On October 1, BSEE Oil Spill Response Division Senior Analyst, Craig Ogawa, spoke at the Pacific States/British Columbia Oil Spill Task Force Annual Meeting in Portland, Oregon. Ogawa participated on a panel with NOAA and Environment Canada, and updated the task force on BSEE's dispersant research projects.
The Pacific States/British Columbia Oil Spill Task Force is a non-profit organization comprised of representatives from environmental agencies in British Columbia, Alaska, Washington, Oregon, California and Hawaii. The task force collects and and shares data on oil spills, coordinates oil spill prevention projects and promotes regulatory safeguards. The annual meeting provided an opportunity for members and guest speakers, such as Ogawa, to share updates on their work in oil spill prevention, preparedness, response and recovery.
For more than 25 years, the Department of the Interior has maintained a comprehensive, long-term research program to improve oil spill response knowledge and technologies. BSEE's Oil Spill Response Research (OSRR) program is a cooperative effort bringing together funding and expertise from research partners in state and federal government agencies, industry, academia and the international community. Many of these projects are Joint Industry Projects, where partnerships with other stakeholders maximize research dollars. Over 50 dispersant-related projects have been conducted through the OSRR program. Recent projects have focused on the use of dispersants in deep and cold water. A master list of oil spill response research projects is available here.
