National Response Center (NRC)

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National Response Center (NRC)

• The primary function of the National Response
  Center is to serve as the sole national point of
  contact for reporting all oil, chemical,
  radiological, biological, and etiological
  discharges into the environment anywhere in the
  United States and its territories.
• It provides notification to specific DOT and
  National Transportation Safety Board offices of
  transportation related incidents that meet
  certain pre-established criteria.

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National Response Center (NRC)

• The NRC is staffed by Coast Guard personnel who
  maintain a 24 hour per day, 365 day per year
  telephone watch.
• NRC watch standers enter telephonic reports of
  pollution incidents into the Incident Reporting
  Information System (IRIS) and immediately relay
  each report to the pre-designated Federal
  On-Scene Coordinator (FOSC).

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Duties of the NRC

• Provides emergency response support to the
  FOSC's.
• Includes extensive reference materials, state of
  the art telecommunications and operation of
  automated chemical identification and chemical
  dispersion information systems.

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National Response Center

• Government's mechanism for emergency response to
  discharges of oil and the release of chemicals
  into the navigable waters or environment of the
  United States and its territories.
• Initially, this system focused on oil spills and
  selected hazardous polluting substances
  discharged into the environment.
• It has since been expanded by other legislation
  to include hazardous substances and wastes
  released to all types of media.

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National Response Center

• On behalf of the Department of Homeland Security
  and the United States Coast Guard , the National
  Response Center
• Briefs the White House , Office of Homeland
  Security , Secretary of Transportation, and
  Chiefs of Modal Administrations regarding all
  significant transportation emergencies reported
  to the Center
• Provides information the Coast Guard's Office of
  Marine Safety, Security, and Environmental
  Protection as needed for a variety of reports,
  studies, or Congressional Inquiries
• Receives and relays reports of incidents
  reportable under the Hazardous Materials
  Transportation Act
• Provides electronic and hard copy incident
  reports to various DOT agencies

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NRC and Terrorism

• Any incident related to terrorism or possible
  terrorist activity requires telephonic
  notification to the National Response Center.
• Includes bombings, bomb threats, suspicious
  letters or packages, and incidents related to the
  intentional release of chemical/biological/radioac
  tive agents.
• National Response Center Watch Standers have been
  trained to ask specific questions for such
  reports and will immediately pass the information
  to the proper agencies for response.

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Components of the National Response Center

• The NRC has various components related to
  emergency responses

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Federal On-Scene Coordinators (FOSC)

• The FOSC is a federal official, pre-designated by
  EPA for inland areas and by the Coast Guard for
  coastal or major navigable waterways.
• Coordinate all federal containment, removal,
  disposal efforts, and resources during an
  incident.
• Coordinates federal efforts with the local
  community's response.
• Anyone responsible for reporting releases should
  be aware of which FOSC has responsibility for the
  affected area.
• For locations near the coast or a major waterway,
  there may be both a Coast Guard and EPA FOSC with
  assigned responsibilities within jurisdictional
  boundaries of various state or local entities.

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National Response Team (NRT)

• The National Response Team's membership consists
  of 16 federal agencies with interest and
  expertise in various aspects of emergency
  response to pollution incidents.
• The NRT is a planning, policy, and coordinating
  body providing national level policy guidance
  prior to an incident and does not respond
  directly to an incident.
• They can provide assistance to an FOSC during an
  incident, usually in the form of technical advice
  or access to additional resources and equipment
  at the national level.

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Regional Response Team (RRT)

• RRT's are the next organizational level in the
  federal response system. Currently, there are 13
  RRTs, one for each of the ten federal regions,
  plus one each for Alaska, the Caribbean and the
  Pacific Basin.
• Each team maintains a Regional Contingency Plan
  and both the state and federal governments are
  represented.
• RRTs are primarily planning, policy and
  coordinating bodies.
• Provide guidance to FOSCs through the Regional
  Contingency Plans and work to locate assistance
  requested by the FOSC during an incident.
• May provide assistance to state and local
  governments in preparing, planning or training
  for emergency response.

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NRC Special Forces

• The four NRC special force components are
• Coast Guard National Strike Force (NSF)
• EPA Environmental Response Team (ERT)
• Coast Guard Public Information Assist Team (PIAT)
  
• Scientific Support Coordinators (SSC)

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Coast Guard National Strike Force (NSF)

• The NSF is composed of three strategically
  located strike teams and a coordination center.
• The strike teams have specially trained personnel
  and are equipped to respond to major oil spills
  and chemical releases.
• The coordination center maintains a national
  inventory listing of spill response equipment and
  assists with the development and implementation
  of an exercise and training program for the
  National Response System.

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Coast Guard Public Information Assist Team (PIAT)

• The PIAT is a highly skilled unit of public
  affairs specialists prepared to complement the
  existing public information capabilities of the
  Federal On-Scene Coordinator.

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EPA Environmental Response Team (ERT)

• The ERT is a group of specially trained
  scientists and engineers based in Edison, NJ and
  Cincinnati, OH. Its capabilities include
  multimedia sampling and analysis, hazard
  assessment, cleanup techniques and technical
  support.

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Scientific Support Coordinators (SSC)

• The National Oceanic and Atmospheric
  Administration (NOAA) provides SSC in coastal and
  marine areas. The SSC serves on the FOSC staff as
  the lead of a scientific team.
• This support team provides expertise in
  environmental chemistry, oil slick tracking,
  pollutant transport modeling, natural resources
  at risk, environmental tradeoffs of
  countermeasures and cleanup, information
  management, contingency planning and liaison to
  the scientific community and the natural resource
  trustees.

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National Response Plan

• The National Response Plan established a
  comprehensive all-hazards approach to enhance the
  ability of the United States to manage domestic
  incidents.  

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National Response Plan

• The plan incorporated best practices and
  procedures from incident management disciplines
  homeland security, emergency management, law
  enforcement, firefighting, public works, public
  health, responder and recovery worker health and
  safety, emergency medical services, and the
  private sector and integrates them into a
  unified structure.  

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National Response Plan

• The National Response Plan formed the basis of
  how the federal government coordinates with
  state, local, and tribal governments and the
  private sector during incidents.

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National Response Plan

• The National Response Plan (NRP) was an
  all-discipline, all-hazards plan that establishes
  a single, comprehensive framework for the
  management of domestic incidents.
• It provided the structure and mechanisms for the
  coordination of Federal support to State, local,
  and tribal incident managers and for exercising
  direct Federal authorities and responsibilities.
• The NRP assisted in the important homeland
  security mission of preventing terrorist attacks
  within the United States reducing the
  vulnerability to all natural and manmade hazards
  and minimizing the damage and assisting in the
  recovery from any type of incident that occurs.

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National Response Framework

• National Response Framework became effective
  March 2008 and replaced the National Response
  Plan.
• As a result of problems identified during the
  Hurricane Katrina disaster, changes were
  identified

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National Response Framework

• Important changes include
• Removing criteria for Incident of National
  Significance
• Incidents will include actual or potential
  emergencies
• Includes all-hazard events that range from
  accidents and natural disasters to actual or
  potential terrorist attacks
• Will continue to use the Annexes from the NRP