bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Taking a Step Back. Exercises as Training Opportunities.
Authors: Gleason Joseph 
Published: January 2013

ABSTRACT
Historically, many response exercises conducted by the United States Coast Guard and other oil spill response stakeholders have been conducted as functional or full-scale exercises. With the increased demands placed on many U.S. agencies as a result of the terrorist attacks of September 11’ 2001, there is a greater need than ever to ensure that time spent in training and exercises produces positive and tangible results for the participants. In preparation for the joint US/Canadian response exercise, CANUSLANT 2002, the U.S. and Canadian Coast Guards decided to take a step back and look at the lessons learned from previous exercises. Based on this review, the Joint Response Team (JRT) decided to focus CANUSLANT 2002 as a training opportunity and to work on the lessons learned that were repeatedly identified in earlier CANUSLANT exercises. Perhaps the most common exercise conducted in oil spill response is the functional “command post” exercise where exercise participants are assigned to ICS (Incident Command System) staff elements. Participants then respond to an exercise scenario and prescripted injects that are provided to drive participant actions. With personnel turnover, transfers, and increased operational demands, many exercise participants struggle through the crisis phase of an incident scenario and never have the opportunity to learn what it is they are supposed to be doing. When all is said and done, many exercise participants are often simply go home happy that the exercise is over and done with. The goal for CANUSLANT 2002 was to produce an exercise where the participants accomplished something tangible; that long pending issues would be discussed and perhaps even resolved. The Exercise Design Team hoped that the participants walked away from the exercise saying that it was time well spent and not simply thankful that the exercise was over. This paper outlines the factors that led to the success of the CANUSLANT 2002 cross border response exercise. This paper also highlights some of the fundamentals for varying your approach to exercises to achieve tangible results while providing personnel the skills and training required to respond in the event of a real disaster.
Numerical Model for Estimation of Pipeline Oil Spill Volumes
Authors: Reed Mark , Hetland Ben , Johansen Øistein , Høverstad Boye , Emilsen Morten H. , Buffington Sharon 
Published: January 2013

ABSTRACT
The Minerals Management Service Pipeline Oil Spill Volume Estimation Model (POSVEM) is a computer-based methodology to estimate discharges from seafloor pipelines. The system is composed of a Release Module and a Near Field Module, linked together with necessary databases through a Graphical User Interface (GUI). The GUI allows the user to sketch a platform – pipeline layout, enter characteristic parameters, and run a quasi-3-phase flow model to estimate the volume of potential or actual leaks. Inputs to the model are parameters describing the configuration and characteristics of a pipeline system, the fluid it contains, and the leak or break from which the discharge occurs. Key outputs are the evolution of the release rate over time, the total mass of oil released, and the mean thickness of any eventual surface slick being formed. Test applications of the software are described.
Erika Oil Spill: Responding in Difficult-to-Access Coves and on Cliffs
Authors: Kerambrun Loïc 
Published: January 2013

ABSTRACT
Endless stretches of cliffs with deep coves and caves were coated with Heavy Fuel Oil during the Erika oil spill. Professional rope workers were called in to help clean the cliffs and the coves as most of them were located in protected reserves. This was the very first time that such a technique was used to clean up pollution and it turned out to be original if only because of the size of the job to be done. The clean-up operation lasted two and a half years, involved over 800 work sites and the rope workers cleaned up more than 50 of them. As a rule, cliffs that are hard to access are not cleaned up if only for safety and logistics reasons. There were various reasons why so many work sites had to be set up during the Erika clean-up, namely: the nature and the quantities of the HFO, the ecological, amenity and heritage importance of the area, the know how and the complementarity of the rope workers and the clean-up companies that continually improved their techniques and their efficiency as time went by. Thanks to compliance with rules and safety standards there were no accidents.
The M/V New Amity Response: Balancing Safety, Environment, and Commerce During an Emergency Oil Spill Response
Authors: Cook Kevin , Arnhart Richard , Henry Charlie 
Published: January 2013

