This two-day workshop was hosted and attended by the Maritime Fire and Safety Association, USCG, federal, state, local, tribes and industry response partners in the region.

The regional understanding of risks associated with non-floating oil spills has grown since the Kalamazoo River Oil Spill 2010. Over the past several years, the region has updated the Northwest Area Contingency Plan, federal and state regulations, and Geographic Response Plans to address risks to sensitive natural, cultural, and economic resources. The goal of this workshop is to incorporate local knowledge into the response and establish partnerships that will be key to a successful response.

The first day included presentations on the chemical attributes of non-floating oils and safety considerations for response. LCDR Knighton presented an overview of NOAA modeling tools and other considerations for non-floating oil spill response on the Columbia River. Day two included presentations on non-floating oil spill response, assessment and recovery tools, and case studies on non-floating oil responses. 

The workshop concluded with a Unified Command tabletop exercise with a specific scenario of a simulated release of a non-floating oil on the Columbia River. This included an incident briefing, setting incident objectives, discussing Geographic Resource Plan’s, and identifying Resources at Risk. The OR&R SSC and Scientific Support Team provided drill products that included a weather forecast, ADIOS and GNOME trajectories, tides and currents, and a spill movie for this scenario. Tactics, technologies, recovery options and challenges locating non-floating oil in response were also discussed on how to establish end points. Next steps included lessons learned from this simulated Unified Command session. 

For further information, contact Faith.Knighton@noaa.gov.