An official website of the United States government.
NOV. 12, 2024 — Over the past year, the NOAA Office of Response and Restoration (OR&R) Disaster Preparedness Program (DPP) and the Coastal Response Research Center at the University of New Hampshire partnered with Louisiana Sea Grant to launch a series of resources to assist communities following natural disasters.
OR&R Weekly Report
The Office of Response and Restoration publishes this weekly round-up of news and information of interest to our partners, stakeholders, and team members. Click to subscribe
NOV. 12, 2024 — Staff from the NOAA Office of Response and Restoration (OR&R) Assessment and Restoration Division and Emergency Response Division attended the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC) North America annual conference in Fort Worth, Texas from October 20–24, 2024. Attended by more than 1,500 scientists, the conference included 1,088 presentations—21 of which were co-authored by NOAA scientists—across 184 scientific sessions.
NOV. 12, 2024 — The NOAA Office of Response and Restoration (OR&R) welcomed four interns from the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES): Jalynn Aaron and Kayla Brown, both majoring in psychology, and Mikaela Blackwood and Amari Dupree, both majoring in biology. From this November 2024 through April 2025, interns will remotely support OR&R’s Assessment and Restoration Division with work on natural resource damage assessment and restoration.
November 2022
NOV. 7, 2022 — The Office of Response and Restoration recently participated in the final of four multi-agency hotwashes to debrief the F/V Aleutian Isle sinking incident that occurred in the San Juan Islands in the state of Washington.
NOV. 7, 2022 — On Oct. 26, representatives from NOAA’s National Ocean Service and the Marine Debris Program, within NOAA's Office of Response and Restoration, presented to more than 200 middle and high school students at a unique field trip opportunity in Washington D.C.
NOAA Marine Debris Program Joins Sustainability Leaders on the Water to Discuss Microfiber Pollution
NOV. 7, 2022 — On Oct. 27, NOAA Marine Debris Program staff attended Materevolve’s Textiles x Ocean Connector Sail Event in San Francisco Bay, California. The goal of the event was to bring sustainability leaders together to discuss important topics at the intersection of textiles and ocean.
NOV. 7, 2022 — For the first time in three years, U.S. Coast Guard District 9 held an Incident Management Team round-up training event in Camp Grayling, Michigan.
October 2022
OCT. 31, 2022 — Nearly half of all Americans are exposed to potentially damaging earthquakes where they work and live. Still, others will be at risk when traveling. It’s a good idea for everyone, everywhere to know how to protect themselves during an earthquake.
OCT. 24, 2022 — On Oct. 6, Andrew Mason, the Pacific Northwest regional coordinator for NOAA's Marine Debris Program shared his NOAA career story, including that of starting as an intern before becoming a contractor and eventually a federal employee, with seniors from Highline High School in the Seattle area.
OCT. 24, 2022 — On Oct. 13, Christy Kehoe, the California regional coordinator for the NOAA’s Marine Debris Program, within the Office of Response and Restoration, presented at the virtual California State University Channel Islands Women in Conservation Session Speaker Series.
OCT. 24, 2022 — A new map synthesizes more than 30 years of NOAA oil spill and hazardous waste pollution settlements. In total, NOAA has helped recover $10.6 billion for restoration from settlements across the United States.
OCT. 24, 2022 — In early October, OR&R Director Scott Lundgren, along with several OR&R scientists, traveled to Halifax, Nova Scotia to participate in the International Oil Spill Science conference. This conference was an in-depth scientific conference capping the first phase of the Canada Multi-Partner Research Initiative funded under Canada's Oceans Protection Plan.
OCT. 21, 2022 — On Oct. 19-20, OR&R was represented by Scott Lundgren, Aaron Parker, and LT Steven Wall at two information exchange forums with the oil spill response community.
OCT. 17, 2022 — Approximately one year ago on Oct. 1, 2021, the Pipeline P00547 (Huntington Beach) oil spill occurred in Southern California. An underwater pipeline running from Platform Elly to Long Beach spilled an estimated 25,000 gallons of crude oil into San Pedro Bay.
OCT. 17, 2022 — OR&R’s Emergency Response Division recently completed an update to the guide book, Oil and Sea Turtles: Biology, Planning, and Response.
