ESTABLISHING OPTIMAL RESPONSE STRATEGIESUSING REAL-TIME CURRENT OBSERVATIONS:A LOCAL, COOPERATIVE APPROACH

摘要

With the mandates of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 requiring stockpiles of mechanicalrecovery equipment, an effective baseline response strategy was needed for the U.S.Coast Guard Houston/Galveston Captain of the Port Zone. A small group of federal,state, and industry volunteers established a study team to set baseline response andequipment deployment strategies based on local tide and current data. Proceduresconsisted of strategically positioning a series of buoys within a known area of concernand tracking the buoys with a hand-held global positioning system unit. Patterns andtrends were established, tested in a field deployment exercise, and shared with membersof the oil spill response community. The study resulted in the following observations:? Federal-state-industry cooperation in response planning is essential.? A pragmatic methodology is best suited for determining tidal and currenttrends and the potential effect on response equipment deploymentstrategies.