The facility, also known as Ohmsett, is the only one of its kind in North America that can test marine oil spill response equipment and procedures. Over the past few years the facility has been used for testing funded by the Environmental Protection Agency, the Navy, the U.S. Coast Guard, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, as well as Environment Canada and the Canadian Coast Guard.
Private industry pays a daily rate to use the facility.