FEBRUARY 17, 2020 — The Alaska Forum on the Environment (AFE) was held this week in Anchorage, Alaska, offering six keynote events, over 100 presentations, panel discussions, special events and workshops.

FEBRUARY 17, 2020 — On Saturday, February 8, the NOAA Marine Debris Program participated in Whale Day 2020 at Kalama Park in Kihei, Maui.

FEBRUARY 10, 2020 — On Jan. 23, the OR&R Diversity and Inclusion Committee hosted an event discussing the First Amendment, free speech, and hate speech.

FEBRUARY 10, 2020 — On Jan. 30, Communication and Education Specialist, Jennifer Simms, presented to the entire fifth grade of Spring Hill Elementary.

FEBRUARY 10, 2020 — On Jan. 28-29 in Jacksonville, Florida, Genwest contractors Charles Grisafi, Southeast Regional Preparedness Coordinator, and Autumn Lotze, Natural Resource and Community Recovery Specialist, represented OR&R’s Disaster Preparedness Program (DPP) in the Southeast and Caribbean Disaster Recovery Partnership (SCDRP) 2020 Winter Meeting.

FEBRUARY 3, 2020 — On January 27-28, the Marine Debris Program’s Chief Scientist, Amy V. Uhrin, participated in the National Academies of Science workshop, Emerging Technologies to Advance Research and Decisions on the Environmental Health Effects of Microplastics held in Washington, D.C.

FEBRUARY 3, 2020 — On Jan. 23, the Marine Debris Program’s (MDP) Mid-Atlantic Regional Coordinator, Christy Kehoe, and Education and Communication Specialist, Jennifer Simms, presented at the “Wave of Plastic” Workshop located in Solomons Island, Maryland.

JANUARY 27, 2020 — On January 13, Nancy Wallace, Director of the Marine Debris Program (MDP), met with staff from the offices of Senator Dan Sullivan (AK), Rep. Don Young (AK-AL), and Rep. Suzanne Bonamici (OR-01).

JANUARY 27, 2020 — Last week a small team of scientists travelled to St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands to evaluate the effectiveness of repair and stabilization actions conducted in seagrass beds damaged by Hurricane Maria response activities. 

JANUARY 27, 2020 — On January 18, the Marine Debris Program California Regional Coordinator, Sherry Lippiatt, joined the San Francisco chapter of the Surfrider Foundation for a cigarette butt canister installation event in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood of San Francisco.

JANUARY 17, 2020 — Last week NOAA OR&R scientists were invited by scientists from Watermapping LLC, to participate in field experiments to help determine the potential for using remote sensing to characterize marsh vegetation health following an oil spill event.

JANUARY 13, 2020 — On December 12-13, the Marine Debris Division's Chief Scientist, Amy V. Uhrin, participated in the French-American Workshop, Responding to Plastic Pollution through Science: From Research to Action held in Le Mans, France.

JANUARY 13, 2020 — On January 8, a group of about 30 students from Billings Middle School in Seattle, Washington, visited the NOAA Sand Point campus to learn about impacts of climate change on the oceans, including the impact of oil spills due to increased transportation and oil exploration.

DECEMBER 23, 2019 — On December 11, the CAMEO® software team released updates of two products: Tier2 Submit™ and CAMEOfm. 

DECEMBER 23, 2019 — On November 13, Sarah Latshaw, Southeast Regional Coordinator for NOAA’s Marine Debris Program, visited a College of Charleston Introduction to Geographical Information Systems (GIS) class to talk about the issue and share marine debris data. 

DECEMBER 16, 2019 — On December 4, the Weeks Bay Foundation, in partnership with the Weeks Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve and NOAA’s Marine Debris Program wrapped up a two year derelict vessel removal project by hanging 25 “Derelict is Dangerous” signs at each of the state- or county-owned boat launches in Baldwin County, Alabama.

DECEMBER 16, 2019 — On December 3-5, the Marine Debris Program’s Northeast Regional Coordinator, Demi Fox, attended the International Whaling Commission (IWC) Third Marine Debris Workshop.

DECEMBER 16, 2019 — On December 11, a Consent Decree was announced that includes $25 million as a partial settlement to restore natural resources injured by releases of hazardous substances to the Kalamazoo River and Portage Creek in Michigan.

