Mexus Gulf Exercise: Making it Count

Abstract

ABSTRACT In May 2002, an oil spill exercise was led by Unocal Corporation - a major US based independent energy company, the U. S. Coast Guard, The Mexican Navy and members of several U.S. and Mexican government agencies. The objective of the exercise was to test the recently signed joint contingency plan between Mexico and the United States regarding pollution of the environment by discharges of hydrocarbons or other hazardous materials (MEXUS) and one of the associated geographic annexes; the MEXUS-Gulf. Participants and exercise design team members included representatives from U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Minerals Management Service, the Texas General Land Office, Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission, U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Unocal Corporation, ERST/O'Brien's Inc., 1st Naval Zone of Mexico, Secretaria de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales (SEMARNAT), Procuraduria Federal de Proteccion al Ambiente (PROFEPA) and Petroleos Mexicanos (PEMEX). This paper will describe the many lessons learned as the exercise was planned, conducted and evaluated. The exercise resulted in an exemplary show of cooperation between industry, U.S. and Mexican government officials in the desire to learn and understand the issues associated with hydrocarbon spills that cross or have the potential to cross the U.S./Mexico borders. Communications, language barriers, acceptable practices and standards for oil spill cleanup were all challenges faced by the teams in this unique exercise. Gaining a better understanding of these challenges and many other issues was invaluable and it was the consensus of all involved that this type of cooperative effort is the key to a successful cross-border response. Joint planning and training should continue in order to assure an effective implementation of the MEXUS plan should a real event ever occur.