ANCHORAGE- Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) staff recently participated in the Alaska Regional Response Team (RRT) meeting to update attendees on BSEE’s Arctic Spill Response Database project.
The project, proposed by BSEE and approved by the Arctic Council’s Emergency Prevention, Preparedness and Response Working Group, is being developed to provide an online database of major oil spill response resources maintained by the eight Arctic nations. Once complete, it will be a stand-alone, spatially-searchable database that will contain all Arctic-specific oil spill response equipment, vessels, and resources located in each Arctic nation.
The RRT members and public attendees received an overview of the project, including requirements, development, discussion on Arctic Nation involvement, and timeline.
A federal component of the National Response System, RRTs plan for, prepare for, and respond to oil spills and releases of hazardous substances within their area of responsibility. Each RRT maintains a Regional Contingency Plan and acts as an advisory board to the on-scene coordinator.
Co-chaired by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Coast Guard and State of Alaska, the Alaska RRT also includes representatives from state emergency response agencies, NOAA and the U.S. Department of the Interior.
