From PCS Phosphate Company, Inc. (PotashCorp –Aurora)

 

AURORA — Members from the U.S. Coast Guard, PCS Phosphate Company, Inc. (PotashCorp-Aurora), the State of North Carolina Emergency Management, Beaufort County Emergency Management and multiple regional and local partners completed a simulated oil spill recovery exercise on the Pamlico River Wednesday. The industry-led drill was designed to test response capabilities in the event of an actual spill.

More than 150 people from 20 different organizations participated in the exercise which simulated a discharge of thousands of gallons of fuel oil from a tank barge that broke free from a tug boat and grounded at the entrance of the PotashCorp-Aurora barge slip. The drill focused on mitigating the impact of the oil spill, not the cause of the tank barge grounding from a fictional oil company and barge contractor.

Shamrock Environmental Corporation, an environmental response contractor and marine and hazardous material units from Aurora, Bath and Bunyan local fire departments deployed 2,400 feet of containment boom as practice in three shoreline areas near the site, South Creek and area tributaries. The boom acts as a barrier designed to protect the shoreline and mitigate from any actual contamination.

Exercise participants also established a command post at the PotashCorp-Aurora site to perform the command and control functions associated with an oil spill response, including logistics, planning, operations, and public information initiatives. Representatives from the U.S. Coast Guard, PotashCorp-Aurora, the State of North Carolina Emergency Management and Beaufort County Emergency Management functioned as Incident Commanders within a unified command structure.

“The Coast Guard appreciates the hard work and willingness of PotashCorp to put together this large full-scale oil spill response exercise with the U.S. Coast Guard,” said Captain Sean Murtagh, Commander of U.S. Coast Guard Sector North Carolina.  “It was a very successful event, and further bolstered the preparedness of our federal, state, and local partners, working closely with industry, to respond to an actual crisis and to protect the citizens and environment of North Carolina.”

Wednesday’s full-scale simulation met the requirements of an area exercise under the National Preparedness for Response Exercise Program guidelines. These events help evaluate the federal government’s Area Contingency Plan and the state’s Emergency Operations Plan. PotashCorp-Aurora volunteered to be the exercise sponsor this year.

“We take our mission of environmental stewardship and maintaining safe operations very seriously,” said Mark Johnson, PotashCorp-Aurora assistant general manager. “We accomplish this through training, risk analysis and best practices shared among PotashCorp sites and regional response partners. Although this is an unlikely scenario, exercises like this allow us to practice and continuously improve. Through preparation and training, we protect employees, contractors and our neighbors.”