During November, OR&R provided response support for 12 incidents. OR&R’s support for an allision between a barge and a bridge in Alabama continued from October 2024, while 11 new incidents were supported in six states, one territory (Puerto Rico), and one foreign country (Samoa). Ten of the new incidents were actual or potential oil spills and one involved threat of chemical pollution from a mine tailing release.
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.
