PORT ANGELES — Students from the U.S. Coast Guard, state and federal agencies, and private industries took to the waters around Port Angeles last week to learn how to respond to an oil spill.
The 40-some students got a hands-on look at how to use oil booms to skim oil along the coast, in the Elwha River and in open water Wednesday and Thursday after spending two days in a classroom setting. On Friday, they debriefed, said Lt. Holly Bergman of the USCG.
“We’re trying to expose them to all the different assets of the response depending on the scenario,” she said.
Agencies included in the training include the Coast Guard, state Department of Ecology, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, BP, ExxonMobil, Chevron, Tesoro, Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway and others.
The training, done annually in the Port Angeles area, provides experience in cold water, large tidal fluctuations and tidal currents, which can’t be simulated anywhere else in the country, said Lt. Dana Warr of the Coast Guard.
Wednesday morning started off with a simulated spill in the middle of Port Angeles Harbor.
Teams learned how to use oil spill booms to protect a section of Ediz Hook beach from oil and learned strategies for cleaning up oil that had been washed ashore.
David Byers, response manager for the state Department of Ecology, said Ediz Hook and other locations along the coast have been identified as needing protection if there is an oil spill.
Byers was teaching about geographic response plans, which are the plans that are already in place for spill response.
The plans allow responders to apply the plan immediately after they are told of a spill.
“They literally shave hours off the initial response,” Byers said. “We’ve done the hard work upfront of identifying the sensitive resources.”
Certain areas are selected, he said, based on the need not only to protect habitat but to protect cultural, historic and economic resources.
A plan could be as simple as telling the Feiro Marine Life Center to turn off its water intake, Byers said. Others are more complex and require crews to use equipment.
“We prioritize these so we know which is the most important strategy,” he said.
On Wednesday afternoon, crews used oil spill booms on the Elwha River just upstream from the Elwha Water Facilities on Crown Z Water Road.
They simulated an oil spill that could have contaminated the city’s water supply.
They used the boom and a skimmer to simulate transferring water into a large storage drum that would be used for oil.
On Thursday, they were underway, learning how to skim oil on open water, Bergman said.
They learned how to deploy equipment and work with other boats on the open water.
Friday’s focus was on debriefing, tribal relations, media relations and other factors that need to be accounted for if there’s an oil spill, Bergman said.
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Reporter Jesse Major can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56250, or at jmajor@peninsuladailynews.com.
Students learn how to put an oil spill boom into a river during a training session at the Elwha River on Wednesday. (Jesse Major/Peninsula Daily News)
Crews anchor an oil spill boom to the shore of Ediz Hook during training Wednesday. (Jesse Major/Peninsula Daily News)
