U.S. Coast Guard

As the U.S. Coast Guard prepares to celebrate its 228th birthday, we’d like to show our appreciation to them for all their hard work in helping us fight the threat of marine pollution.

The U.S. Coast Guard and NOAA have a long history of collaboration. While the U.S. Coast Guard continues ahead on a journey to keep our coastal waters clean of marine pollution, NOAA’s Office of Response and Restoration is right by their side to provide the scientific support to help them do it.

This is the last in a week-long series of blogs in remembrance of the Cosco Busan oil spill that happened a decade ago on Nov. 7, 2007. This piece focuses on the continued restoration efforts funded by the $44.4 million settlement and takes a closer look at two species in particular — eelgrass and rockweed.

This is the fourth in a week-long series of blogs in remembrance of the Cosco Busan oil spill that happened a decade ago on Nov. 7, 2007. Mary Jane Schramm shares the Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuary’s response efforts and the volunteer involvement that took place following the spill.

This is the third in a week-long series of blogs in remembrance of the Cosco Busan oil spill that happened a decade ago on Nov. 7, 2007. In his blog, Greg Baker talks about the assessment phase that followed the initial response.

This is the second in a week-long series of blogs in remembrance of the Cosco Busan oil spill that happened a decade ago on Nov. 7, 2007. In his blog, Jordan Stout goes back to the morning of the spill and the days and months that followed.

This is the first in a week-long series of blogs in remembrance of the Cosco Busan oil spill that happened 10 years ago on Nov. 7, 2007. In this blog, Patrise Henkel offers an overview of the spill, its impact on the San Francisco Bay and the outcome that followed.

In early March 2017, a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter was returning to its home base when the aircrew spotted a silvery sheen in the water about 35 miles west of San Diego, California.

I imagine the conversation among the crew went something like this:

Hey, that looks like it might be oil…

On Aug. 18, 1990, President H.W. Bush signed the Oil Pollution Act.  The act gave NOAA and other agencies improved authorities for spill prevention, response, and restoration in the nation’s navigable waters and shorelines.

The act ensured those responsible for an oil spill must cleanup and restore the environment, and compensate the public for its lost uses—like beach and recreational fishery closures—from the time of the incident until those natural resources fully recover.

How do you handle a polar bear covered in oil?  That was just one aspect of the annual Mutual Aid Deployment exercise last month on Alaska’s North Slope oil field.

Staff members from our Emergency Response Division and the Assessment and Restoration Division as well as other NOAA offices participated in the three-day exercise. Each year government agencies, oil companies, and oil spill removal organizations in the region work together to respond to a simulated oil spill in Alaska.

Every month our Emergency Response Division provides scientific expertise and services to the U.S. Coast Guard. Our services include everything from running oil spill trajectories to possible effects on wildlife and fisheries, and estimates on how long the oil may stay in the environment.