ABSTRACT
On 22 September 2001, a collision occurred between the M/V NEW AMITY and barge, NMS No. 1486 in the Houston Ship Channel. The collision resulted in damage to a single skinned fuel tank of the NEW AMITY and created an oil spill in Upper Galveston Bay near Morgans Point, Texas. The double-hulled cargo oil tanks on the NEW AMITY were not damaged. Additionally, none of the tanks on the NMS No. 1486 were damaged. Immediately after the incident, the damaged tanker was directed by the Coast Guard Captain of the Port (COTP) and Federal On-Scene Coordinator (FOSC) to proeceed to the nearest lay berth. The Port of Houston Barbours Cut container terminal was less that a mile away and the tanker arrived while still leaking oil. A reported 36,000 gallons of IFO-380 was released before the source could be controlled; much of the oil being trapped under the pier structures within Barbours Cut. The oil spill impacted some 20 miles of shoreline habitat including salt marshes, sand and shell beaches, and riprap. The decision to move the vessel into Barbours Cut set the stage for a challenging, but ultimately successful spill response and cleanup. It was uniquely characterized by the difficult task of balancing safety, environmental, and commercial concerns during spill response. Response actions were conducted with the goal of minimizing impacts to commerce without compromising the environmental response and worker safety. The Shoreline Cleanup and Assessment Team (or SCAT) process was used to insure that environmental issues were addressed with participation of trustee agencies and to develop cleanup endpoints. Considering the volume of oil released into a sensitive estuarine system, the long-term impacts to the environment were relatively minor. To expedite cleanup, the entire 1.1 mile overhanging dock facility was cleared and four tugs were used to provide a unique method to flush oil out from under the dock into collection areas and open water mechanical skimming systems. Additionally, surface washing agents were used to enhance vessel and hard structure cleanup. Despite the extended response and difficult conditions, no major injuries were reported during the response. A complicating factor throughout was that the spill occurred just eleven days after the September 11th terrorist attack, as U.S. Coast Guard resources and local media were focused on maritime homeland security.
Oil-Spill Risk Analysis for Assessing Environmental Impacts
Authors: Ji Zhen-Gang , Johnson Walter R. , Price James M. , Marshall Charles F. 
Published: January 2013

ABSTRACT
The Minerals Management Service (MMS), an agency of the U.S. Department of the Interior, maintains a leasing program for commercial oil and gas development on the Outer Continental Shelf in U.S. territorial waters. The MMS performs an oil-spill risk analysis (OSRA) using, in part, a statistical model of hypothetical oil-spill trajectories. The OSRA Model is driven by analyzed sea surface winds and model-generated ocean surface currents. Instead of focusing on individual oil-spill events, the OSRA examines oil-spill risks over long periods of time, ranging from 5 years to decades. The OSRA Model calculates thousands of oil-spill trajectories over extended areas of the U. S. continental shelf and tabulates the frequencies with which the simulated oil-spills contact the geographic boundaries of designated natural resources within a specified number of days after the simulated spill events. A key element of OSRA Model runs is the particle trajectory simulation based on wind velocities and surface ocean currents. It is critical that the trajectory model has a numerical scheme that is stable, accurate, and efficient. Currently, two numerical schemes are incorporated into the model: the Eulerian scheme and the 4th order Runge-Kutta scheme. To test the numerical schemes, a set of analytical solutions to the Navier-Stokes equations is developed. The analytical velocities and particle trajectories are compared with the numerical solutions from the two numerical schemes. The stability and efficiency of the two schemes are discussed. Applying the model to the Gulf of Mexico using 9 years of winds and ocean currents, we find that the OSRA Model with the 4th order Runge-Kutta scheme is much more efficient and able to better represent the circulation patterns and particle movements in the Gulf of Mexico.
Ephemeral Data Collection During the Emergency Phase of a Spill: Protocols on Design and Methods
Authors: Michel Jacqueline , Zengel Scott , Hinkeldey Heidi , Helton Doug 
Published: January 2013

