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IMO publishes guide to spill response in ice

6/8/2016

At 183 pages, Guide to Oil Spill Response in Snow and Ice Conditions provides a unique insight into the issues and strategies surrounding the challenge of spill response in the Arctic. Commissioned by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and the Arctic Council working group for Emergency Prevention, Preparedness and Response (EPPR) from a team comprising Owens Coastal Consultants and DF Dickins Associates, it will be supplemented by a companion volume to be issued shortly by IMO that includes the Antarctic and other subarctic areas affected by ice. It can be downloaded here.

The objective of the Arctic version of the IMO guide is to identify and describe those aspects of planning and operations that are directly associated with a response to an Arctic oil spill in ice and snow conditions. Response strategies to deal with Arctic oil spills in summer open-water conditions are not considered in the guide.

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County weighing pros and cons of EPA Superfund cleanup of Gelman plume

June 02, 2016
 
ANN ARBOR, MI — Not all Washtenaw County commissioners are ready to say a federal Superfund cleanup is definitely the way to address the Gelman dioxane plume, but they're open to exploring the option.
 
Unanswered questions — along with conflicting information yet to be sorted out— held up approval of a resolution Wednesday night to have the county begin moving in the direction of petitioning the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to place the Gelman plume on the National Priorities List.

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Coast Guard continues to work on grounded freighter

5/31 - Sault Ste. Marie, Mich

The Coast Guard is continuing to monitor the motor vessel Roger Blough after it ran aground in Whitefish Bay off Michigan's Upper Peninsula.
 
The Coast Guard says plans continue to progress to safely free the 858-foot long vessel from Gros Cap Reef along with Canadian partners and company representatives.
 
The Coast Guard Cutter Mobile Bay, homeported in Sturgeon Bay, Wis., has arrived on scene and a 500-yard safety zone has been established around the Blough to protect passing vessels from potential hazards associated with salvage operations.
 
"Something going forward is looking at trying to figure out exactly what the damage is before we can move onto salvage," said Petty Officer 2nd Class Christopher Yaw. "The last thing that we really want to do would be to move forward with refloating the vessel and all the sudden something that was damaged and we weren't aware of and then something happening."
 
The Coast Guard says the Roger Blough has activated its vessel response plan, taking precautionary measures to ensure safety of the environment – including coordination with their oil spill response organization as well as underwater dive surveys – to more assess the damage and unground the vessel.
 

Elaborate plan develops to save grounded freighter


6/1/2016


From Duluth to Philadelphia and parts farther yet came a plan Tuesday to rescue the freighter Roger Blough from its grounding in the far eastern edge of Lake Superior.

A pair of other Great Lakes Fleet freighters — the Arthur M. Anderson and Philip R. Clarke — will converge on the site of the Blough in Whitefish Bay beginning Thursday, said Mitch Koslow, vice president of engineering for Keystone Shipping Co. in Philadelphia, the central office for the ship’s operator.

Simply, the plan will be to offload iron ore onto the other vessels from the Blough at its currently grounded state near the Gros Cap Reefs, about 10 miles west of Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., and the Soo Locks.

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Coast Guard to lead oil spill exercise in St. Clair River


5/26/2016

Boats and oil-containment booms will fill a portion of the St. Clair River in Marysville Wednesday — but there's no cause for concern.

The U.S. Coast Guard is leading a training exercise in response to a simulated 200,000-gallon leak from an Enbridge pipeline.

U.S. Coast Guard Lt. Ben Chamberlain said the exercise will run from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The exercise will include creation of a unified command; establishing incident planning, finance, logistics and public information components; multi-agency coordination; and oil recovery strategies.

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