M/V SELENDANG AYURESPONSE: SHORELINE SURVEYS AND DATA MANAGEMENT; TREATMENT RECOMMENDATIONS; AND THE COMPLETION INSPECTION PROCESS

Abstract

ABSTRACT The grounding of a bulk carrier on Unalaska Island in the Aleutian Chain, Alaska, on 8 December 2004, resulted in a spill of fuel oil that affected approximately 800 km of coastline in a remote area. Initial tracking of the spill commenced at the first opportunity on 11 December using a fixed-wing aircraft to conduct low-altitude surveys during weather windows. Subsequent Shoreline Cleanup Assessment Technique (SCAT) surveys involved both boat- and helicopter-based interagency teams to document and characterize oiling conditions. Of the 763 km of shoreline surveyed 713 km had “No Observed Oil (NOO)”. Information obtained by the surveys was entered and managed in a data base that was accessible to all members of the spill response team. Several innovative approaches were developed to assist the shoreline cleanup endpoint decision and inspection processes. Where oil was observed that did not meet the defined treatment end points, a Shoreline Treatment Recommendation Transmittal (STRT) form was completed and submitted to the Unified Command (UC) spill management team. As part of the shoreline survey program, Operations personnel accompanied the two teams surveying outside of the “core” area to remove small amounts of oil. This was, in effect, a “clean as you go” and a “sign off as you go” strategy to obviate the need to employ separate sorties for initial survey, return for treatment, and a third return to inspect the completed cleanup in the segment and determine if endpoints were met. If the segment met the treatment end points or was cleaned to that standard, a Shoreline Inspection Report (SIR) was completed and signed in the field by the UC representatives on the SCAT team recommending to the UC that cleanup in that segment was not necessary or that cleanup be terminated. The completion inspection process involved the land managers, and landowners, comprised primarily of native tribes and corporations for the bulk of the affected areas, as well as Federal and Alaskan state agencies.