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

摘要

With the mandates of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 requiring stockpiles of mechanical recovery 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 and equipment deployment strategies based on local tide and current data.Procedures consisted of strategically positioning a series of buoys within a known area of concern and tracking the buoys with a hand-held global positioning system unit.Patterns and trends were established,tested in a field deployment exercise,and shared with members of 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 current trends and the potential effect on response equipment deployment strategies.