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Press Release | March 15, 2024

MEDIA ADVISORY: Coast Guard, partner agencies to conduct oil spill response training in Charleston

PADET Jacksonville - Office: 904-714-7606 / After Hours: 786-393-4138

Editor's Note: Field class portions of the training will be conducted during the afternoons of all three days at various locations. Media interested in attending a portion of the field training are required to contact Lt. Michael Allen at 843-609-2908 or Michael.B.Allen@uscg.mil for times and locations. 

WHO: Coast Guard Base Charleston, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, various local, state and federal agencies 

WHAT: Training focusing on coastal oil spills and aftermath shoreline assessments 

WHEN: March 19-21, 2024 

WHERE: Coast Guard Base Charleston, 1050 Register St, North Charleston, S.C. 29405 

CHARLESTON, S.C. – The Coast Guard and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will conduct pollution response training with various local, state and federal agencies focusing on coastal oil spills and aftermath shoreline assessments in the Charleston area, starting March 19, 2024. 

The training will be conducted by NOAA and will feature sessions by Bradford Benggio, the NOAA Scientific Support Coordinator for the Coast Guard Seventh District, Dr. Jacqueline Michel and others who are part of NOAA's Scientific Support Team for oil spill responses.  

This team of scientists have worldwide oil spill response experience, including the Exxon Valdez disaster in Alaska, the New Carissa that grounded off the Oregon coast, the Prestige off the coast of Spain, the 1993 Tampa Bay Oil Spill and the New Horizon Gulf of Mexico spill. This team has helped develop oil spill contingency plans and train responders for the United States and throughout the world. 

The training will focus on the following eight objectives: 

  1. Understanding how oil behaves and how it impacts sensitive resources including different shoreline and habitat types
  2. Review of various response options and use of decision criteria
  3. Discussions of spill modeling techniques and other computer-based tools used for spill planning and response
  4. Demonstrating systematic techniques for conducting effective shoreline cleanup assessments  
  5. Conducting field exercises to demonstrate and practice shoreline assessment methods
  6. Preparing important members of the spill community for participation as a member of the shoreline cleanup and assessment technique team
  7. Development of suggestions for local area committee projects and initiatives
  8. Provide for open exchange of ideas, concerns, and priorities between Coast Guard, the State, resource trustees, and industry 

For further information about the course sponsors please visit: http://response.restoration.noaa.gov and http://www.uscg.mil/d7.

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-USCG-