Coast Guard, Federal, Puerto Rico agencies conduct oil spill response training

San Juan, Puerto Rico - Coast Guard emergency responders and other federal, state and local agencies completed a four-day training course at Coast Guard Base San Juan Thursday that focused on coastal oil spills, shoreline impact assessments, and oil recovery techniques.

"Being ready to effectively respond to oil spills is a long standing mission of the Coast Guard," said John Luzader, Senior Chief Petty Officer and member of Sector San Juan's Planning Readiness and Incident Management Department.   "This type of training gives us and our partner agencies the tools needed to conduct detailed and efficient shoreline assessments.  During an actual incident this information is used by the incident command to better direct cleanup efforts and priorities.  Coast Guard Sector San Juan is committed to preventing pollution threats to Puerto Rico's and the U.S. Virgin Islands' sensitive marine environment, but must remain ever vigilant to quickly respond in the event of a spill."

The course was administered by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) featuring sessions by renowned oil spill experts Dr. Jacqueline Michel, Dr. Miles Hayes, Brad Benggio, NOAA scientific support coordinator, and others who are part of NOAA's Scientific Support Team for oil spill response. This team of scientists is recognized for their worldwide oil spill response experience that includes incidents such as the Valdez Oil Spill in Alaska, the grounding of the New Carissa off the Oregon coast, the Prestige Oil Spill off the coast of Spain and the Tampa Bay Oil Spill among others.

During the workshop, responders learned about coastal environments and how to conduct proper coastline assessments and how to determine best practices for shoreline cleanup and establishing end points following a spill.  In addition to classroom instruction, field exercises were held Tuesday at Escambrón Beach, San Juan, and Thursday at Majagua Beach, Guayanilla and Puerto Rico's mangrove forest in La Parguera.

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