Reservist Magazine is the award-winning official publication of the United States Coast Guard Reserve. Quarterly issues include news and feature articles about the men and women who comprise America's premier national maritime safety and security
Issue link: https://uscgreservist.epubxp.com/i/386902
Reservists Respond: The "Texas City Y" Oil Spill On Saturday, March 22, the M/V Summer Wind (a 585 foot bulk carrier) collided with a fuel oil barge being pushed by the M/V Miss Susan in the intersection know as the "Texas City Y." This is where the Houston Ship Channel, the Texas City Channel and the Intercostal Waterway converge making it one of the nation's busiest port areas. The collision caused massive damage to the barge and approximately 168,000 gallons of bunker fuel was released into Galveston Bay. The Coast Guard was notified and Sector Houston- Galveston and MSU Texas City personnel took the lead to implement the Area Contingency Plan and build a Unified Command (UC). The UC first stood up an Incident Command Post (ICP) at the MSU facility in Texas City and had members represented from all facets of oil spill response including, USCG, Kirby Inland Marine (Responsible Party-RP), Texas General Land Office, Galveston County Emergency Management, Wildlife response and a myriad of other local, state, and federal stakeholders. The first CG responders were active duty members from the local area as well as the National Strike Force and the Incident Management Assistance Team; however, even the first day of the response, Reserve members began to be called up to assist. Once the response was fully staffed there were 53 reservists working at the spill, 30 of those being personnel from the local Sector Houston-Galveston area of responsibility. Over time the response needs grew and the total personnel assigned eclipsed 2,000 for the Galveston ICP as it moved to four different locations. The seamless transition from post to post speaks to the high level of coordination between all parties involved. For the first day and a half the oil remained inside Galveston Bay and skimmers were deployed to contain as much as possible. The most heavily impacted areas included the Texas City Dike, Pelican Island, and the Eastern tip of Galveston Island. Over 60 miles of coastline were impacted in the Galveston area. The wind and tide shifted and pulled a large slug of oil out into the Gulf of Mexico, where it got into the current and began traveling southwest. This patch of oil heavily impacted Matagorda Island and left traces as far south as the northern end of South Padre Island. Shortly thereafter Capt. Brian Penoyer, the Federal On-Scene Coordinator (FOSC), declared this a Type 1 incident and activated an Area Command, co-located with the Galveston ICP. Once the loose oil had impacted the shoreline and clean up became the focus of the response Capt. Penoyer determined he wanted to make a transition to a Reserve led response. Cmdr. Lisa Campbell (Sector Houston-Galveston Senior Reserve Officer) and Cmdr. Ronald Catudal (Atlantic Area IMAT) were both granted FOSC designation. Campbell assumed the roll of Incident Commander with Catudal as her deputy. They oversaw a transition where most active duty personnel were de-mobilized and the Reserve component assumed the watch. At the height of the response 54 reservists were activated with the majority from within the Coast Guard's 8th District. Reservists acted in all capacities from Incident Commander, Liaison, Operations, Planning, Logistics, Situation Unit, Field Observers, and Volunteer Coordinators. ICP Matagorda was set up 120 miles from Galveston in Port O'Connor. The ICO's area consisted of 185 miles of coastline with 90 miles impacted by some level of oil. Initially stood up by active duty personnel from Sector Corpus Christi, they were quickly backfilled by members from other units, including eight reservists. Reserve personnel quickly took over responsibility for the Planning Section and Documentation Unit. incident Command Post members representing all facets of oil spill response including, USCg, Kirby inland Marine (Responsible Party-RP), Texas general Land offce, galveston County emergency Management, Wildlife response and a myriad of other local, state, and federal stakeholders, work together in response to an oil spill in galveston Bay, Texas, March 22. 16 RESERVIST � Issue 3 • 2014