Geographic Response Plans (GRP) 2009 Updating the Grays Harbor GRP Harry Chichester Washington State Department of Ecology

Purpose  Help you understand GRPs  What they are  How they are used  What criteria is used in their development  Ask for your help in the update effort  Types of information that are helpful  Ways to get useful information to us  Overview of how the update effort works  Timeline: Grays Harbor GRP Workshop & Data Collection begins on August 25, 2009  Comment period ends September 24, 2009  Site visits Fall 2009

What are GRPs?  A collection of strategies for a given geographic area  Used during the initial phase of a spill  They are not ‘everything’ that could or would be done  Not dependent on ‘real-time’ information - but ‘real-time’ information can result in modification  Minimize spill impact on habitat or areas of high regional significance  Deflect, collect, ‘exclude’ spilled oil

Limitations – “oil boom is not a wall”  Factors that influence the effectiveness of oil containment boom:  Spilled material  Currents  Winds  Tides  River Speed

Types of Information in a GRP (Chapter 4) > Maps > Strategy Matrices > Priority Tables

Types of Information in a GRP “Two Pagers”

How are GRPs developed?  Stakeholders  Trustee Agencies – in Washington development of marine GRPs by ECY & USCG development of marine GRPs by ECY & USCG freshwater GRPs by ECY & EPA freshwater GRPs by ECY & EPA  Tribes  Other interested parties  Some Criteria for developing GRPs  Habitat of high regional significance  Likelihood of spill impacting habitat  Could a strategy minimize impact?  Could the strategy be ‘done’

Sources of Information  Resource Agency Staff  U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)  U. S. Coast Guard (USCG)  U. S. Fish & Wildlife (USFWS)  Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife (WDFW)  Washington Department of Health (DOH)  Washington Department of Natural Resources (DNR)  Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission (Parks)  Tribes  Geographic Information System (GIS) Data Layers  Local Knowledge

Information Ecology Has GIS Data Sources  DNR – Beach Data  WDFW – Priority Species  Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation  Ecology GIS – on web  WUTC - Pipelines

How will the Grays Harbor GRP be updated?  Collect ‘new’ information  Visit sites to determine  Regional significance of resource  Likelihood of spill impacting habitat (ESI, TAPS etc.)  Could a strategy minimize impact  Could a strategy be done  As appropriate, develop new strategies  As appropriate, adjust priority tables

How to help the GRP update effort…  Useful information:  Specific location  Site access  Resource of concern  Lessons learned in deployment of strategies since last update  Information that’s not too useful…  Statements like – protect ‘everything’  GIS layers we already have  Other data we already have

Does public feedback work? Will my effort result in changes to GRPs?  Yes it does and here are two examples:  A curator suggested shutting down his zoo’s salt-water intake system rather than setting up boom. The suggestion was accepted and is now the GRP strategy for that location.  Comments by the City of Tacoma and Citizens for a Healthy Bay helped generate new strategies that addressed several of the area’s restoration sites

How to Get Information to Us  Getting the information to us:  – &  NW Contingency Plan Website -  ‘Snail mail’ –Todd Hass, c/o Ecology HQ Spills, PO Box 47600, Olympia, WA  More information on the Grays Harbor GRP update process can be found on our website: raysHarbor.html raysHarbor.html raysHarbor.html