (SOS) class at the Seattle NOAA campus.

JUNE 22, 2018 — On June 11, the NOAA Marine Debris Program (MDP) hosted a demonstration and training opportunity on the newly developed online marine debris regional collaboration portals during the Gulf of Mexico Alliance 2018 All Hands Meeting in St. Petersburg, Florida.

JUNE 22, 2018 — On June 21, OR&R’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee hosted Dr. Claire Horner-Devine, founder of Counterspace Consulting, for a discussion on how institutions and individuals can promote an equitable workplace.