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Press Release | May 18, 2023

MEDIA AVAILABILITY: Coast Guard, partner agencies to hold oil spill-boom deployment exercise in Yorktown

Coast Guard 5th District

PORTSMOUTH, Va.  –  

Editor's note: Media interested in attending are asked to RSVP Coast Guard 5th District Public Affairs at 757-295-8435 by 2 p.m. May 19. Parking will be available at the end of Water St.

Who: Coast Guard, Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, Virginia Department of Emergency Management, York County and Accurate Marine Environmental

What: Media will have the opportunity to interview spokespersons and get imagery of members placing 500 feet of floating-absorbent oil boom in the waters along Yorktown Beach.

When: Media is requested to arrive Monday, May 22 by 11:30 a.m.  Parking is available at the Beach Picnic Area located at the end of Water Street, accessible via Comte de Grasse Street (drive past the Victory Monument, right turn down toward the beach, right turn into parking area; travel toward picnic shelters for available parking)

Where: 608 Water St. Yorktown, VA 23690

PORTSMOUTH, Va. – The Coast Guard, Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, Environmental Protection Agency, Virginia Department of Emergency Management, Port of Virginia, York County’s Emergency Management, York County, Abbington Fire Department, York County Department of Fire and Life Safety, and Accurate Marine Environmental are scheduled to conduct an oil spill-boom deployment exercise Monday near Yorktown Beach in Yorktown.

The oil spill boom deployment is part of a full-scale exercise that spanned Virginia and North Carolina. Crews in North Carolina conducted a boom-deployment exercise April 11, around Monkey Island. Personnel from more than 40 agencies came together in the Outer Banks for a two-day oil spill preparation exercise April 19. The scenario for the drill was of a vessel colliding with a submerged object 40 miles off the Virginia-North Carolina coast releasing more than 226,000 gallons of fuel oil.

Boom is a temporary barrier designed to contain oil.

The joint exercise is designed to test and improve the effectiveness of federal, state, and local agencies in Virginia and North Carolina to respond to a major pollution incident. The exercise was originally scheduled to take place at Rudee inlet but was rescheduled and relocated in the wake of the tornado strike in Virginia Beach.

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-USCG

 

Coast Guard Boom Exercise

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