DECEMBER 16, 2019 — The week of December 2, experts from the Office of Response and Restoration (OR&R) were recognized at the National Ocean Service 2019 All Hands and Employee Recognition Ceremony at NOAA headquarters in Silver Spring.

DECEMBER 9, 2019 — On November 21, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF), in partnership with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Marine Debris Program (MDP), announced a request for proposals under the Hurricane Response Marine Debris Removal Fund.

DECEMBER 9, 2019 — On November 20, OR&R scientists, Steve Lehmann and Dr. Ken Finkelstein participated in a panel discussion titled “The Role of Academia in Emergency Response” at the University of Massachusetts at Boston. 

DECEMBER 9, 2019 — On November 26, the Marine Debris Program (MDP) released the Gulf of Maine Marine Debris Action Plan.

DECEMBER 9, 2019 — Members of the Disaster Preparedness Program (DPP) participated in the 67th International Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM) Annual Conference held in November at the Savannah Convention Center in Savannah, Georgia.

NOV. 25, 2019 — On Nov. 19, Sherry Lippiatt, California regional coordinator for the Office of Response and Restoration Marine Debris Program, presented as part of the Amazon Lab126 seminar series.

NOV. 25, 2019 — Each year, the Office of Response and Restoration (OR&R) supports the training of over 2,000 responders. The OR&R external training team and instructors are gearing up for a busy 2020.

NOV. 25, 2019 — On Nov. 16, Mark Manuel, Pacific Island regional coordinator for the Office of Response and Restoration Marine Debris Program, participated in the Friends of Waikiki Aquarium Fall Fest Event.

NOV. 25, 2019 — On Nov. 13, 2019, John Tarpley, regional operations branch chief in the Emergency Response Division, received the prestigious Legacy Award at the Pacific States-British Columbia Oil Spill Task Force annual meeting in Bellingham, Washington.

NOVEMBER 18, 2019 — On Wednesday, November 6, the Gulf of Mexico Disaster Response Center (DRC0 in Mobile, Alabama hosted not one, but two distinguished guests - RDML Timothy Gallaudet, Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere, and CAPT van Westendorp, of the Office of Coast Survey, Navigation Services Division. 

NOVEMBER 18, 2019 — On November 5, Caitlin Wessel, Gulf of Mexico Regional Coordinator for the NOAA Marine Debris Program, co-chaired a session at Coastal Estuarine Research Foundation’s (CERF) biennial conference.

NOVEMBER 12, 2019 — NOAA’s Recovery Support Team -- Donna Johnson, Acting Recovery Support Function Lead (Northeast Fisheries Science Center/ National Marine Fisheries Service, on rotational assignment to NOAA’s Office for Coastal Management) and Autumn Lotze, Natural Resource and Community Recovery Specialist (OR&R Disaster Preparedness Program) -- recently met with stakeholders and key decision makers in Puerto Rico and the U.S.

NOVEMBER 12, 2019 —The annual meeting of the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC) emphasized “the need for environmental scientists and managers from all sectors (e.g., academia, business, government, non-profit, non-governmental and intergovernmental organizations) to work together at a global scale to address shared environmental challenges.”

NOVEMBER 12, 2019 — For NOAA’s Office of Response and Restoration (OR&R), Fiscal Year 2019 was a year filled with new challenges and new achievements.

NOVEMBER 12, 2019 — On November 4, Christy Kehoe, Mid-Atlantic Regional Coordinator for the Marine Debris Program (MDP), spoke at an event with Senator Carper (D-DE) to celebrate the University of Delaware’s receipt of a MDP research grant.

On October 30-31, NOAA Marine Debris Program staff attended the Policy and Action on Plastic in the Arctic Ocean Workshop, co-hosted by The Harvard Kennedy School, The Wilson Center Polar Institute & the Icelandic Chairmanship of the Arctic Council. 

NOVEMBER 4, 2019 — On October 17-18, the Marine Debris Program (MDP) participated and presented at the Lighthouse Lofoten conference in Svolvaer, Norway.

