Pollution Response

responds to minimize the impact of those that do occur. Pollution incidents can be

devastating - the Exxon Valdez oil spill killed a great number of marine mammals, fish

and birds, and caused a serious economic loss to the fishing industry. Yet, the Exxon

Valdez oil spill would have had far worse impacts on the marine environment and local

fishing industry had it not been for Coast Guard efforts to effectively coordinate

response efforts, halt the discharge of oil, and contain and remove oil in the water.

Key Factors

A quick response to pollution-causing incidents, coupled with the ability to choose the

appropriate spill mitigation strategy, and get the appropriate equipment on scene is key

to minimizing environmental damage. Incident location, extent of vessel or facility

damage or mechanical problem, type of petroleum product spilled, on scene weather, sea

conditions, and length of time oil has been in the water all play a role in how

successful mitigation efforts will be. Each pollution incident is different - the Coast

Guard must maintain the readiness to formulate and implement the best response that

minimizes the impact of the contaminants.

Strategies

The Coast Guard seeks to maintain a high level of response preparedness. It staffs the

National Response Center which serves as the sole national point of contact for

reporting all oil, chemical, radiological, biological, and etiological discharges into

the environment anywhere in the U.S. The center gathers and distributes spill data for

Federal On-Scene Coordinators and serves as the communications and operations center for

spill responses. The Coast Guard also operates three National Strike Teams that must

maintain a 24 hour-a-day readiness for major incident response We also maintain smaller

response teams at Marine Safety Offices around the country. Research and development

projects play a large role in improving pollution response, including the development of

predictive models for response equipment, and evaluation of in-situ burning as a

response tool.

Coordination

The Coast Guard maintains agreements with a variety of federal entities to coordinate

spill response. Through the National Response Team (NRT) and Regional Response Teams,

the Coast Guard works with sixteen federal departments and agencies and many state and

local governments. The NRT is chaired by the Environmental Protection Agency; the Coast

Guard serves as Vice Chair. Each of the 13 RRTs are co-chaired by EPA and the Coast

Guard.

22 Protection of Natural Resources