Great Lakes Oil Spill Response Capabilities Evaluation

The Great Lakes are a source of water for 40 million Americans and Canadians, an important recreational area, and a major shipping thoroughfare for commodities and other goods. They are also potentially becoming more vulnerable to spills because of increased domestic production of oil and petroleum products in the region. To ensure that the region's responders are well prepared to tackle any potential spills in the Great Lakes, the U.S. Coast Guard Office of Marine Environmental Response Policy asked RAND's Homeland Security Operational Analysis Center to study the scope of current oil spill risks in the region; the roles, capabilities, and capacities of oil-spill response partners; and any gaps and potential mitigation strategies around oil-spill response in fresh water and ice. To assess gaps in response capabilities and capacities, the research team analyzed scenarios that stakeholders have used to practice and assess oil-spill response in the past. The team also built a framework that responders can use to create new scenarios to practice capabilities that they have not tested before. Because of the limited amount of publicly available oil-spill response capability documentation, this research relied heavily on what was provided by the government sponsor, U.S. and Canadian oil-spill response organizations, various subject-matter experts, and Canadian governmental organizations. The research team reviewed oil-spill response policy; techniques, tactics, and procedures; and various area oil response plans and regulations to assess the gaps in oil-spill response.