NOV. 4, 2019 — NOAA recently announced that Scott Lundgren will be taking the helm on Nov. 12 as director of NOAA's Office of Response and Restoration — NOAA’s office dedicated to preparedness, response, and restoration efforts to protect coastal resources from threats of oil, chemicals, marine debris, and natural disasters.

NOVEMBER 4, 2019 — On October 16-27, the Marine Debris Program (MDP) was represented at the 2019 Annual Meeting of the North Pacific Marine Science Organization which took place in Victoria, BC Canada.

NOVEMBER 4, 2019 — SOLVE Oregon, in partnership with Oregon State Parks, launched a state-wise adopt-a-beach program.

OCTOBER 28, 2019 — The deep-pelagic is both the largest and least-understood habitat in the Gulf of Mexico. Dan Hahn, of OR&R’s Assessment and Restoration Division is on a diverse team of federal and academic scientists working to better understand the abundance and diversity of life in these dark waters.

OCTOBER 28, 2019 — During the week of October 14, NOAA Marine Debris Program Research Coordinator, Carlie Herring, and NOAA Marine Debris Program Northeast Regional Coordinator, Demi Fox, participated in a research road trip through New England.

OCTOBER 28, 2019 — What can $28 million do to restore polluted waters across America? In the 2019 fiscal year, NOAA worked with our co-trustees to reach settlements to restore natural resources injured by pollution.

OCTOBER 28, 2019 — On October 8 and 9, members of NOAA Marine Debris Program collaborated with the Gulf of Mexico Alliance (GOMA) and the Environmental Protection Agency to engage more than 60 partners at the GOMA Team Initiative meeting in Texas that aimed to tackle marine debris.

OCTOBER 21, 2019 — On October 10, NOAA Marine Debris Program Chief Scientist, Amy Uhrin, and NOAA Marine Debris Program Research Coordinator, Carlie Herring, led an intra-Program training on marine debris shoreline monitoring methods at Sandy Point State Park in Annapolis, Maryland.

OCTOBER 21, 2019 — Virginia’s barrier islands are remote, ecologically valuable, and highly sensitive to oil spills.  Given its critical importance, the United Nations designated the Virginia barrier islands as a Biosphere Reserve.

OCTOBER 21, 2019 — The groundbreaking of a new urban wetland in Wilmington, Delaware was held on October 18, at a gathering that included Delaware Governor John Carney, Senator Chris Coons, Mayor Mike Purzycki and other community leaders.

OCTOBER 14, 2019 — On October 1, 2019, OR&R Emergency Response Chief Scott Lundgren and OR&R Senior Scientist Lisa DiPinto met with representatives of ITOPF (formerly the International Tanker Owners Pollution Federation) at its headquarters in London.

OCTOBER 14, 2019 — From October 2-4, 2019, OR&R Emergency Response Chief Scott Lundgren and OR&R Senior Scientist Lisa DiPinto participated in the International Technical Advisory Committee meeting held at the National Oceanography Centre in Southampton, United Kingdom. 

OCTOBER 7, 2019 — On October 1-2, the NOAA Marine Debris Program Pacific Regional Coordinator, Nir Barnea, participated in the Microplastic Monitoring Workshop, conducted at the Seattle Aquarium.

OCTOBER 7, 2019 — On September 25, Caitlin Wessel, NOAA Marine Debris Program’s Gulf of Mexico Regional Coordinator, joined the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) in an event to announce the 2019 Fishing for Energy awardees and celebrate the 10-year anniversary of the Fishing for Energy program.

SEPTEMBER 28, 2019 — On September 26, the NOAA Marine Debris Program released a study by Abt Associates, Inc., evaluating the effects of marine debris on beach recreation and regional economies in four coastal communities.

SEPTEMBER 28, 2019 — OR&R’s Emergency Response Division attended an equipment deployment exercise by Oiled Wildlife Care Network (OWCN) this past week as they practiced the transport, set up, and inventory of mobile wildlife care facilities for moderate/large oil spills. 

SEPTEMBER 23, 2019 — On September 18, the NOAA Marine Debris Program announced its FY 2020 “Marine Debris Prevention” federal funding opportunity.

SEPTEMBER 23, 2019 — On August 28 and 29, the Great Lakes Marine Debris Community met in Toledo, Ohio to discuss progress to date on addressing marine debris in the Great Lakes region.

