Oil spill: The government’s response
Despite today’s focus on the response to the the April 20 Gulf Coast oil rig explosion, Obama administration officials stress that federal agencies have been involved since the start.
President Obama said Friday morning that his administration is doing “everything necessary” to respond. Officials have classified the situation as an “incident of national significance,” officially defined as an event that requires a coordinated response to minimize damage, save lives and plan for long-term economic recovery. The government’s National Response Team — composed of 16 federal agencies and departments — coordinates the federal response.
In that vein, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson, Energy and Climate Change Policy Assistant Carol Browner and NOAA Administrator Jane Lubchenco plan to visit the Gulf Coast region Friday to oversee federal efforts. Napolitano and Salazar will appear jointly on several of the Sunday morning news shows, the White House said.
The government and BP Oil have deployed 1,178 people to the region to protect the Gulf Coast shoreline and wildlife, according to the White House. Officials have established five staging areas — in Biloxi, Miss., Pensacola, Fla., Venice, La., Pascagoula, Miss., and Theodore, Ala. — to protect sensitive shorelines.
Here’s more agency-specific information — which will update as necessary:
U.S. COAST GUARD:
The Coast Guard and BP deployed 76 response vessels, including skimmers, tugs, barges and recovery vessels to assist in containment and cleanup efforts. They’ve also sent six fixed-wing aircraft, 11 helicopters, 10 remotely operated vehicles and two mobile offshore drilling units.
The public-private response is using 174,060 feet of boom to contain the spill with a total 265,460 feet ordered as of Friday morning.
DEFENSE DEPARTMENT:
Two C-130 Hercules cargo planes specially designed for aerial spraying have been sent to Mississippi and are awaiting orders to start dumping chemicals on the oil spill, a spokesman told the Associated Press. The Navy also has sent equipment for the cleanup.
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY:
The agency is monitoring air quality in the region to measure the potential impact of the controlled burn of some of the oil.
HOMELAND SECURITY DEPARTMENT:
Napolitano was the official who declared the spill an “incident of national significance.”
INTERIOR DEPARTMENT:
The department deployed SWAT teams from the Minerals Management Service to inspect 30 drilling rigs operating in the deepwater sections of the Gulf of Mexico. Inspections should be completed within the next week, according to an Interior Department spokeswoman.
Inspectors will check to see whether the rigs have conducted blow-out preventer tests and inspect related records, the spokeswoman said. The teams will also verify that emergency well control exercises are taking place. Inspectors will then inspect 47 deep-water production platforms in the gulf, a process that will take longer than rig inspections because of the complexities of the structures.
NOAA:
The agency is providing on-site support and predicting the oil spill’s trajectory. The Office of Response and Restoration is the agency’s biggest star, conducting overflight surveys to track the oil slick.
The National Weather Service is providing weather forecasts to the entire response team and NOAA is consulting the government and BP folks on the potential impact to fish, birds, marine mammals and sea turtles.
It’s also using experimental satellite data to survey the marine pollution and will work on determining the full nature and extent of the damage to natural resources and the restoration work needed.
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