U.S., Canadian Coast Guard Oil Spill Exercise

Representatives from the U.S. and Canadian Coast Guards, Arctic region stakeholders and established responders are scheduled to hold a joint “Canada - United States North” (CANUSNORTH) tabletop exercise March 16 and 17 at the Captain Cook Hotel in Anchorage.

This biennial exercise provides an opportunity for all responders to work together to consult on local issues and improve communications and coordination for potential responses to pollution incidents in the contiguous waters of the Arctic Ocean and Beaufort Sea.

Over thirty response organizations and regional stakeholders have been invited to participate. These include the Canadian Coast Guard, Environment Canada, U.S. Seventeenth Coast Guard District, U.S. Coast Guard Sector Anchorage, the U.S. Coast Guard Pacific Strike Team, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Environmental Protection Agency, State of Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation, Alaska Department of Natural Resources, Inuvialuit Regional Corporation and others.

The overall objective of the exercise is to raise situational awareness of issues surrounding marine pollution in the Beaufort Sea to improve joint response operations between the United States, Canada and regional stakeholders.

Discussion topics include possible shoreline impacts, stakeholder response participation, volunteer management, cross border concerns and available recovery methods.