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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.
November 2020
NOVEMBER 2, 2020 — OR&R Director Scott Lundgren and Senior Scientist Lisa DiPinto joined the Canadian Multi-Partner Research Initiative (CAMPRI) Advisory Committee held virtually on Wednesday October 28. CAMPRI is part of the Canadian National Oceans Protection Plan and is mid-way through five years of research that draws upon the expertise and experience of oil spill experts in Canada and internationally.
NOVEMBER 2, 2020 — OR&R Senior Scientist Lisa DiPinto joined scientists from the EPA and U.S. Coast Guard to conduct experiments at the Ohmsett test tank facility in Leonardo, New Jersey to prepare for larger scale experiments being planned for later this year.
NOVEMBER 2, 2020 — An OR&R biologist was part of a discussion panel for the Eighth Annual Friday Harbor (Washington) Film Festival on October 25. The panel discussed the featured PBS documentary film, Changing Seas: A Decade After Deepwater, which showcased the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative (GoMRI) research program and its scientists over the last ten years.
NOVEMBER 2, 2020 — With the start of school, OR&R scientists began another year of exchanging letters with "pre-scientists" around the country. This month OR&R scientists participating in the Letters to a Pre-Scientist program received their first pen pal letters.
NOVEMBER 2, 2020 — Over the past several weeks, members of the CAMEO® team participated in the virtual Fall 2020 National Association of SARA Title III Program Officials (NASTTPO) Conference, a meeting for members of the hazmat planning community to share best practices, hear updates on hazmat regulation and policy, and learn about tools and aids to help in hazmat management and response.
October 2020
OCTOBER 26, 2020 — On October 15, the NOAA Marine Debris Program’s (MDP) Chief Scientist, Amy V. Uhrin, provided a virtual presentation to the Pacific Islands Region Observer Program as part of their 6-month re-training meeting.
OCTOBER 26, 2020 — Did you know that harmful algal blooms (HABS) cost the U.S. economy millions of dollars each year and impact every coast in the U.S., including the Great Lakes? Last Thursday on the You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know lecture series, we were honored to have renowned scientist and HAB expert, Dr. Quay Dortch, join us.
OCTOBER 26, 2020 — On October 20-21, the Gulf of Mexico Alliance’s Marine Debris Cross Team Initiative held its annual two-day meeting to bring together entities across the Gulf that currently address marine debris issues.
OCTOBER 26, 2020 — On October 14, 2020 a $22.3 million settlement was finalized to restore natural resources injured by the 2015 Refugio Beach oil spill near Santa Barbara, California.
OCTOBER 26, 2020 — The Disaster Preparedness Program (DPP) is pleased to announce the second annual Lagniappe Awards request for proposals. The DPP has budgeted FY21 funds to continue to support preparedness across the National Ocean Service (NOS).
OCTOBER 26, 2020 — On October 19, Marine Debris Program (MDP) staff served on the U.S. delegation to the Fifteenth Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Oceans and Fisheries Working Group (OFWG) meeting.
OCTOBER 19, 2020 — The Team Member of the Year award recognizes outstanding contributions to the National Ocean Service (NOS) programs and the demonstrated exceptional and sustained effort toward accomplishment of NOS missions.
OCTOBER 19, 2020 — OR&R will host a Next Generation ESI Workshop—with stakeholders across multiple USCG Districts—to brainstorm ways to improve the process of updating Environmental Sensitivity Index (ESI) maps.
OCTOBER 19, 2020 — On October 9, the NOAA Marine Debris Program’s (MDP) Pacific Island Regional Coordinator, Mark Manuel, provided a virtual presentation to the University of Hawai‘i at Hilo (UH-Hilo) Marine Science 100 course.
OCTOBER 13, 2020 — On the evening of September 29, ARD's Southeast Regional Manager Kevin Kirsch provided the Savannah State University's Coastal Zone Management Class an introduction to the Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA) process.
