USCG tests Arctic spill response gear

The U.S. Coast Guard has tested the oil spill recovery equipment installed on the cutter Sycamore. During a July 31 exercise offshore Barrow, at the northwestern end of Alaska’s North Slope, crew members deployed the cutter’s oil skimming system, known as the Spilled Oil Recovery System, or SORS, from the vessel, following a deployment of boom on the previous day in preparation for the test, the Coast Guard announced in an Aug. 1 release.

The SORS skimming system can concentrate an oily sheen floating on the water; skim up a mix of oil and water; and pump oil recovered from the water surface into a tank or other form of storage — the oil can later be transferred to an appropriate recycling or storage facility, the Coast Guard said. Boom is used to sweep oil into the system.

The cutter’s crew has to maintain proficiency in the use of the equipment by conducting an annual training exercise, the Coast Guard said.

—Alan Bailey