Coast Guard to host oil spill exercise in southeast Alaska

The following is the text of a press release issued by the U.S. Coast Guard:

JUNEAU, Alaska – Coast Guard Sector Juneau is hosting a multi-agency tabletop oil spill response exercise designed to test the Southeast Subarea Contingency Plan in Ketchikan, Alaska on Wednesday.  

The Subarea Contingency Plan is a guidance document for responses to large oil or hazardous substance releases in Southeast Alaska.

In addition to the Coast Guard, the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation, Alaska Marine Highway System, Kirby Offshore Marine, Southeast Alaska Petroleum Resource Organization, Alaska Department of Fish and Game, U.S. Fish and Wildlife, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the Department of the Interior will participate in the exercise.  

Response personnel from these agencies will work to form a Unified Command and Incident Management Team to address an oil spill scenario based on a vessel collision near Sitka.  Representatives from the Coast Guard, ADEC, and SEAPRO conducted an on water spill response deployment based on the same scenario in May. 

This exercise will take place at the Ted Ferry Civic Center in Ketchikan.

For more information on this exercise please contact: Lt. Ryan Erickson at 907-957-0157 or Jeremy Woodrow at 907-957-0521.

By Professional Mariner Staff