US Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) said that its staff took part at the International Oil Spill Conference, on May 15-18, where a series of technical demonstrations took place, providing an up-close look at the evolution of oil spill response capabilities over the past 25+ years.
The conference provides an interactive tour that focuses on the ever-evolving landscape of oil spill response. Participants were able to see how spill responses were conducted in the past, and in what way these have changed with current technologies, helping to reduce environmental impacts.
In addition, engineers, scientists, and spill responders coming around the world gave short presentations, with live and simulated demonstrations, video footage, and photos of equipment.
“The technical demonstration is a unique educational experience that will allow attendees to examine, firsthand, the significant progress that has been made over the past two-plus decades related to oil spill response technology” said David Moore, Chief of BSEE’s Oil Spill Preparedness Division.
The bureau’s experts also presented several papers and posters at the conference. John Caplis, a BSEE Environmental Protection Specialist, highlighted the results of a recent study on oil spill response capabilities in his presentation titled, “The Next Generation of Planning for Offshore Oil Spill Response.”
“Discussing the use of the different countermeasures and the levels of oil contact that occurred to the environment during various modeling simulations will illustrate the important implications for future offshore spill response planning efforts” said Mr Caplis.
The conference is held once every three years in the U.S. and provides a forum for the oil spill response community to discuss advances in the field. During this event, government, academic, and private industry experts come together to exchange ideas, learn about current and emerging technologies, and present on-going research initiatives pertinent to oil spill response and preparedness.
