00C25 ENVIRONMENTAL - PREPAREDNESS
"Planning, Training, and Drills enable Navy personnel to be prepared for spill response."
Although the Navy's primary goal is to prevent spills, we are fully prepared to immediately respond and minimize the impact of an oil or hazardous substance spill on the environment. Throughout the Navy, preparedness is accomplished through systematic training, exercises and contingency planning.
TRAINING
SUPSALV manages a team of highly trained contractor personnel responsible for both the maintenance and operation of the pollution response equipment. Trained responders maintain annual Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response (HAZWOPER) Certification, Forklift Operator certification and Boat Operator Certification. SUPSALV organizes drills and exercises and conducts training on equipment operation and spill management on an annual basis at each ESSM base or within the surrounding geographical region. Training is conducted in the classroom and field environment and often involves deploying response equipment on a vessel of opportunity such as the USNS T-ATF class of ships. Whenever possible, these exercises will take place in conjunction with the NOSC Regional or facility exercises.
The Naval Safety & Environmental Training Center provides 35 safety and environmental training courses to military and civilian Navy and Marine Corps personnel worldwide and their current course schedule can be viewed on their website listed below. Also the Naval Civil Engineer Corps Officers School offers many courses to equip Environmental professionals with the necessary skills and knowledge to provide quality support to the Fleet in the areas of environmental compliance, management, pollution prevention and restoration. Many online resources are also available for spill management training through FEMA, EPA and the USCG websites.
SUPSALV conducts an annual "Ice Training Exercise" in conjunction with the 611th Air Support Group at Elmendorf Air Force Base near Anchorage, AK to demonstrate readiness in deploying its Tier II/III spill response capability under arctic conditions.
DRILLS & EXERCISES
The Navy participates in the National Preparedness for Response Exercise Program (PREP) established to meet the requirements of OPA 90. The PREP is a voluntary program developed for spill responders to provide a mechanism for compliance while being economically feasible to adopt and sustain. The PREP is a unified Federal effort and satisfies the exercise requirements of the Coast Guard (USCG), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) and the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE). Completion of the PREP exercises satisfies all OPA 90 mandated federal oil pollution response exercise requirements. Documentation of these exercises must be kept in order to obtain credit for compliance purposes.
A process of systematic modification of equipment and procedures as a result of operational lessons learned during equipment deployment drills and exercises provides for continual improvement of U.S. Navy spill response methods.
SUPSALV's Marco Class V Skimmer system simulating oil skimming in Boston Harbor during SONS 2010 exercise.
CONTINGENCY PLANNING
The Navy's oil spill response program requires that all facilities and ships maintain plans for responding to oil spills. OPNAVINST 5090.1 (series) explains the requirements for Navy facilities and vessels in detail to meet the EPA's Facility Response Plan rule (40 CFR 112) and the USCG's Facility Response Plan rule (33 CFR 154).
Guidance for non-public vessel response plans is 33 CFR 155. Public vessels, which include Navy vessels, are exempt from the USCG Vessel Response Plan requirements, however, Navy ships are required by OPNAVINST 5090.1(series) to prepare and maintain a Shipboard Oil Spill Contingency Plan (SOSCP). Guidance on the Navy's ship response plans can be found in the U.S. Navy Shipboard Oil Spill Contingency Plan (SOSCP) Guidance document.
SUPSALV's Response Equipment is routinely cited as a supporting Oil Spill Response Organization (OSRO) for DoD Facilities in Facility Response Plans (FRPs) at no cost unless mobilized. Typically SUPSALV's equipment meets worst case discharge Tier 2 and 3 requirements for facilities in CONUS and Tier 1 in most Fleet concentrated areas. SUPSALV has published a letter authorizing DoD facilities to use SUPSALV as an OSRO and a downloadable copy is available in the references below.