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.