SEPTEMBER 16, 2019 — OR&R participated in NOAA’s Environmental Data Management workshop held in Seattle, Washington on September 4-5.

SEPTEMBER 16, 2019 — On September 10, OR&R’s Tom Brosnan, Robb Wright, Simeon Hahn, and Megan Ewald participated in the Christina River Sediment Remediation Technical Workshop in Wilmington, Delaware. 

SEPTEMBER 16, 2019 — On September 10, OR&R's Emergency response Division (ERD) staff joined staff from National Marine Fisheries Service, National Marine Sanctuaries and National Weather Service on a tour of the Honolulu Fish Auction on Pier 38 in Honolulu, Hawaii. 

SEPTEMBER 16, 2019 — On October 10, the Public Broadcasting System (PBS) will air a documentary, “The Serengeti Rules.”

SEPT. 3, 2019 — Lieutenant Commander Jim Rosenberg, with OR&R’s Emergency Response Division, provided instruction at the annual North West Oil Spill Control Course in Port Angeles, Washington, on Aug. 26-30. Jim is the scientific support coordinator for the Northwestern Continental U.S.

AUGUST 26, 2019 —The NOAA Marine Debris Program’s Pacific Island Region includes not only the Hawaiian archipelago, but also the Pacific island territories.

AUGUST 26, 2019 — The Deepwater Horizon oil spill lasted for 87 days, discharged millions of barrels into the Gulf of Mexico, and posed unprecedented challenges for oil spill experts. 

AUGUST 19, 2019 — On August 9 the Office of Response and Restoration’s Emergency Response Division participated in a Hawaiian Electric Company worst-case oil spill exercise held in Honolulu, Hawaii. 

AUGUST 19, 2019 — On August 8, the NOAA Marine Debris Program’s Director, Nancy Wallace, spoke to a group of seven foreign journalists from Malaysia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, and Indonesia during a State Department-sponsored reporting tour covering American policy topics: "The U.S. Vision for the Indo-Pacific Region.”

AUGUST 19, 2019 — On July 31, the National Ocean Service (NOS) Zero Waste Team, comprised of 13 representatives from NOS program offices and NOS headquarters, came together at the first Zero Waste Workshop in Silver Spring, Maryland.

AUGUST 12, 2019 — On August 5, the Western Regional Center in Seattle was visited by a delegation of congressional travelers from Washington, D.C.  

AUGUST 5, 2019 — On July 26, the Marine Debris Program’s Gulf of Mexico Regional Coordinator, Caitlin Wessel, participated in a NOAA-funded marine debris removal and restoration project at the Weeks Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve (NERR) in Weeks Bay, Alabama.

JULY 29, 2019 — The week of July 22, NOAA OR&R staff held their annual Science of Oil Spills (SOS) training in Independence, at the Educational Service Center of Northeast Ohio.

JULY 29, 2019 — On July 18, OR&R’s division chiefs met with staff from members of Congress in California and Florida to discuss our activities in their states.

JULY 22, 2019 — OR&R sponsored a NRDA (Natural Resource Damage Assessment) workshop through Coastal Response Research Center (CRRC) in Hawaii from July 16-18.

JULY 22, 2019 — On July 13, Charles Grisafi, Florida and Caribbean Regional Coordinator for the NOAA Marine Debris Program, participated in a special “bonus” Ghost Trap Rodeo event in Tampa Bay.

 JULY 22, 2019 — Last week, over 50 OR&R participants gathered to discuss some of the ethical questions about travel and tourism.

JULY 15, 2019 — On June 26, the NOAA Marine Debris Program Pacific Northwest Coordinator joined 40 current and future Puget Sound Dungeness crabbers in a well-attended workshop to learn how to catch more crabs and lose less crab pots.

JULY 15, 2019 —The OR&R Emergency Response Division sponsored a June 25-26 workshop titled “Leveraging Science and Academic Engagement” in Tiburon, California.

JULY 15, 2019 — Early morning on Thursday July 4, during a minus tide, Skipper David Janka (Auklet Charters, Cordova, Alaska) stepped ashore at a cove on Knight Island in Prince William Sound and took the 30^th annual photograph of a scene known as “Mearns Rock”.

