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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.
October 2021
OCTOBER 25, 2021 ─ On October 8, 2021 NOAA and our co-trustee partners released a Natural Resource Damage Assessment Plan to guide assessment activities related to releases of oil and other contaminants at the ITC Tank Fire site in Deer Park, Texas.
OCTOBER 18, 2021 ─ OR&R’s Assessment and Restoration Division (ARD) and the University of New Hampshire’s Coastal Response Research Center hosted a three-day workshop to improve preparedness for West coast oil spills involving novel oils transported into the region. The workshop delved into a range of emerging oils including bakken, dilbit, biofuels, low sulfur fuel oils, and others.
OCTOBER 18, 2021 ─ The Marine Debris Program (MDP) is pleased to announce that Pacific Coastal Research & Planning (PCRP), a Saipan-based environmental non-profit organization, successfully completed a project funded by the MDP and National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to remove the derelict fishing vessel Lady Carolina from the central Saipan Lagoon.
OCTOBER 18, 2021 — OR&R staff followed up September’s trio of Congressional briefings on the Environmental Sensitivity Index (ESI) program with another set of three briefings between October 12 and 15. These all-interested briefings were an opportunity for Congressional staff to learn about ESI maps and data along with their current status in different regions of the country.
OCTOBER 18, 2021 ─ On October 14, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Marine Debris Program released the New Jersey Marine Debris Emergency Response Guide: Comprehensive Guidance Document (Guide). The Guide is a product of a collaborative process with state and federal agencies.
OCTOBER 11, 2021 ─ On October 2, 2021, U.S. Coast Guard contacted NOAA regarding an unknown sheen in the water. Roughly 45 minutes later, NOAA captured satellite imagery, which became the basis for a NOAA Satellites Marine Pollution Surveillance Report, issued the same day, showing oil slicks extending for more than 30 miles along the coast. U.S. Coast Guard field teams investigating the information observed black oil roughly 3.25 nautical miles offshore and requested NOAA support in mapping the trajectory of the oil.
OCTOBER 11, 2021 ─ On October 6, the Marine Debris Program (MDP) released the 2021 Washington Marine Debris Action Plan. This document is the result of a collaborative effort between the MDP and partners across Washington State, including federal and state governments, tribes, nongovernmental organizations, industry, and academia.
OCTOBER 11, 2021 ─ OR&R’s Simeon Hahn presented with EPA (Chris Orvin), the New Department of Environmental Protection Frank McLaughline), the Partnership for the Delaware Estuary (Kathy Kline and Erica Rosetti), and a community organizer, Collaborate Northeast of Wilmington, Delaware (Bobbi Britton), on the Urban Water Federal Partnership (UWFP) at the 9th Annual Del-AWARE River Watershed Forum organized by the Coalition for the Delaware River Watershed.
OCTOBER 11, 2021 ─ ‘A‘ohe hana nui ke alu ‘ia: No task is too big when done together by all. On September 22, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) celebrated the completion of a 30-day mission to remove marine debris from the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument. The mission removed nearly 124,000 pounds of debris and entanglement hazards from the monument’s waters and shorelines.
OCTOBER 11, 2021 ─ We had a shared idea to create an oceanographic/meteorological buoy system that could be deployed by a relatively small vessel to support scientific research and emergency response. We thought, “There could be so many uses in support of NOAA and NOS missions if we only had such a buoy.” If a critical fixed monitoring station was damaged during a major hurricane and there was a need for real-time data, the buoy could be deployed as a temporary monitoring device.
OCTOBER 11, 2021 ─ The Pacific States/British Columbia Oil Spill Task Force recently announced winners of its Legacy Awards and we are excited to announce that OR&R scientist emeritus Gary Shigenaka was selected for a 2021 Legacy Award in the individual category.
OCTOBER 4, 2021 ─ The Coastal Response Research Center (CRRC) at University of New Hampshire (UNH) successfully responded to a Broad Agency Announcement to continue its work with the science of all-hazard incidents and oil spills.
OCTOBER 4, 2021 ─ New England Scientific Support Coordinator William Whitmore traveled to Belfast, Maine on September 21-22 to assist U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) Sector Northern New England with an oil spill drill that was part of the USCG National Preparedness for Response Program (PREP) and a mission-critical NOAA assignment.
