BSEE developing spill response database

The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, in conjunction with an emergency response working group of the Arctic Council, is overseeing the development of the Arctic Response Equipment Database, a computer system that will hold information about available oil spill response equipment that is suitable for use in the Arctic, Steve Pearson, the BSEE leader of the project, told a meeting of the Alaska Regional Response team on Jan. 27. The idea is to use off-the-shelf computer software to provide available information about equipment that is available internationally around the Arctic region.

“This would be a tool that the on-scene commander could use to search for equipment during a large spill,” Pearson said.

BSEE’s oil spill preparedness division obtained approval in December 2014 for the database development. And, having developed a scope of work, in September 2015 awarded a contract for the development to information technology company DPRA. DPRA is in the process of conducting equipment surveys across the Arctic nations - the idea is to obtain publicly available information, not proprietary information, from various sources, Pearson explained. In the United States, only equipment based in Alaska will be incorporated into the database, he said.

The equipment classifications that the database will use will be based on the International Maritime Organization’s guidelines for offers of assistance in response to a marine oil pollution incident, Pearson said.

The intent is to have a prototype database in operation in July, and then to present the database to the Arctic Council Emergency Prevention, Preparedness and Response Working Group in December, he said. All Arctic nations except Russia are currently participating in the working group, Pearson said.

- ALAN BAILEY