In addition to the NRC tour, the visit allowed for other discussion with Coast Guard Incident Management and Preparedness and Marine Environmental Response leaders.

The NRC is a part of the federally established National Response System for response to oil and hazardous substances, and is staffed 24 hours a day by the U.S. Coast Guard. It is the designated federal point of contact for reporting all oil, chemical, radiological, biological and etiological discharges into the environment, anywhere in the United States and its territories. The NRC also takes reports of railroad incidents and maritime suspicious activity and security breaches within the waters of the United States and its territories.

Approximately 30,000 notifications a year are received by the National Response Center, and for pollution cases, subsequent notifications are made to On-Scene Coordinators as the federal lead response officials for further assessment; many other government entities also receive automated NRC notifications as a courtesy.  The NRC serves as the basis for activation of the National Response System.

As described during the visit, OR&R’s Scientific Support Coordinators receive all NRC notifications through NOAA’s ResponseLink system for responders, however our scientific support is requested for a subset of the overall notifications.  The OR&R Emergency Response Division responds annually to approximately 200 On-Scene Coordinator requests for scientific support.

For further information, contact Scott.Lundgren@noaa.gov.