U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer 1st Class Timothy Tamargo, of Lakeland, Fla., answers questions regarding the Joint Information Center’s social media response to a simulated oil spill on the Maumee River, during a Coast Guard-led multi-agency preparedness for response exercise, Aug. 13, 2014. Hosted by Coast Guard Marine Safety Unit Toledo, the PREP exercise scenario tested stakeholders’ ability to respond within a unified incident command framework to a simulated allision of a tank barge with a submerged object, causing a worst-case discharge within the Port of Toledo and Maumee Bay that could affect the port’s environmentally-sensitive areas. The goal of the exercise, which drew over 400 participants representing more than a dozen federal, state, and local stakeholders, was to improve the Western Lake Erie Area Contingency Plan and build the area’s readiness to respond to an actual oil spill. Exercise participants created a replica social media interface in order to practice engaging and responding to the public following an incident.