ABSTRACT
During the emergency phase of an oil or hazardous material spill, natural resource managers and trustees must quickly develop and implement study plans to collect ephemeral data on the extent and degree of contamination and the potential biological injury resulting from the spill. Various groups have developed comprehensive manuals and guidelines, yet these documents have proven to be too difficult to use during the chaotic, early days of a spill emergency. To provide better guidance, a series of brief (two-to-three pages) protocol summaries have been prepared for the types of sampling activities likely to be conducted during the emergency phase of spill, supporting both response and natural resource damage assessment (NRDA) objectives. Previously protocols were prepared for collection of samples of the source oil(s), water samples, intertidal sediments, subtidal sediments, and shellfish tissues for chemical and histopathological analysis. New protocols have been prepared for: Biota/Tarball Stranding Documentation; Salt Marsh Reconnaissance; Intertidal Infauna Sampling; Stranded Oil Quantification on Beaches; Sunken Oil Pathways; and Bird Injury Quantification.
Results of a Three Year Monitoring Programme on the Natural Recovery of Vegetation after the Erika Oil Spill: Lessons for Adapting Response Techniques
Authors: Poncet Florence , Laruelle Franck , Ragot Rémy , Tintilier Frederic 
Published: January 2013

ABSTRACT
The Erika oil spill and the attendant cleaning operations it required have impacted almost every type of Breton shoreline, habitats and plant communities on shingle and sandy beaches, rocky cliffs, marshlands and dunes. The French Ministry of the Environment (Ministère de l'écologie et du développement durable) launched an impact assessment in 2000 on oil spill clean-up operations and the recovery of impacted vegetation via the «Réseau de suivi des conséquences écologiques et écotoxicologiques de la marée noire résultant du naufrage de l'Erika» (Monitoring network of the ecological and ecotoxicological consequences of the Erika oil spill). The Cedre and the Conservatoire Botanique National de Brest are dealing with the terrestrial vegetation program. Vegetation was surveyed in sixty locations where one hundred quadrates were recorded covering all vegetation types including all the degrees of oiling and the varying amounts of damage resulting from the removal of the HFO. A few examples of the oiled areas are discussed. The three year monitoring program shows a high degree of persistence of the HFO in uncleaned quadrates of a number of habitats. The FO 6 did no really serious damage in terms of mortality, vegetation cover and species composition. The survey illustrates how gentle manual oil removal techniques can enhance vegetation recovery within the space of a few years. It also exemplifies how some techniques have a very negative impact such as HWHP washing which only serves to delay recovery.
The Investigation to Identify the SS Jacob Luckenbach – Using Technology to Locate a Hidden Source of Oil that Caused Years of Impacts and the Future Implications of Sunken Shipwrecks
Authors: McGrath Gabrielle G. , Parker-Hall Heather A. , Tarpley John A. , Nack Alan 
Published: January 2013

ABSTRACT
From 1992 until 2002, oiled birds, predominantly common murres, were found along the central California coastline during the winter months, but no significant oil slicks were observed. These repeat “mystery” oil spills puzzled investigators for 10 years while several similar cases of bird impacts occurred from November through February to varying degrees each year. In 2001, the same pattern began yet again. The response to oiled wildlife was the most significant to date. Extending over 220 miles of coastline, more than 2000 birds were recovered and transported for care to California's Oiled Wildlife Care Network (OWCN) facility. Motivated by this serious threat to wildlife, federal and state investigators utilized the historical data collected in previous cases combined with current technology to solve the mystery. An extensive Oil Spill Source Identification Task Force was formed consisting of 20 federal and state agents working together to get to the source of the problem. Through these current technologies, including oil sample analysis; satellite, aerial, and on-water observations; and hindcasting, the Task Force was able to eliminate alternative possibilities and focus the investigation on the last potential source, a sunken shipwreck. The Task Force sifted through four different databases of sunken vessels indicating over 700 shipwrecks off of the San Francisco coast alone to establish eight ships as potential targets. During the first underwater search planned to visually investigate each of these vessels, oil was located in the surface waters above the SS JACOB LUCKENBACH, a C-3 freighter sunk in 1953, 17 miles southwest of the Golden Gate Bridge. Analyses of oil samples collected from the vessel's tanks confirmed the LUCKENBACH as the source impacting California seabirds. Further research showed that all possible responsible parties have been absolved of any liability regarding the sinking of the LUCKENBACH. After spending over $3 million on the 1997–1998 and 2001–2002 incidents for the wildlife response alone and with no party from which to recover the funds, the spill response community is faced with an enormous financial task for the future: responding to inevitable oil spills off the coasts of the United States from thousands of deteriorating shipwrecks sunk decades ago with, in most cases, no responsible parties.
Use of In Situ Burning as an Oil Spill Response Tool: Follow-Up of Four Case Studies
Authors: Michel Jacqueline , Nixon Zach , Hinkeldey Heidi 
Published: January 2013

