JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska –
Hoping for the best, but preparing for the worst, members of the 611th Civil
Engineer Squadron, along with five other state and federal agencies, practiced
techniques to deal with an oil or hazardous waste spill under cold weather
conditions during an exercise here Feb. 3 through 5.
As the lone CES in
the state of Alaska that responds to oil spills, a characteristic that is also
very unique Air Force-wide, the 611 CES acts as first responder to incidents on
JBER and King Salmon Divert Airfield as well as secondary responder to 21 remote
operating locations in Alaska and around the Pacific.
"With this
exercise, we show that it is possible to find and recover oil during Arctic
conditions," said Mr. Scott Partlow, U.S. Navy Supervisor of Salvage and Diving
assistant base manager. "I think it's a good thing that everyone gets out here
and gets their hands dirty to figure out how the equipment works and why we do
it."
U.S. Navy SUPSALV was just one of the agencies working with 611 CES
to increase interoperability and complete this exercise. In addition, the Army
Corps of Engineers, the U.S. Coast Guard, Cook Inlet Spill Prevention &
Response Inc. and the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation had
representatives to help plan, execute and receive training as part of this cold
weather operations exercise.
"It's a unique opportunity just to have all
these different agencies working together with the same focus in mind; to
respond to a crisis and to be able to deploy the different techniques and be
responsible for the cleanup," said Master Sgt. Petree Buford, 611 CES operations
engineering superintendent.
The response teams learned and practiced
several different types of techniques to use in the event of an oil
spill.
The Trenching and Rope Mop Method includes creating a trench
through the ice, without penetrating it, and then drilling holes down to the
water through the trench, said Partlow. The oil or hazardous waste floats up
through those holes, becomes trapped in the trench and is picked up by a rope
skimmer, a device that resembles a long, frayed rope specially designed to
absorb oil and fuel. The rope skimmer picks up the trapped oil, a machine at the
end of the trench separates the oil and water and the oil is then sent to a
holding tank.
Another technique practiced during the exercise was the
Diversionary Tactic. This method starts by drilling holes in the ice to help
determine the location of the spill and then simply inserting plywood to divert
the spill to the location needed in order to clear it from the water.
"If
the flow of the water is coming one way, we want to try to divert or control the
flow," explained Buford. "We'll make a slice in the ice and then insert the
plywood to act as a barrier or blockade to shoot the oil and water where we want
it to go."
While the techniques practiced and employed by the 611 CES are
effective, these are only temporary measures to prevent spreading or to cleanup
a small spill until larger assets can be deployed from other agencies. The
methods practiced during the exercise are meant to control 60 to 70 thousand
gallons of hazardous waste in a lake or river. According to Buford, the 611 CES
can respond to an incident on JBER in about 12 hours and about 24 to 48 hours
for an incident at King Salmon.
"This is important to the state of Alaska
because here oil would travel to the ocean and have a much larger effected area
if the spill wasn't contained," said Buford. "It could have a major impact on
the residents of Alaska."