As part of the value of membership, Clean Rivers Cooperative member organizations are offered several training opportunities each year such as ICS, HAZWOPER and initial response training. Each year during the second quarter, Cooperative member organizations gather their internal spill response teams for a Mutual Aid Deployment Exercise that is facilitated by Cooperative Staff.
This training simulates mutual aid assistance to a hypothetical member organization who has requested assistance from fellow Cooperative members to respond to a spill event. Response teams from 9 member organizations participated in this event that took place on June 25, 2024. Each team utilized either their facilities response vessel or a vessel provided by the Cooperative to deploy 4 local Geographic Response Plans (GRP’s) on the Columbia and Willamette Rivers.
Boom deployed at GRP WR-3.8L
Safety Officer Jeff Edwards, from Republic Services, delivers the safety briefing over the radio to teams awaiting their assignments in response vessels.
Cooperative Staff and crew from the Cooperatives Response Contractor Republic Services assisted and coached the member teams as they worked through the GRP booming strategies. The GRP booming strategies exercised during this training were chosen based on their proximity to the simulated spill site and the priority of the strategy in the Northwest Area Contingency Plan.
Participants gather on the shore of the Columbia River to debrief and share their experience of the training.
Boom deployed at GRP WR-0.9R