OCTOBER 13, 2020 — On October 6, the Southeast Assessment and Restoration Division Regional Manager, Kevin Kirsch, participated in the Houston Virtual Green Job Program. The event was organized by Citizens' Environmental Coalition, an organization out of Houston, TX that fosters dialogue, education, and collaboration on environmental issues in the Houston and Gulf Coast region.
OCTOBER 13, 2020 — NOAA’s National Ocean Service brings a wealth of coastal science, management, and operational expertise to help communities respond to and recover from hurricanes. OR&R’s Disaster Preparedness Program (DPP) supported National Ocean Service preparedness and response operations for Hurricane Delta for the duration of the event.
OCTOBER 13, 2020 — Hurricane Sally made landfall at Gulf Shores, Alabama, on September 16, 2020 as a Category 2 storm with sustained winds of 105 mph and devastating storm surge. Battering the Alabama and Florida coastlines for over six hours, the storm’s impacts extended across a broad area of the northern Gulf of Mexico.
OCTOBER 13, 2020 — On October 6, the Marine Debris Program participated in a virtual STEM teacher workshop engaging with teachers from Hawaii and American Samoa.
OCTOBER 5, 2020 — Over the past fiscal year, October 1, 2019 to September 30, 2020, OR&R's Emergency Response Division (ERD) was notified of 200 incidents and activated for 174 incidents. 82% were oil spills, 4% were chemical spills, and 14% were other incidents.
OCTOBER 5, 2020 — Hurricane Sally made landfall at Gulf Shores, Alabama, on September 16, 2020 as a Category 2 storm with 105 mph winds and devastating storm surge. The storm’s impacts extended across a broad area of the Northern Gulf of Mexico.
OCTOBER 5, 2020 — Washington State University (WSU) Snohomish County Extension hosted the Oil Spill Awareness and Response Support course September 19 and 26.
OCTOBER 5, 2020 — On September 23, Ashley Hill, the Marine Debris Program’s Florida and Caribbean Regional Coordinator, presented during the NOAA in the Caribbean Community Webinar about the Marine Debris Program’s current initiatives in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
OCTOBER 5, 2020 — On September 16, Hurricane Sally made landfall in the early morning hours at Gulf Shores, Alabama, as a strong Category 2 hurricane with sustained wind speeds of 105 mph. The storm battered the Alabama and Florida coastlines for 6+ hours.
OCTOBER 5, 2020 — OR&R, with co-hosts from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Park Service, and U.S. Forest Service, led a Natural Resource Damage Assessment and Restoration (NRDAR) training for oil spill responders in Alaska.
OCTOBER 5, 2020 — On September 30, the National Ocean Service published a two-part NOAA Ocean Podcast featuring Marine Debris Program (MDP) Chief Scientist, Dr. Amy V. Uhrin.
September 2020
SEPTEMBER 28, 2020 — The first of three virtual symposia was held on Monday, September 21 to discuss key scientific results from ongoing research ranging from Arctic cod and forage fish impairment after oil spills to marine debris impacts nationally and internationally.
SEPTEMBER 28, 2020 — The Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Steel Corporation are making final preparations to initiate a joint sediment cleanup in the Saint Louis River in Duluth, Minnesota. They will dredge and excavate over 780,000 cubic yards of material in and around the former U.S. Steel Duluth Works site.
SEPTEMBER 28, 2020 — On September 17, Andrew Mason, Pacific Northwest Regional Coordinator of the Marine Debris Program (MDP), joined the host of the local Washington State podcast Coastal Café to discuss the effects of marine debris on boaters in the region.
SEPTEMBER 28, 2020 — On September 15, Ashley Hill, the Marine Debris Program’s Florida and Caribbean Regional Coordinator, presented on marine debris activities in Florida during a Coastal Conservation Panel as part of the Florida Master Naturalist Program (FMNP) hosted by Loggerhead Marinelife Center.