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"The Spill of
National Significance (SONS) Exercise Program is designed to increase our
Nation's preparedness for large scale oil and hazardous substance releases
by exercising all levels of government and industry to a worst-case
scenario. SONS 07 was a three day full scale exercise designed
around numerous large oil and hazardous material releases resulting from a
New Madrid earthquake within the central U.S. The exercise was
particularly challenging since it was the first-ever held in inland
waters, the first to have the EPA as the FOSC and the first to execute the
Coast Guard's and Sector UMR's Marine Transportation System Recovery
Unit. Planning this exercise proved extremely challenging due to the
scenario, exercise scope and huge response organization. The TEAM
stood up an ICS organization both to plan the exercise and execute the
response allowing for maximum flexibility, superior ICS training and
outstanding joint agency cooperation. The TEAM created a response
structure that proved highly effective in coordinating the actions of
numerous agencies and industry; noteworthy in that most of the
participants had little or no response or ICS experience. The TEAM
also ensured that the scenario exercised real-world operations including
response assets, communications and command post spaces. Also
noteworthy was how the TEAM adapted to redirect the control of the
exercise when it was clear that adjustments were necessary to ensure the
exercise was both meaningful and achieved all of the national, regional
and local exercise objectives." |
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