Planes, boats and other equipment being deployed for oil spill training exercise in Albemarle Sound

July 28, 1999
Planes, boats and other equipment being deployed for oil spill training exercise in Albemarle Sound

ELIZABETH CITY -- Planes, boats and other specialized equipment are to be deployed Aug. 2-6 when scientists, marine environmental protection experts and the military gather here for an oil spill training exercise in the Albemarle Sound.

The major event occurs Thursday, Aug. 5, when water-soluble dye will be placed into a stretch of the Albemarle Sound to simulate an oil spill. Participants will then collect water samples through specially designed flourometers, which can draw samples from 10 meters deep to determine the percentage of oil being dispersed into water. Data will be relayed to scientists in a command post at the Elizabeth City Coast Guard Base for analysis.

A specially equipped Air Force Reserve C-130 plane from the 910th Airlift Wing in Youngstown, Ohio will later fly over and spray water - simulating an application of a chemical dispersant - on the oil (dye) slick. Participants will monitor spraying accuracy and will collect more samples for analysis.

Participants in the Special Monitoring of Advanced Response Technologies (SMART) exercise include the N.C. Division of Water Quality, U.S. Coast Guard, Air Force Reserve, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Virginia Department of Environmental Quality.

Another simulated oil spill will be held Tuesday, Aug. 3, when dye is put into a portion of the Pasquotank River. The crew of a Coast Guard C-130 plane based out of Elizabeth City, with NOAA and other representatives aboard, will then attempt to observe the material by using side-looking aerial radar to locate and plot the coordinates.

In the early 1980s, techniques were developed to burn oil on the water's surface and to employ chemical dispersants. Interest in these techniques grew after the Exxon Valdez spilled millions of gallons of oil into Alaska's Prince William Sound in 1989. Technological advances over the past decade have led to a number of areas across country setting up pre-approval zones for such exercises.

The SMART program developed in November 1997 when a workgroup of federal oil spill scientists and responders from the Coast Guard, NOAA, EPA and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention convened in Mobile, Ala. to address areas of need.

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