JUNE 3, 2024 — On May 13, 2024, the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington finalized a settlement with Crowley Marine Services, Inc. (Crowley), 8th Avenue Terminals, Inc. and the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT). The settlement is on behalf of the Elliott Bay Trustee Council, which includes NOAA, the U.S.
OR&R Weekly Report
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January 2015
Commercial fishermen spent three days removing "ghost pots" this week from North Carolina's waters as part of a two-year grant from the NOAA Marine Debris Program (MDP) to clean up the crab pots and re-purpose them into oyster reefs. Jason Rolfe, the MDP's Mid-Atlantic regional coordinator participated and said they were on pace to exceed last year's removal numbers.
OR&R collaborated with the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) and EPA to present a full day course, “Introduction to Oil Spill Response for Firefighters and Public Safety Personnel,” at the Florida Hazardous Material Symposium for firefighters from Florida.
A contingent of OR&R staff and scientists joined 800 attendees at the 2015 Alaska Marine Science Symposium in Anchorage, January 19-22, 2015.
NOAA is in London, UK, the week of January 19, 2015, as part of the Pollution Prevention and Response (PPR) subcommittee of the larger Marine Environmental Protection Committee (MEPC) at the International Maritime Organization.
Marine debris is a global problem, and marine debris items are found on beaches all over the world. But how can we tell how much debris washes up on the beach, and when?
This week a series of guidelines for collecting ephemeral data for oil spills in the Arctic to support Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA) were released.
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.