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
January 2015
On January 12, 2015, NOAA participated in a nationally broadcast presentation hosted by the National Response Team (NRT) Training Subcommittee. The training session was designed for planners and field responders from federal, state, local, and tribal governments to learn about emerging risks associated with Bakken crude oil.
Michael Walton is a Web and Multimedia Specialist in OR&R’s Assessment and Restoration Division (ARD).
The week of January 5, 2015, the NOAA Marine Debris Program released a technical memo, Detecting Japan Tsunami Marine Debris at Sea: A Synthesis of Efforts and Lessons-Learned, a review of the debris detection efforts that took place in the years following the earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan in 2011, as well as valuable lessons for the future of marine debris detection.
Steve Lehmann, an OR&R Scientific Support Coordinator, gave the keynote address at the 25th annual No-Spills Conference in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan on January 5, 2015.
NOAA was part of an international team that assessed and advised in the aftermath of an oil spill in a UNESCO World Heritage site located in Bangladesh.
The week of January, 5, 2015, OR&R’s Emergency Response Division and NOAA Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary staff participated in a Salish Sea Vessel Oil Spill Risk Assessment and Management Workshop in Bellingham, WA.
During the first week of January 2015, OR&R held a series of meetings at NOAA's Sand Point Seattle campus on the state of the science for dispersant use in Arctic waters.
OR&R Assessment and Restoration Division staff will present at the Battelle Eighth International Conference on Remediation and Management of Contaminated Sediments in New Orleans during the week of January 11, 2015.
On January 6, 2015, a crowd of more than 100 people gathered to celebrate and witness the breaching of a levee that since the 1800s has held back tidal water from the 1200 acre Cullinan Ranch property, located along the fringe of San Pablo Bay in California (part of the San Francisco Bay Estuary).
December 2014
Following a week at Clean Gulf Conference in San Antonio, District 8 OR&R Scientific Support Coordinators (SSCs) LT Kyle Jellison and Dr. Paige Doelling headed back to Texas to participate in the Central Texas Coastal Area Committee (CTCAC) meeting, held at the Wildlife Center of Texas in Katy, Texas. CTCAC develops and manages the Area Contingency Plan addressing oil and hazmat spills in the coastal areas and navigable waters of Brazoria, Chambers, Galveston, and Harris counties.
Several OR&R staff members have been recognized with the prestigious Bronze medal award! The Bronze medal is the highest award granted by the Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere.
OR&R’s accomplishments in fiscal year 2014 highlight examples of the world-class science and solutions that the office provides for protecting and restoring the nation's resources from coastal environmental hazards.
The NOAA Marine Debris Program is proud to announce the FY2015 Marine Debris Prevention through Education and Outreach Federal Funding Opportunity.
On December 4, 2014 the United States hosted the semi-annual meeting for the Arctic Council's Emergency Prevention, Preparedness, and Response (EPPR) Working Group in Seattle, Washington.
West Coast federal and state trustees and oil industry representatives convened in Portland, Oregon, for the West Coast Joint Assessment Team (JAT) meeting on December 3, 2014.
The JAT is a forum for trustees and industry to coordinate on Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA) planning and approaches related to oil spills.
On December 9, 2014, OR&R introduced the semiannual ERMA® newsletter, which will serve to inform users of system updates and any changes in functionality.
OR&R's Emergency Response Division (ERD) recently conducted a five day Science of Oil Spills (SOS) class from November 17-21, 2014 in Norfolk, Virginia.
Tom Barry is the Marine Debris Program's Cooperative Programs Specialist.
Dr. Lisa DiPinto of the OR&R Assessment and Restoration Division delivered two presentations on the ongoing Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA) of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill at the second workshop on Marine Oil Spill and Biological Effects in Busan, South Korea on December 3-5, 2014.
NOAA Acting Assistant Secretary for Conservation and Management, Holly Bamford, stopped by the Disaster Response Center (DRC) on Monday, December 1, 2014 while she was in town for the Bays and Bayous Symposium.
As part of the Clean Gulf conference this week (see related article in this issue), Paige Doelling, Kyle Jellison, and John Tarpley toured the Marine Well Containment Company shore facility in Ingleside, Texas.
In addition to serving on the planning committee, OR&R presented one poster and six papers, served as a chair or co-chair for two sessions and participated on a panel for the December 2-4, 2014, Clean Gulf Conference in San Antonio, Texas.
The 35th annual meeting of the Society of Toxicology and Chemistry recently held its meeting in Vancouver, BC.
On December 2, 2014, staff from OR&R joined partner U.S. agencies in meetings with Cuba, Mexico, and the Bahamas as part of Multilateral Technical Operating Procedures (MTOP) efforts.
November 2014
On November 20, 2014, NOAA's Holly Bamford, Acting Assistant Secretary for Conservation and Management, represented NOAA at a meeting of senior agency executives at U.S. Coast Guard Headquarters in Washington DC.
OR&R and EPA met on November 18-20, 2014, to address recommendations for CAMEO (Computer-Aided Management of Emergency Operations) made in Executive Order (EO) 13650.
NOAA’s Office of Response and Restoration has incorporated the Inland Sensitivity Atlas (ISA) for the Great Lakes region into the Great Lakes Environmental Response Management Application (ERMA) to support contingency planning, assist responders, and enhance public access to this information.
On November 12-14, 2014, OR&R staff participated in a technical forum entitled “Understanding Dispersants in Oil Spill Response”, at the Nova Southeastern University Oceanographic Center in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
On Monday, November 17, 2014, staff from the NOAA Marine Debris Program (MDP) participated in a workshop led by The Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC) where they explored the topic of lost and derelict blue crab pots in the Chesapeake Bay.
A Swedish delegation representing nine government agencies is touring DC and the Gulf region to discuss interagency and public crisis communications during oil and chemical spills with various US agencies. The group visited OR&R in Silver Spring on Monday, November 19 and will visit the NOAA Gulf of Mexico Disaster Response Center on Monday, November 24.