The trickiest part of responding to an oil spill on the Strait of Juan de Fuca is maneuvering around the international border.
The response personnel and equipment on either side of the line can be ready to go, but if communication between the United States and Canada isn’t there, precious moments can be lost.
That’s why the coast guards of both nations join every year for an equipment deployment and communications exercise.
“You put the two together, and that’s how you get an effective response,” said Capt. Stephen Metruck of U.S. Coast Guard sector Seattle.
The 2006 exercise, now under way, lasts three days and is part of a joint oil spill response agreement know as CANUSPAC — Canada-United States Pacific.
“The beauty of the agreement . . . is that the border becomes invisible,” said Don Rodden, superintendent of environmental response for the Canadian Coast Guard.
Alternate hosts
The two nations alternate hosting the annual exercise, and this year it was the United States’ turn.
Members of both coast guards, plus the U.S. Navy, Makah tribe and emergency response personnel from Clallam County, Port Angeles and private contractors for both federal governments gathered on Port Angeles’ Ediz Hook Tuesday for the second day of the exercise.
The groups put into action the response necessary to fight a 792-gallon oil spill in the Port of Port Angeles.
They deployed 2,500 feet of boom while skimmers remove it from the water.
