Damon Sanders, a member of the U.S. Coast Guard Force Readiness Command’s Exercise Support Team, discusses the extent of a simulated oil spill on the Maumee River with other exercise controllers representing industry and local agency stakeholders, during a 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. The Exercise Support Team assists local Coast Guard units and their port partners with developing and executing a wide range of all-hazards contingency plans.