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New regional response center for emergency operations dedicated at U.S. EPA's San Francisco Office

Release Date: 4/13/2004
Contact Information: Mark Merchant, (415) 947-4297

SAN FRANCISCO -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Regional Administrator for the Pacific Southwest, Wayne Nastri, dedicated a new regional response center for emergency operations at the agency's San Francisco office today.

At the ribbon cutting, Nastri was joined by Mary Kruger, director of the EPA's Office of Homeland Security.

The center was 16 months in the making and cost $500,000.

"I am very proud to formally open the U.S. EPA's Region 9 Regional Response Center, an important resource in our emergency response program," said Nastri. "The EPA's experiences in the past 2 1/2 years -- responding to the 9/11 terrorist attack, the Capitol Hill anthrax attack and most recently the shuttle Columbia recovery effort -- have yielded many lessons learned. One of the most important lessons is the importance of effective and timely data management and communication."

Nastri explained that the new regional response center will serve as a "nerve center" for telecommunications, data management and real-time information exchange with other federal, state and local emergency operations centers, as well as joint information centers, during nationally significant incidents.

Also attending the ribbon cutting was Karen Armes, Acting Regional Director of FEMA Region IX in Oakland; Sarah Spagnolo, Senior Safety Analyst at the Department of Energy's Livermore Lab; Ed Lowry, Director of California's Dept. of Toxic Substances Control; members of the U.S. Coast Guard's Pacific Strike Team; representatives from the California Governor's Office of Emergency Services; representatives of San Francisco and Oaklands' Office of Emergency Services; Michele Moss, representing U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer; and Jennifer Barton, representing U.S. Rep. Ellen Tauscher.

For more information visit: https://www.epa.gov/Region9/waste/sfund/cepp/january04news.pdf
and https://www.epa.gov/Region9/waste/sfund/oilpp/index.html