The National Response Team (NRT), an organization of 16 federal departments and agencies responsible for coordinating emergency preparedness and response to oil and hazardous substance pollution incidents was quickly activated and a coordinated group of federal partners-including the United States Coast Guard, Departments of Homeland Security, Commerce, Interior and the Environmental Protection Agency-immediately began directing and overseeing BP's response.
Coastal protection and booming operations under the direction of the Unified Command Mobile are ongoing, actively deploying as rapidly as possible as part of the strategic plan across Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida panhandle, Unified Command Mobile said. The protective measures are targeting the barrier islands and prioritized environmentally sensitive areas.
Additional areas will be designated for booming as trajectories are updated each day.
Overall, the combined response has deployed 275,580 feet of boom, staged 316,470 feet, and has on order an additional 250,000 feet.
To date, more than 60,000 feet of boom have been placed along the Mississippi, Alabama, and the Florida panhandle coastline. The boom deployment operations will continue as aggressively and as rapidly as possible with all boom being used and staged for deployment to maximize the protection of coastal shorelines. The specific locations where boom is deployed are:
• Deer Island, 8,500 feet deployed
• Davis Bayou, 1,500 feet deployed
• Pascagoula Bay, 11,000 feet deployed
• Grand Bay West, 1,500 feet deployed
• Pascagoula River, 9,500 feet staged and in process
• Bay of St. Louis, 10,500 feet deployed
• Dauphin Island 5,750 ft, with 10,000 ft staged and in process
• Orange Beach 36,000 ft with 80,000 ft staged and in process
• Grand Bay 18,000 ft staged and in process
• Bayou La Batre 14,450 ft with 3,000 ft staged and in process
• Pensacola area, 55,000 feet deployed
• Weeks Bay, 650 ft deployed
• Bayou Caddy, 6,500 ft deployed
• Henderson Point, 2,600 ft deployed
The Unified Command is using the Alabama, Mississippi and Northwest Florida Area Contingency Plan as a guide to respond to the oil spill and focus response resources. The ACP is a comprehensive plan developed in conjunction with the federal, state and local agencies to coordinate tactics for just this type of catastrophe. The ACP is updated yearly to include new technology and points of contact.