Maine DEP and Coast Guard to Test Marine Spill Response on Damariscotta River
Responders from the Maine Department of Environmental Protection, the U.S. Coast Guard and Moran Environmental Recovery will participate in a boom deployment exercise on the Penobscot River on Tuesday, May 22 and Wednesday, May 23.
The training exercise, which will begin at the public boat launch in Damariscotta at 6 a.m. on Tuesday and continue with a second deployment that afternoon, is to test the feasibility of response strategies in the event of a large marine oil spill in the river. Depending on results, the exercise may continue into Wednesday morning.
Responders met earlier this week with other interested parties including local aquaculture interests and the Damariscotta River Association to brief them on the exercise plans.
Maine has a total of 209 protection strategies designed for environmentally sensitive areas from Kittery to Calais, and the DEP has an active program to review and test these strategies – particularly in areas with the highest risk for marine oil spills – to ensure natural resources are most effectively protected.
A similar training exercise was held last October in the Penobscot River in Bucksport and others are tentatively scheduled in the Scarborough River, Wells Harbor and Castine this fall.