OCT. 17, 2022 — On Oct. 6, the NOAA Marine Debris Program, within the Office of Response and Restoration, proudly announced that the 2023 Marine Debris Calendar is now available for download!
OCT. 17, 2022 — With a team of instructors led by Scientific Support Coordinator Frank Csulak, NOAA's Office of Response and Restoration hosted a Science of Oil Spills class in the mid-Atlantic region the week of Sept. 12, 2022.
OCT. 17, 2022 — Following the 7th International Marine Debris Conference, held Sept. 19-23 in Busan, South Korea, NOAA Marine Debris Program Chief Scientist Amy V. Uhrin was invited to tour the facilities at the Korea Institute of Ocean Science and Technology's South Sea Research Institute on Geoje Island, South Korea.
OCT. 17, 2022 — From Sept. 27-28, the NOAA Marine Debris Program (MDP), within the Office of Response and Restoration, participated in the Virginia Marine Debris Summit hosted in Virginia Beach, Virginia. This gathering brought together local, state, and federal marine debris and plastic pollution experts in focused discussion around tackling the challenges of consumer debris throughout the commonwealth.
OCT. 17, 2022 — Sept. 21-22, 2022 marked the inaugural workshop welcoming the establishment of the U.S. Coast Guard National Center of Expertise for the Great Lakes. The workshop convened NCOE stakeholders who shared information about current research projects, identified research gaps, and prioritized opportunities to advance oil spill response capabilities in the Great Lakes.
OCT. 17, 2022 — On Sept. 27, the NOAA Marine Debris Program Alaska Regional Coordinator Peter Murphy presented as part of a NOAA Live! webinar titled “Keeping Alaska's Coastline Clean: What You Can Do about Marine Debris in Your Community.”
OCT. 17, 2022 — OR&R biologist and Environmental Sensitivity Index Program Manager Nicolle Rutherford presented at a series of conferences and workshops in September to share the benefits and uses of Environmental Sensitivity Index maps and data.
OCT. 3, 2022 — On Sept. 28, the NOAA Marine Debris Program, within the Office of Response and Restoration, announced the 14 recipients of our 2022 Removal and Prevention Grant awards totaling nearly $3.7 million in federal funds, including funding provided through the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement Implementation Act.
OCT. 3, 2022 — On Sept. 21, NOAA Marine Debris Program’s Northeast Regional Coordinator Demi Fox participated in an on-water Rapid Assessment Team during an oil spill exercise on the Piscataqua River.
September 2022
SEPT. 26, 2022 — On Sept. 15 and 16, the 13th Natural Resources Symposium "Natural Resources at a Crossroads" reconvened at George Washington University.
SEPT. 26, 2022 — When things don’t go as planned, and oil hits the water, people have many questions that need answers. Where will the oil go? What can be done to clean it up? How badly did it damage the environment? What is the best way to clean up the oil without making things worse? Luckily, NOAA scientists from the Office of Response and Restoration have the background and expertise to help answer each of these questions.
SEPT. 26, 2022 — On Sept. 18-23, 2022, staff from NOAA's Marine Debris Program, within the Office of Response and Restoration, supported and participated in the 7th International Marine Debris Conference in Busan, Republic of Korea.
SEPT. 19, 2022 — On Sept. 15, NOAA's Marine Debris Program and the Environmental Protection Agency’s Trash Free Waters Program, on behalf of the Interagency Marine Debris Coordinating Committee, shared a draft Report on Microfiber Pollution for public comment.
SEPT. 19, 2022 — OR&R has released a brief survey to evaluate the amount of human-use data for inclusion in Environmental Sensitivity Index (ESI) maps.
SEPT. 19, 2022 — On Sept. 1, 2022, the Office of Response and Restoration’s Environmental Response Management Application (ERMA) team released a new version of the application. The overhauled look and layout focuses on providing a streamlined interface to visualize and explore spatial data.
SEPT. 19, 2022 — Staff from OR&R’s Emergency Response Division participated in a worst-case oil spill response exercise conducted by ExxonMobil in Guam from Sept. 12-14.