OCTOBER 4, 2021 ─ A collaboration between NOAA OR&R’s Emergency Response Division, the Office of Atmospheric Research, and the Office of Marine and Aviation Operations has resulted in two new job aids for oil spill and hurricane response—the Uncrewed Aircraft Systems Oil Spill Response Job and the Uncrewed Aircraft Systems Hurricane Response Job Aid.
OCTOBER 4, 2021 ─ On September 23, 2021, Great Lakes Scientific Support Coordinator Lieutenant Rachel Pryor participated in a multi-agency effort to train Salamanca fire department and first responders for pollution response and spill equipment deployment in the Allegheny River.
OCTOBER 4, 2021 ─ NOAA and other Lower Duwamish Trustees conducted site visits at two restoration projects in the construction phase along the Lower Duwamish River. Trustees finalized a Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA) settlement in May 2021 with Vigor Industrial and Exxon Mobil.
OCTOBER 4, 2021 ─ The month of September has been a busy one for the ERMA application.
September 2021
SEPTEMBER 27, 2021 ─ On September 15, 2021, Andrew Mason, Pacific Northwest Regional Coordinator of the Marine Debris Program (MDP) presented on marine debris and plastics as part of the Port Townsend Marine Science Center’s virtual educational series in partnership with the Jefferson County Marine Resources Committee.
A new publication entitled "A review of the toxicology of oil in vertebrates: what we have learned following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill" is now available in the Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health, Part B. The open access article can be found for FREE online.
SEPTEMBER 27, 2021 ─ On October 21, OR&R’s Disaster Preparedness Program (DPP) will lead two opportunities to practice earthquake safety during The Great Shakeout! Registration is now open for participants to join at either 11:00 a.m. ET/8:00 a.m. PT OR 4:00 p.m. ET/1:00 p.m. PT.
SEPTEMBER 27, 2021 — NOAA has awarded a contract to Research Planning, Inc. (RPI) to refresh the Environmental Sensitivity Index (ESI) maps and data for Lake Erie. The work is expected to commence during the first quarter of FY22 and be completed by the end of the fiscal year.
SEPT. 13, 2021 — NOAA’s Office of Response and Restoration (OR&R) is excited to announce that Aaron Parker was recently selected as chief of OR&R’s Emergency Response Division — the group within OR&R that provides scientific support for preparedness and response to spills and other coastal emergencies. Aaron took the helm of the division on Aug. 30, 2021.
SEPTEMBER 20, 2021 ─ On September 7, the Marine Debris Program’s (MDP) Monitoring Coordinator Hillary Burgess presented on the Marine Debris Monitoring and Assessment Project to the volunteer coordinators of National Marine Sanctuaries.
SEPTEMBER 20, 2021 ─ On September 13, the NOAA Marine Debris Program announced the FY 2022 notice of funding opportunity for Marine Debris Prevention projects. NOAA will fund prevention projects that actively engage and educate a target audience (such as students, teachers, industries, etc.) in hands-on programs designed to raise awareness, reduce barriers to marine debris prevention, and encourage and support changes in behaviors to ensure long-term prevention of marine debris.
SEPTEMBER 20, 2021 ─ On September 9, Marine Debris Program staff provided a presentation on marine debris impacts to coastal and marine economies during a training for government representatives of Southeast Asian nations.
SEPTEMBER 20, 2021 ─ On September 9, Marine Debris Program staff provided a presentation on marine debris impacts to coastal and marine economies during a training for government representatives of Southeast Asian nations.
SEPTEMBER 20. 2021 ─ On September 8, 2021, two recently retired scientists from OR&R’s Emergency Response Division gave invited virtual presentations at a workshop, Marine Mammal Management in Oil Spill Response, hosted by the Washington State Department of Ecology.
SEPTEMBER 20, 2021 — OR&R staff held three briefings for all interested Congressional staff to introduce them to Environmental Sensitivity Index (ESI) maps and data, and explain their current status in different regions of the country. The presentations were led by Scott Lundgren, Director of NOAA OR&R, and Nicolle Rutherford, ESI Program Manager.
SEPTEMBER 20, 2021 ─ After much planning, preparation, and even a postponement due to Hurricane Ida, the Office of Response and Restoration held a pilot virtual Southeast Resource Advisor Training. So what is a Resource Advisor anyhow?
SEPTEMBER 20, 2021 ─ A U.S. Coast Guard-led planning team which included Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation, NOAA Scientific Support Coordinator, and University of Alaska Arctic Research Institute, that traveled to Kodiak to evaluate oil spill response Geographic Response Strategies or GRS.