Analysis for Coastal Operational Resiliency

Purpose

The purpose of this multi-agency program is to develop and demonstrate capabilities and strategic guidelines to prepare the U.S. for a wide-area release of a biological agent, including mitigating impacts to U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) facilities and assets. This program will develop science based results to support wide-area response and remediation decisions.

EPA, Coast Guard (USCG) and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) have primary responsibilities to prepare for and respond to a threat to public health or the environment caused by the release of a hazardous substance including the release of a biological threat agent. The EPA, USCG and DHS are partnering to improve capabilities and preparedness for response to such threats.

Although EPA has participated in other large scale demonstrations, each environment (building, railcar, subway station, ship, coastal environment) present unique challenges. It’s necessary to conduct full scale demonstrations and exercises in multiple environments to prepare for potentially devastating contamination incidents. The purpose of Analysis for Coastal Operational Resiliency (AnCOR) is to develop and demonstrate capabilities and strategic guidelines to prepare the nation for a wide-area release of a biological agent, including mitigating impacts to USCG facilities and assets (e.g. ships). This program will develop science based results to support wide-area response and remediation decisions. The project will be conducted over a number of years (2019-2022) and include experiments from the laboratory bench scale through the pilot scale and will culminate with a large-scale, wide-area demonstration.

This project began in 2019 with bench-scale projects. In 2020, the project team conducted a vessel decontamination demonstration and initiated pilot-scale projects. 2022 culminated in a wide-area demonstration, taking what was learned from the previous bench-scale and pilot-scale projects. Guidance documents are expected to be published in 2023.

Areas of Study

Bench and pilot scale research includes work in the following areas:

Sampling and Analysis

Fate and Transport

Decontamination

Waste Management

Data Management

Demonstrations/Field-Scale Projects

Wide-Area Demonstration

Related Links

Science Matters: Operators, Transform and Roll Out! Repurposing Commercial and Municipal Equipment for Disaster Response

Feature Article: Department of Homeland Security and EPA are Helping Coast Guard Prepare to Clean Up Following an Anthrax Attack

Project Leads

Emergency Response Research

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Last updated on June 26, 2024