ABSTRACT
Four in situ burning sites that varied widely in the physical setting, oil type, timing of the burn, and post-burn treatment were assessed 0.5–1.5 years post-burn: two condensate spills in intertidal marshes at Mosquito Bay, LA in April 2001 and near Sabine Lake, LA in February 2000; crude oil spill in a ponded wetland in Minnesota in July 2000; and a spill of diesel in a salt flat/wetland north of Great Salt Lake, UT in January 2000. When used quickly after a release, burning is most effective at reducing damage to vegetation and the areal extent of impact. Where crude oil was burned within hours after the release at the Minnesota site, the impact area was restricted to 3 acres. In contrast, the diesel in the Utah spill spread over 38 acres within 3 days. The window of opportunity for in situ burning to be an effective means of oil removal can be days to months, depending on the spill conditions. The condensate spill at Mosquito Bay site was effectively burned 6–7 days after the release was reported. For spills with snow and ice cover, burning may still be effective months later. In fact, it may be necessary to consider additional burns during thaw periods and during the final thaw. Burning will not reduce the toxic effects of the oil that occurred prior to the burn. It can, however, be very effective at reducing the extent and degree of impacts by quickly removing the remaining oil. In three of the four case studies, the area burned was significantly larger than the oiled area (up to 10 x). Healthy, green, unoiled vegetation is not always an effective fire break, particularly downwind; fires can quickly jump the kinds of fire breaks placed during spill emergencies in wetlands (e.g., vegetation laid down by the passage of airboats).
Development of a New Insurance Protocol for Marine Casualty Response
Authors: Garger Andrew J. , Hobbie Richard H. 
Published: January 2013

ABSTRACT
Marine casualty response has become increasingly complex. Many responsible parties (R.P.'s) do not have the financial resources to fund the potentially high cost of spill response and other aspects of a casualty and they must rely on their various marine insurers, including hull, protection and indemnity, and pollution to cooperate in a timely and effective response. While underwriters have traditionally worked together to coordinate their response and solve response issues, clear responsibility for certain aspects of response has become blurred because environmental concerns are playing a greater role in salvage, firefighting and other aspects of marine casualties. The pollution liability insurers are increasingly being asked to both finance and oversee aspects of marine casualty response that have traditionally been part of the responsibility of other insurance interests. Increased environmental sensitivity, however, should not lead to a shift in the traditional roles of marine insurers in responding to marine casualties. Instead, the marine insurance industry must look to new ways to address the interplay of their coverages to ensure timely casualty response and funding of all necessary operations. This paper will outline possible approaches to address this issue and explore the problems of establishing a market protocol. The protocol could address initial funding of the casualty response and the use of dispute resolution mechanisms such as arbitration. There may also be value in developing a United States agreement along the lines of the Special Compensation P & I Clause (SCOPIC) and there may also be a need to create a new open salvage contract.
Lessons Learned Through Area Exercises in an Inland Region
Authors: Wolf Martha 
Published: January 2013

