Conference Schedule

Never before have all 5 Gulf of Mexico States been involved in a single SONS-Spill of National Significance and this year’s update is critical to understand the current and future regulatory environment, as well as to learn the research developments and advancements made during the past few months by these oil spill prevention and response authorities. Hear what you need to know to conduct business in the Gulf both today and in the immediate future directly from the federal and state regulators who are responsible for implementation and enforcement.

Announced July 21st, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil and Shell will form a non-profit organization, the Marine Well Containment Company, to operate and maintain a rapid response system. This system will be available to capture and contain oil in the event of a potential future underwater well blowout in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico. This session will provide an update on the new consortium recently formed.

The knowledge gained during the response to the DH Incident is vast in many areas of spill protection and response, but probably the most valuable for the future was in the Tactical Operations of responding to a Spill of National Significance. This panel will include speakers from the front lines that will share their experiences and give you the detailed knowledge and tools needed to perform TacOps in the future. Panelists will focus on Offshore operations including mechanical recovery, controlled burns, and dispersants.

Following the DH incident the regulatory landscape is quickly evolving and this session is where you will hear experts from the leading Federal and State agencies discuss the latest in regulatory changes. This panel will review the impending changes, expectations for future regulatory changes and how they will affect the operator and response communities.

Past laws such as OPA 90 affected the ability to relocate assets for the DH incident response, and the size and duration of the spill made allocation of resources a critical and sometimes key flashpoint between federal, state and local communities. Learn from those involved first-hand how they dealt with the developing situation to provide resources and what may change in the future.

Learn more about the latest developments involving the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board’s (CSB) efforts to increase safety awareness and to prevent future accidents. The CSB was established by Congress in the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 and has been operational since 1998. The CSB is an independent federal agency that investigates major chemical accidents at fixed facilities. Based on its accident investigation findings, the CSB makes recommendations to a wide array of groups, including regulatory agencies, standard-setting bodies, trade association and unions.

This session will also cover EPA’s Region 4 Tennessee Valley Authority’s (TVA) cleanup efforts for the coal ash removal at the TVA Kingston site in Roane County, Tennessee.

Following the Offshore TacOps session, this session will focus primarily on Nearshore and Shoreline tactical operations of responding to the DH Incident. With so many types of shoreline affected by the recent gulf spill there are an incredible number of updates on how to both protect and respond to spills of national significance. Panelists will share lessons learned and focus on skimming, SCAT, and shoreline protection measures.

The DH Incident response have seen a leap forward of the use of mass media tools, Web, Face Book, Twitter, and managing communications in this extremely fast paced media marketplace is challenging at best. Learn from the experts on this panel on how to effectively manage a large-scale media outreach and communication system for a SONS level incident.

The likelihood of considerable and widespread changes being implemented in contingency and response plans is nearly a certainty. This will include revisions and review of the current plans on file for vessels and facilities, as well as new additions as the regulatory picture comes into focus for operations in the oil & gas sector. This panel will review what steps will need to be taken to insure accuracy and compliance in your current plans, as well as forecast likely updates that will be needed in the immediate future.

The EPA Emergency response and removal national Data Acquisition and Technical Assistance (DATA) team has developed a Data Management Plan (DMP) which formulates a data acquisition and the management process. The objectives of the DMP are to:

• Provide a scalable template of proven but generic guidance that will be used to manage specific data streams;
• Allow for addition of site specific requirements that will serve as metadata and documentation for how data was managed, including tools that were used and reporting functions that were developed; and
• Allow for the integration of other plans as activities become more complex.

An overview of these guides and plans will be reviewed. The guidance behind the development of a DMP will be discussed.