JULY 1, 2019 — OR&R Emergency Response Division employees LCDR James Rosenberg and LTJG Matt Bissell visited three tribal nations (Quinault, Quileute, and Makah) the week of June 24 to provide oil spill response training to tribal members.

JULY 1, 2019 — OR&R Emergency Response Chief Scott Lundgren, oceanographer Chris Barker, and chemist Dalina Thrift-Viveros participated in a meeting on June 11, 2019 to discuss hazard modeling roles, responsibilities, recent incident coordination, and future exercises and engagements.

JULY 1, 2019 — The Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative (GoMRI) was established in 2010 with the stated goal to improve society’s ability to understand, respond to, and mitigate the impacts of petroleum pollution and related stressors of the marine and coastal ecosystems. As the conclusion of 10 years of GoMRI’s investment in research approaches, the research board has shifted focus toward achieving comprehensive scientific synthesis.

JUNE 24, 2019 — During the week of June 17, OR&R staff from the Emergency Response Division and the Gulf of Mexico Disaster Response Center held a four-day Science of Chemical Releases course in Seattle, Washington, at NOAA’s Western Regional Center and at the Institute of Ocean Science in Sidney, British Columbia.

JUNE 24, 2019 — The Gulf of Mexico Alliance 2019 All Hands Meeting was held from June 10 - 14 at the new Gulf State Lodge in Gulf Shores, Alabama.

JUNE 24, 2019 — Troy Baker, of OR&R’s Assessment & Restoration Division recently participated in a two-week exercise focused on modeling radiation doses in the terrestrial and aquatic environments. 

JUNE 24, 2019 — On June 10-11 and 13-14, 2019, OR&R’s LT Michael Doig and LT Joshua Valdivia, of the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) provided spill response training for USCG MSU (Marine Safety Unit) Duluth and Sector Lake Michigan.

JUNE 17, 2019 — On June 5 and 6, the Weeks Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve (NERR) hosted their annual Teachers on the Estuary (TOTE) workshop at the Weeks Bay NERR in Baldwin County, Alabama.

JUNE 17, 2019 — On June 5-6, 2019, the NOAA Western Regional Collaboration Team (NOAA West) partnered with the Disaster Preparedness Program (DPP) to hold a tabletop exercise which simulated an earthquake and resulting tsunami impacting the Seattle region.

JUNE 17, 2019 — On June 4, the Marine Debris Program Director, Nancy Wallace, moderated an Ocean Plastics panel at the Blue Tech Expo in Washington, D.C.

JUNE 10, 2019 —The 42nd AMOP (Arctic and Marine Oil Spill Program) Technical Seminar on Environmental Contamination and Response was held June 4-6 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. 

JUNE 10, 2019 — The week of June 3, OR&R scientists George Graettinger and Lisa DiPinto leveraged collaborative relationships with the Arctic Domain Awareness Center (ADAC) , the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE), the U.S.

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 — The next generation of environmental scientists learned about current aquatic issues in the news with the help of Troy Baker, an environmental scientist in OR&R's Assessment and Restoration Division.

JUNE 3, 2019 — On May 24, Kate Wheelock, Chief of the Disaster Preparedness Program, presented on the full breadth NOS operational response capabilities at the FEMA Region 3 (Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, District of Columbia, Virginia, West Virginia) bi-annual Regional Interagency Steering Committee (RISC) Meeting.

JUNE 3, 2019 — The Southeast and Caribbean NOAA Disaster Resilience Workshop was held May 14-16 at the Office for Coastal Management-Charleston.

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 — 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 — On May 13-15, Marine Debris Program Director, Nancy Wallace, served as the Head of Delegation for the United States at an Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Regional Forum workshop in Nha Trang, Vietnam.

MAY 28, 2019 — On May 16, the Marine Debris Program's Pacific Northwest and California Regional Coordinators, Nir Barnea and Sherry Lippiatt, contributed to a webinar "Current Actions of the U.S. West Coast Marine Debris Plans," hosted by OCTO and the West Coast Marine Debris Alliance.

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 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 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.

Last Updated: May 16, 2019

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 — Over three dozen environmental scientists and natural resource economists from OR&R’s Assessment and Restoration Division gathered in Washington, D.C. this week to discuss recent updates and advances in Natural Resource Damage Assessments (NRDA).

