Cleaning up an oil spill and restoring the environment boils down to the science. Scientists, data managers, and emergency responders from OR&R, the Coastal Response Research Center (CRRC) at the University of New Hampshire, U.S. Coast Guard, University of Michigan, Coastal Monitoring Associates, Water Mapping, Environmental Protection Agency, State of California, and the U.S. Navy partnered to advance oil spill science using the natural oil seeps off the coast of Santa Barbara as their ‘lab’. Their research is enhancing spill responders’ ability to respond to and assess the impacts of oil in the environment.

A plastic drift card released on December 27, 1976 near Nantucket, Massachusetts was found 3,000 miles away and 48 years later on the Isle of Coll in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. Barbara Payne, a longtime resident of the Isle of Coll off the coast of Scotland, was cleaning up after a storm on October 22, 2024. The storm tossed seaweed and other debris on the track to her house. While cleaning up the road, she was careful to sort through and remove any plastic debris. As an avid beachcomber, Barbara noticed among the debris a red, credit-card size piece of plastic that had some writing on it.  The card, and thousands like it, were intentionally distributed into the ocean as a tool to help track oil pollution from the stricken tanker Argo Merchant. 

The West Coast region is home to many diverse communities of people who use these coastal resources for commercial, recreational, subsistence, and spiritual enrichment. However, densely populated urban and industrial centers can be the source of pollution from oil spills and hazardous waste discharges. Oil production, storage, and transportation and vessel traffic present oil and chemical spill risks throughout the region, including in remote areas. From 2019-2023, NOAA and co-trustees secured 13 pollution settlements in the West Coast region worth almost $95 million. These funds are used for restoration projects that benefit the impacted communities.

In 2024, NOAA and co-trustees secured $40 million from four hazardous waste pollution settlements for the restoration of U.S. waterways.

In August, OR&R provided scientific support for 27 marine pollution and coastal emergencies—including 17 new incidents in eight states, one territory (U.S. Virgin Islands), one new international response in the Red Sea, and an ongoing international response in the Philippines.