Page 17: of Marine News Magazine (December 2014)

very proud of the new tools we have developed with several leading remote sensing companies that now allow us to do things we were not able to do back in 2010. This includes remote sensing capability from aircraft, teth- ered balloons, and ships. Other technologies are being de- veloped and used to increase the ability to recover oil from the water once MSRC is on site. Tell us about just a few of these breakthroughs. As I again indicated in the ques-tion on lessons learned from the Gulf spill, MSRC has focused on a num- ber of strategic and tactical options to ensure that we can make the best ?game day and game time? decisions for the challenges that vary daily in oil spill response. As such, we have developed dual options for recovery from our Responder Class vessels, us- ing both the traditional methods of collecting and of oading oil with our Transrec skimming systems while also having the ability to go into what we call Buster mode, using a Norwegian developed oil collection and recovery system that can operate at higher ad-vancing speeds under the appropriate circumstances. We have also added a number of newer skimming systems designed to recover more oil and less water. MSRC was formed as a U.S. Coast Guard ClassiÞ ed Oil Spill Removal Organization (OSRO) in 1990 to offer oil spill response services and mitigate damage to the envi-ronment. This came, presumably, in the wake of the EXXON VALDEZ and the Oil Pollution Act of 1990. WhatÕs changed since then in the world of spill response? Pick out just one deÞ ning event, develop- ment or regulatory change that has impacted all stakeholders.The Exxon Valdez catalyzed the passage of OPA-90 and even today it remains the most in uential event since it impacted the regulations gov- erning all operators who process and move crude oil. While the regulatory impact of the 2010 Gulf of Mexico spill has to date in uenced operations offshore in the Exploration and Pro- duction business, I believe it ultimate- ly will impact other oil operations and shipping as the promulgation of offshore regulations is taken into ac- count by the Coast Guard and the Environmental Protection Agency. MN 17www.marinelink.com MN Dec14 Layout 1-17.indd 17MN Dec14 Layout 1-17.indd 1711/24/2014 3:53:05 PM11/24/2014 3:53:05 PM