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 — The Department of Justice announced that a consent decree was lodged in the hazardous waste case of Exxon Mobil Former Fertilizer Plants. in Charleston, South Carolina.

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 — 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 3, 2019 — On April 24, the OR&R Diversity and Inclusion Committee sponsored an event on how privilege (or the lack thereof) impacts our lives. Sociologists define privilege as unearned benefits that accrue to particular groups based on their location within a social hierarchy. Having privilege varies, depending on factors such as race, gender, sexual orientation, wealth or social status, and religion. While the subject has been the focus of much attention recently, it is not new.

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 23-24, Marine Debris Program Gulf of Mexico Regional Coordinator Caitlin Wessel visited Hurricane Harvey supplemental debris removal sites from Corpus Christi to Copano Bay, Texas. Caitlin met with groups impacted by Harvey, including the Mission Aransas National Estuarine Research Reserve, Texas General Lands Office (GLO), Goose Island State Park, and the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary.

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 — Last week, the Marine Debris Program (MDP) celebrated Earth Day around the country.

APRIL 19, 2019 — Ken Finkelstein attended the 2019 North Atlantic Chapter short course on April 8 at University of Massachusetts/Boston. 

APRIL 19, 2019 — On April 11, the OR&R Emergency Response Division Chief joined RDML Tim Gallaudet, Ph.D., USN Ret., the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere and Deputy NOAA Administrator, for a visit to the U.S. National Response Center (NRC) based at U.S. Coast Guard Headquarters.

APRIL 19, 2019 — On April 18, the United States Coast Guard (USCG) Sector Mobile held their annual Continuity of Operations (COOP) exercise at the NOAA Gulf of Mexico Disaster Response Center (DRC).

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 12, 2019 — On March 29, Sea Grant hosted an Oil Spill Workshop in Virginia Beach, Virginia.

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 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.

By Megan Ewald, Office of Response and Restoration

APRIL 5, 2019 — Every scientist, policy analyst, educator and administrator who works at NOAA started in the same place, as a kid in a classroom.

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 — During the fourth session of the U.N. Environment Assembly (March 11-15, 2019), the United Nations' Joint Group of Experts on the Scientific Aspects of Marine Environmental Protection (GESAMP) released its report, Guidelines for the monitoring and assessment of plastic litter and microplastics in the ocean.

MARCH 29, 2019 — As an economist in the Assessment and Restoration Division, Chris Giguere assists natural resource trustees in the quantification of ecological and recreational-use damages from oil and chemical spills. 

MARCH 22, 2019 — OR&R’s Emergency Response Division Chief Scott Lundgren joined other members of the International Oil Spill Conference (IOSC) Executive Committee to plan the 2020 International Oil Spill Conference.

MARCH 22, 2019 — OR&R Emergency Response Division Chief Scott Lundgren and Senior Scientist Lisa DiPinto participated in events on March 18 and 19 relating to a new American Academies of Arts and Science’s publication on Science During Crisis: Best Practices, Research Needs, and Policy Priorities, receiving an advance briefing with other NOAA line office representatives and attending an event rollout with other department and agency representatives and interested parties.

MARCH 8, 2019; UPDATED MARCH 25, 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 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 week of March 11, NOAA OR&R staff conducted oil spill science and response training in Hagatna, Guam for over 40 spill responders and planners.

MARCH 8, 2019 — As he has in past years, OR&R environmental scientist Ken Finkelstein officiated at the 2019 National Ocean Science Bowl regional competition at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on March 3.

MARCH 8, 2019 — On March 1, the Marine Debris Program’s Gulf of Mexico Regional Coordinator, Caitlin Wessel, attended the Alabama University System’s annual Sustainability Summit in Mobile, Alabama.

By Megan Ewald, Office of Response and Restoration

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 27, the OR&R Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) Committee sponsored an event on mindfulness. Mindfulness is bringing one's awareness to the present moment, and has been proven to improve focus, reduce stress, enhance creativity, and improve physical health. The event provided an overview and history of mindfulness, the benefits, and tips for starting a mindfulness practice. Participants were guided through "body scan" and "raisin" exercises to experience the practice first-hand.