september 18, 2006

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September 18, 2006

Hurricane Katrina -Immediate Response &Immediate Response &Long Term ChallengesLong Term Challenges

Joel WhiteheadJoel Whitehead Rear Admiral, U.S. Coast GuardRear Admiral, U.S. Coast Guard Eighth District CommanderEighth District Commander

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Key Topics

Summary of Coast Guard Katrina Response

Managing Risk in Areas Supplying Response Assets to Incidents of National Significance

Maritime Recovery Initiatives

Development of a Coast Guard Deployable Operations Group (DOG)

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Katrina – Response

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Mission PreparednessDistrict 8District 8

St. Louis, MO

Sector New OrleansSector New Orleans

Alexandria, LA

Sector MobileSector Mobile

Maxwell AFB, AL

Atlantic AreaAtlantic Area

Supporting Air StationsSupporting Air StationsCuttersCutters

District 8District 8

Sector New OrleansSector New Orleans

Evacuated Command & Control Node

Temporary Command & Control Node

Sector MobileSector Mobile

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Initial Response• Saving lives in distress first priority

– First rescues made at sea and on land as the storm was still coming ashore

• Pre-positioned air and sea assets around perimeter of Katrina’s projected destruction zone

• Rapidly surged additional assets to affected zone after landfall

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Surged Response

AssetIn theater

Normal Ops (LA, AL, MS)

Land fall plus 12 hours

Land fall plus 24 hours

Land fall plus 48 hours

Cutter 16 24 26 26

Helicopter 15 28 30 38Fixed-Wing Aviation 4 8 11 14

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Katrina Search & Rescue Results29-30 Aug 31 Aug 1 Sep 2 Sep 3 Sep Total Rescues

RESCUED 1,256 1,600 1,141 5,000 6,655 24,135

HOSPITALEVACUATIONS         9,400 9,409

TOTAL 1,259 2,859 4,000 9,000 25,055 33,544

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Katrina Pollution Response Results

•Pacific, Atlantic, & Gulf Strike Teams responded•Coordinated response to 2,300 pollution cases•Recovered approximately 2-million gallons of oil

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Summary of Response ForcesForces assisting in SAR and environmental response (not all inclusive):• DHS:

– USCG: 3,900 active and reserve personnel– CBP: 500 personnel & 20 fixed/rotary wing aircraft– ICE: 725 personnel– FEMA: 87 National Disaster Medical System Teams & 23 Urban SAR

Teams• FBI: Provided rescue boats• DoD: Aircraft, troops, ships, salvage, command/control & logistics support• EPA/NOAA• Forest Service• National Guard: Deployed 50,000 troops • State/Local:

- NOLA police/fire/emergency, LA State police & Ramsey County Sheriff- Firefighters/emergency workers from various States

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Managing Risk in Areas Supplying Response Assets to Incidents of National Significance

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National Response Posture AffectedSearch and Rescue:

• Nationwide deepwater & coastal zone missions impacted

• National response readiness degraded Canada covered NW Atlantic search and rescue

• All aviation training flights deferred until completion of Katrina response

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National Response Posture Affected

Environmental Response:

• National Strike Force Teams provided assets from around the country

• Commercial pollution response personnel and equipment deployed to support Katrina & Rita cleanups

• Certain facilities in unaffected areas forced to reduce transfer operations due to lack of resources from their contract Oil Spill Removal Organizations (OSROs)

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OSRO Policy Currently Under Revision

• Coast Guard exploring options to address pollution response shortfalls when resources are responding to Spills or Incidents of National Significance.

• Possible alternatives include:– Allowing companies to temporarily contract with alternate OSROs

– Temporarily relaxing equipment requirements for low probability events (e.g. worst case or maximum probable discharge scenarios)

– Expand Coast Guard’s role to include strategic placement of available response resources when shortages are identified

– In extreme cases where commercial coverage is not available, the Coast Guard may direct its own remaining assets to act as an alternate OSRO

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Maritime Recovery Initiatives

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Coast Guard Katrina Priorities

1. Save and Sustain Lives

2. Secure and Restore Ports, Waterways & Infrastructure

3. Oil, Chemical and Hazardous Material Response

4. Sustain Coast Guard Operations

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Damage to Offshore Facilities

PLATFORM MARS

BEFORE & AFTER

KATRINA

PLATFORM TYPHOON BEFORE &

AFTER RITA

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Open

Restricted, butoperational

Closed, or Substantially impacted

LegendCorpusChristi

Port O’Connor

Freeport, open to 28 ft, daylight only

Galveston

Houston

Port Arthur

Lake Charles

Morgan City

Texas Louisiana

Brownsville

As of 26 Sep 05

USACE, NOAA, and Kirby Marine coordinating major port surveys & the GICW

New OrleansHouston Ship Channel open

to 35ft, daylight only

GICW closed from Sabine Pass to the LMR

GICW open from Freeport to Brownsville

PORT & WATERWAY STATUSPORT & WATERWAY STATUS

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Ports, Waterways, & Infrastructure

• Katrina aftermath exposed need for integrated government and industry recovery plan

• Lack of communications led to additional incidents during restoration phase

• Implications of port closures not fully understood

• Alternate paths for cargo flow not identified in advance

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Actions to Improve Recovery

• Coast Guard held 1st National Maritime Recovery Symposium in August 2006

• Need for several initiatives identified:– Integrated government / industry recovery management org– Integrated government / industry communications system for

recovery– National Logistics Support Plan for cargo diversion during a

national emergency– Integrated government / industry Business Continuity Planning

System– Funding mechanism to support local, state, and national recovery

preparedness– Raised awareness of interconnection / interdependency of ports

with the national transportation system.

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Actions to Improve Recovery (cont)

• Commence meetings with members of the Business Roundtable (Fortune 200) to further explore concepts for recovery and restoration coordination.

• Lead the coordination with industry to form a Maritime Sector Coordinating Council

• Capitalize on existing forums and partner with other DHS agencies to develop a maritime concept of operations.

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Development of a Coast Guard Deployable Operations Group (DOG)

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Deployable Operations Group (DOG)

• Developing deployable command to supplement existing shore and deepwater assets

• First command will stand up in summer of 2007

• Deployable forces will include security, law enforcement, and environmental responders

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Questions