Pollution response training held

PENSACOLA, Fla. - The U.S. Coast Guard on Wednesday conducted pollution response training for the deployment of the Spilled Oil Recovery System in Pensacola Bay. Members from the Eighth Coast Guard District Response Advisory Team, Coast Guard Gulf Strike Team and Coast Guard Sector Mobile, Ala., deployed aboard the USCG Cutter Cypress, a 225-foot seagoing buoy tender homeported in Mobile. The exercise is to test and improve the Coast Guard's ability to assemble and deploy the Cypress' SORS to recover surface oil from the water after a spill or release. Following the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil Spill, all Coast Guard sea-going buoy tenders have to be equipped with oil skimming systems. The Cypress has a crew of 50. (Source: U.S. Coast Guard, 11/30/11)