Guest blog from Captain Anthony Lloyd, Chief, Office of Incident Management and Preparedness
Today, the Coast Guard-sponsored DHS Tier II Spill of National Significance (SONS) 2010 exercise begins. The exercise is based upon a scenario in New England involving a collision between an oil tanker and a car carrier causing a catastrophic oil spill. It is an operations-based, full-scale exercise intended to stress all levels of the response organization.
The Coast Guard National Command Center is leading the way by sending exercise information via electronic alerts to simulate critical communications much like what was implemented during Haitian response operations. Exercise partners include: Transport Canada, Department of Homeland Security, Department of the Interior, Department of Transportation, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, Navy Supervisor of Salvage, National Response Team, Shell Oil Products US, as well as the States of Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island. Exercise design and execution are major efforts that require the full participation of all partners.
The SONS 2010 Exercise Design Team developed the scenario and scripted actions for the first 48 hours to facilitate a “warm start.” This approach allows full-scale activities on Day 3 to focus on immediate interaction between the National Incident Commander (NIC), played by RADM Jim Watson, and senior leaders throughout DHS and the NRT departments and agencies, as well as field response in New England.
Scripted products include draft Incident Action Plans and an Area Command Operations Guide representative of the first two response days. The development of these documents generated valuable discussions about Federal On Scene Coordinator authority, organizational elements, the role of the NIC, and response issues such as places of refuge. Lessons learned from these discussions will be included in the exercise After Action Report (AAR) further increasing preparedness throughout the National Response System.
Exercise play begins on March 24th.
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