Drills and Exercises

Responders perform well overall in drills in 2024

Fishing vessels pull oil spill boom.

Many of the drills and exercises conducted by the industry last year went well, according to the latest drill summary released by the Council. During the 14 drills and exercises observed in 2024, responders were generally well-practiced and activities went smoothly. The summary report also contains suggestions for future exercises. Tanker spill exercise In October, … Read more

Modern technologies changing oil spill response

Lessons learned during the pandemic here to stay The Council’s newest annual report on drills and exercises highlights lessons learned during the pandemic and recent changes due to new technologies. Large drills continue to take advantage of video-conferencing platforms. Meetings are held online. Documents and other data are shared through online collaboration tools. “While the … Read more

Drills and exercises getting back to normal

For the past few years, the COVID-19 pandemic affected many aspects of daily life. Oil spill drills and exercises were not exempt. Restrictions to protect the health and safety of responders limited these activities. Not only were there fewer drills and exercises, they were harder to observe. Social distancing meant that Council staff could not … Read more

Drills and exercises affected by pandemic again in 2021

The Council has released its annual report on drills and exercises conducted in Prince William Sound in 2021. This report highlights the continuing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and lessons learned.

Reduced on-water monitoring for second year

Graphic showing that 2 drills observed in 2020 and 6 in 2021, compared to a normal pre-pandemic year when usually 12-20 are monitored.For the second year in a row, the Council has been unable to monitor the on-water drills and exercises in Prince William Sound as closely as pre-pandemic years.

The Council has not been allowed on tugs or barges since early 2020, given COVID safety precautions. To be able to monitor some drills, the Council has chartered boats to observe from afar, but evaluation has proved difficult from such a distance.

“We can’t see the full evolution of the exercise or hear communications,” says Council drill monitor Roy Robertson. “We can’t tell if the crews are having problems deploying boom and we can’t time the activities like we usually do.”

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