By Jackie Wolf
Special to the Weekly
In addition to responding to spills in San Juan County, training residents to be spill responders and the many other things noted in part 1 last week, Islands’ Oil Spill Association is involved in a number of other activities that are not well known in our community but equally important if there is a large oil spill affecting our islands and/or surrounding waters.
For the past several years, IOSA has provided crew for Emergency Operations Center “Worst Case Discharge” spill response drills on the mainland, involving initial response planning, locating resources, identifying staging areas for oiled wildlife search and rescue operations and more.
Since 2008, IOSA has provided crew for an annual training and practice set-up of mobile oiled wildlife response facilities in different locations on the mainland, which will be used for oiled wildlife treatment and rehab in the event of a large spill anywhere along the WA coast involving oiled wildlife.
IOSA served as a member of a Wildlife Response Task Force conducted by the US Coast Guard to develop plans for marine mammal response during a spill, specifically pinnipeds, sea otters and whales.
IOSA was invited to attend and give a presentation for a Washington State Maritime Cooperative conference with over 100 participants in the oil spill response/oil industry. After the presentation, several people, including past US Coast Guard Captains, stated that they know of no other similar organizations in the United States or Europe! The unique nature of this beautiful archipelago and the people who call it home makes it possible for a community-based organization like IOSA to work.
In May 2013, IOSA had the opportunity to provide instruction and orientation for a spill response team from McMurdo Research Station at the southern-most point of Antarctica. It was a two-day training in Barlow Bay and included boom deployment, containment and recovery and use of a skimmer. In addition to sharing our knowledge and experience with a group from so far away and the sense of helping to protect this amazing place on Earth, we also earned IOSA some income to help pay for the other things we do!
IOSA has become an organization that is having an impact on oil spill response beyond the San Juan Islands, and we cannot do all that we do without help from our islands’ community.
There are all kinds of ways receives support, including the many island residents who take the time and energy to get the training required in order to be certified to respond to oil spills.
Some support IOSA in other ways, such as all the time donated by people to work on equipment maintenance and repair, in-kind donations from both individuals and industry, the annual $10,000 from San Juan County that is specifically to help cover our ever-increasing equipment costs, and the grant awards from San Juan Island Community Foundation, Orcas Island Community Foundation and the Horizons Foundation, as well as those individuals who have been regular financial contributors for many years. We could not make it without the support from each of you.
If you would like to help support IOSA in any of these ways, please visit our website at: www.iosaonline.org or call our office on Lopez at 468-3441.
