MAY 20, 2024 — The NOAA Marine Debris Program Chief Scientist, Amy V. Uhrin, attended the first meeting of the Social Cost of Plastic Pollution Working Group of the National Center for Environmental Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS).
OR&R Weekly Report
The Office of Response and Restoration publishes this weekly round-up of news and information of interest to our partners, stakeholders, and team members. Click to subscribe
August 2022
AUG. 22, 2022 — On Aug. 16, 2022, a new NOAA publication, "Towards a North Pacific long-term monitoring program for ocean plastic pollution: A systematic review and recommendations for shorelines," was published in the journal Environmental Pollution.
AUG. 22, 2022 — Later this year and in 2023, a cross-divisional team within OR&R will address the science of per- and poly-fluorinated substances (PFAS) in aqueous fire-fighting foams (AFFF).
AUG. 22, 2022 — On Aug. 12, Sam Rauch, NOAA Fisheries Deputy Assistant Administrator for Regulatory Programs, spoke on behalf of NOAA at the BASF Corporation’s Groundbreaking for the East Newark Riverfront Park project in East Newark, New Jersey.
AUG. 22, 2022 — On July 27, 2022, the Federal Emergency Management Agency requested NOAA scientific support for a declared emergency on St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands due to impacts on the island’s water supply from high concentrations of sargassum.
AUG. 15, 2022 — On Aug. 3, 2022, NOAA Marine Debris Program Mid-Atlantic Regional Coordinator Katie Morgan attended an outreach event in Fenwick Island, Delaware, organized by Delaware Sea Grant.
AUG. 15, 2022 — On Aug. 3-4, 2022, the NOAA's Office of Response and Restoration held the Gulf of Mexico Resource Advisor (RA) Training. The goal of this two-day virtual training was to ensure coastal resource managers understand the role of an RA and have the tools needed to fulfill the role in the field successfully.
AUG. 8, 2022 — Two OR&R scientists were recently recognized with a prestigious Department of State Honor Award for their work as part of the National Response Team (NRT) supporting environmental crises in other nations.
AUG. 8, 2022 — On July 28, 2022, NOAA Marine Debris Program Northeast Regional Coordinator Demi Fox attended a Gulf of Maine Council on the Marine Environment meeting in Portland, Maine, to join a presentation on marine debris prevention and removal efforts underway in Canada and the United States.
AUG. 8, 2022 — On July 20-21, 2022, the Northwest Area Committee (NWAC) hosted an Oiled Shoreline Response Workshop at the Naval Air Station on Whidbey Island, Washington. Attendees represented the response community with over forty federal, state, tribal, and industry participants.
July 2022
AUG. 1, 2022 — Beginning in April 2020, in the throes of the COVID-19 pandemic, a small team in OR&R’s Emergency Response Division began sharing knowledge in the form of live, virtual lectures on emergency spill response, environmental protection, and related topics.
AUG. 1, 2022 — The U.S. Coast Guard Sector Sault Sainte Marie and U.S. Oil (a division of U.S. Venture) held a successful field exercise in Rogers City, Michigan on July 19, 2022.
AUG. 1, 2022 — In 2019, a planning committee was formed to schedule class dates, define the class location, and narrow down field sites for NOAA’s Shoreline Cleanup Assessment Technique (SCAT) class.
AUG. 1, 2022 — During the week of July 11, 2022, OR&R’s Emergency Response Division held the first in-person Science of Oil Spill class since 2019, training 41 students from five federal agencies, four state agencies, five international agencies, and four industrial companies at NOAA’s Western Regional Center in Seattle.
AUG. 1, 2022 — Scientists from OR&R have partnered with the U.S. and Canadian Coast Guards, the Coastal Response Research Center (a partnership between OR&R and the University of New Hampshire), and remote sensing consultants at Water Mapping, LLC to advance our ability to respond to and assess impacts from spills in the Arctic.
AUG. 1 — On July 22, 2022, NOAA Marine Debris Program Education Specialist Alexandria Brake and California Sea Grant Marine Debris Extension Fellow Tanya Torres led an impactful workshop for science educators focused on the Marine Debris Monitoring and Assessment Project (MDMAP) at the National Science Teaching Association’s national conference.
AUG. 1, 2022 — The week of July 18, 2022, NOAA Marine Debris Program staff participated in a tour of partner projects being conducted in the greater San Diego area.
AUG. 1, 2022 — This is the first of a new quarterly series on the public use of the CAMEO Suite. Our goal is to tell a more complete story here rather than just the “numbers,” getting into more of what they mean.
AUG. 1, 2022 – For the past few years, the U.S. Department of the Interior has offered the webinar series “Inland Oil Spill for DOI Response” to share pertinent lectures and topics of interest to the DOI spill response community.
JULY 25, 2022 — On July 13, 2022, NOAA Marine Debris Program California Regional CoordinatorChristy Kehoe and Southeast Regional Coordinator Sarah Latshaw presented at the United States Coast Guard Sector San Francisco and Sector Delta Abandoned and Derelict Vessels Quarterly Meeting. The meeting brought together more than 30 ADV experts from across the San Francisco and Sacramento Delta area in Northern California.
JULY 25, 2022 — On July 13, 2022, the NOAA Marine Debris Program’s Gulf of Mexico Regional Coordinator Caitlin Wessel presented at the Jackson County Soil and Water Conservation District’s teacher workshop.
JULY 25, 2022 — On July 11, 2022, NOAA Marine Debris Program Education Specialist Alexandria Brake led two workshops for students and educators. Alexandria presented on “Pesky Plastics” at the Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School’s Virtual Engineering Exploration Experience, the first day of a five-week program bringing together experts in various fields to inspire students to consider solutions to complex global problems.
JULY 18, 2022 — On July 6, 2022, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Marine Debris Program California Regional Coordinator Christy Kehoe presented at the July Office of National Marine Sanctuaries Resource Protection and Permitting Cross-cut Meeting. The cross-cut meeting brought together over 15 Sanctuaries staff from across the country to focus on marine debris conversations impacting our sanctuaries.
JULY 18, 2022 — On July 6, 2022, the NOAA Marine Debris Program director, Nancy Wallace, joined colleagues from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and virtually met with representatives of the Embassy of the Republic of Korea.
JULY 18, 2022 — On June 22, 2022, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, U.S. Coast Guard District 13, and Regional Response Team 10 held a Spill of National Significance Seminar in Astoria, Oregon.
JULY 18, 2022 — On June 30, 2022, Katie Morgan on behalf of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Marine Debris Program was invited to participate in the Rutgers Marine Extension Program Seminar Series (MEPSS).
JULY 18, 2022 — On July 9, 2022, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Marine Debris Program staff joined Congressman Brian Higgins, Buffalo Niagara Waterkeeper, Council of the Great Lakes Region, and New York State Parks at Buffalo Harbor State Park to announce the deployment of Seabin technology in their marina.
JULY 11, 2022 — On June 28, NOAA Marine Debris Program Director, Nancy Wallace, participated in an official side event as part of the UN Ocean Conference. The virtual panel discussed the issue of plastic pollution with a specific emphasis on answering what key science and innovation is needed to tackle this global environmental challenge.
JULY 11, 2022 — On June 29, the NOAA Marine Debris Program announced the Fiscal Year 2022 NOAA Marine Debris Removal notice of funding opportunity. Funding for this opportunity is provided through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
JULY 11, 2022 — OR&R's Disaster Preparedness Program is currently seeking a college intern who is passionate about disaster preparedness and excited to explore questions on human behavior and disasters.