ABSTRACT
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region VIII (R8) has completed planning and exercising in seven of its designated Sub-Areas. This paper takes a brief journey through the analyzation of the results of the planning and exercising that has taken place by compiling lessons learned by profession and examines the actions taken to change and improve the response plans. A brief summary of the extensive background of activities which have occurred by constituents includes developed written plans, guidelines, and exercises for seven designated Sub-Areas of the Region.
Lessons Learned from 2002 Spill of National Significance (SONS) Exercise Gulf of Mexico
Authors: Drieu Michael , Lynch Patrick , Jensen Pete , Doane Chris , Brolin John , Zukowski Chris 
Published: January 2013

ABSTRACT
The U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) hosted the 2002 SONS Gulf National Incident Commander (NIC) Exercise in New Orleans, Louisiana on 23–25 April 2002 and the 2002 SONS Gulf Executive Seminar in Washington, D. C. on 26 April 2002. This massive effort was accomplished through almost two years of planning by a government/industry workgroup representing the USCG, Texas General Land Office (TGLO), Louisiana Oil Spill Coordinator's Office, ExxonMobil, Stolt-Nielsen Transportation Group, and Environmental Protection Agency Region VI. The original SONS exercise was scheduled to exercise the Nation's ability to respond to a SONS in a two-part format. The terrorist attacks at the Pentagon and the World Trade Center in September 2001 required that the original SONS exercise plans be delayed and amended. The final SONS exercise format was a three-part series. The first part involved tabletop discussions with port-level responders to determine what actions and issues would result from the exercise scenarios. The second part was a multi-day NIC tabletop exercise to understand the roles and responsibilities of the NIC by exploring the NIC's reactions to the scenarios and the issues raised by the affected ports. The third part was an executive-level seminar attended by senior federal government and industry executives as well as elected officials to discuss reactions to national-level issues identified by the NIC and to enhance interagency communication at the headquarters level.
Optimizing Offshore Combat of Oil Spills – Development of New Booms and Helicopter Based Application of Dispersants
Authors: Brekne Tharald M. , Holmemo Sigmund , Skeie Geir M. 
Published: January 2013

ABSTRACT
There is an increasing focus on offshore combat of oil spills on the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS). One result of this focus is a change from field specific to area specific contingency, moving from many medium sized oil spill combat vessels, to fewer and more robust systems and vessels. An important element in the emerging configuration is the use of helicopter based chemical dispersant systems, permanently located on offshore installations. An increasing diversity, of oil types being produced, configuration of installations, water depths and geographic location, are all factors that require a robust, mobile and flexible oil spill response. The Norwegian Clean Seas Association for Operating Companies (NOFO) has recently initiated development of new technology, as projects under NOFO's Research & Development Programme. Three of these projects address the development of improved heavy offshore booms, applying new principles for containment of oil, and a heavy duty skimmer optimized for mobility. A fourth project addresses the development of a system for helicopter based application of chemical dispersants, optimized for offshore storage and maintenance. This paper presents the status for and experience from these projects, as well as the plan for testing and verification of this new technology.
Certification of Oil Spill Skimmers
Authors: Johannessen Bjørn Olaf , Mjelde Alvar , Nåvik Kristin , Gabrielsen Jan Eilert 
Published: January 2013

ABSTRACT
Det Norske Veritas in co-operation with The Norwegian State Pollution Control Authority completed in 2002 the development of a technical framework for a comprehensive assessment of oil spill skimmers. The development has resulted in the three main standards/procedures:Standard for Assessment of Safety, Functionality and Quality of Oil Spill SkimmersStandard for Performance testing of Oil Spill SkimmersProcedure for Preparation of Emulsion for Testing of Oil Spill Response Equipment
These standards form the basis for a skimmer certification system that is now being offered by DNV to skimmer manufacturers internationally. The assessment scheme may also provide regulating authorities with a set of criteria on which to base future requirements imposed on the equipment producing industry.
The skimmer certification is a type approval system and involves two separate phases. The first phase focuses on safety, functionality, quality and documentation; and is carried out based on inspection of the unit, design drawings and documentation. The second phase assesses oil spill recovery capability through physical performance testing in controlled conditions.
This paper describes the skimmer assessment process, outlines the content of the two assessment phases, and gives a brief description of the three newly developed standards.