| Oil Spill Information

Oil Spill Information

Updated Information

“Filing a Claim” Brochure

Vessel Decontamination Information

Administration-Wide Response Summary to the Deepwater BP Oil Spill

Statement from National Incident Commander Admiral Thad Allen on Well Integrity Test

Oil Impact Assessment Map (Houma)

Oil Impact Assessment Map (Mobile)

NOAA Trajectory Maps

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Mississippi Oil Spill Response Updates

BILOXI–The following are upcoming actions and a summary of Mississippi’s and British Petroleum’s responses to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico:

MS Department of Environmental Quality:

Continue State Emergency Response Team assessments and respond to any oil related reports along the Mississippi Coast.
Continue to conduct State Coastline Assessment Team beach assessments.
Respond to air observation and public complaints.

BP:

A long-term containment manifold is en route to the site and will be staged pending the success or failure of other containment efforts.
Riser Insertion Tube Tools, another form of containment, are staged along the sea floor pending the effectiveness of top cap and top hat operations.
Three top hats are currently placed on the sea bed pending the effectiveness of other operations.

MS Military Department:

Continuing to develop a state contingency plan.
The Mississippi National Guard will continue to conduct utility helicopter flights to reconnaissance location and condition of boom.

Current public announcements:

A total of 4,034 Mississippians have filed claims with BP, and $5,519,208.23 has been paid out.
The MDEQ and MDMR are asking the public to AVOID handling any tar balls, and to please report tar ball locations and broken or disconnected boom by calling: (866) 448-5816.
Boom deployment: Incident Command Post in Mobile, Ala. reports that 100 percent of the area contingency plan is complete with 367,000 feet of boom deployed to protect sensitive areas along the Mississippi Gulf Coast. MDEQ and MDMR are working with BP, the responsible party for the spill, to direct the placement of the boom.

Summary of actions completed:

MS Emergency Management Agency:

MEMA has a three person team at the Area Command Center in Biloxi, two staff members in the Mobile Command Center, and one area coordinator in each coastal county’s Emergency Operations Center.

MDEQ:

Teams discovered eight dead turtles. One turtle had an oil like substance on it, but the substance could not be confirmed as oil. The turtles were collected to be tested.

Tar balls were reported in many areas along the Mississippi Coast shoreline.

MDMR:

Conducted monitoring between the barrier islands to detect the presence of any potential pollutant.

MS Military Department:

Conducted utility helicopter flight for boom reconnaissance.
Conducted flight for MDMR and MDEQ.

BP:

The top hat was placed onto the blow out preventer on Thursday, and has shown no signs of hydrate buildup. The captured oil is flowing to the ship Enterprise.
Individuals interested in specialty volunteer training should email horizonresponse@pecpremier.com to request training information from BP.
BP has opened three state community outreach offices and three Mississippi claims offices in each of the three coastal counties.

To date, 3,807 vessel owners, captains and crew members have participated in the training courses offered in Mississippi, and about 1,170 vessel owners in Mississippi have submitted charter agreements.

MS Commission for Volunteer Service:

The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Volunteer Response plan has been submitted to the governor for approval.
Currently MCVS has 3,970 volunteers registered to respond to the oil spill cleanup.
MCVS statistics: 1,701 trained volunteers – 216 volunteers participated in beach cleanup – 840 volunteer hours worked – 37 miles of beach cleaned.
A team of Mississippi Power employees received training to serve as Volunteer Coordinators for the Mississippi Wildlife Response Center. If oiled wildlife is brought to the response center, the volunteer coordinators will help organize and supervise unaffiliated volunteers assigned to the center.
Volunteer service opportunities as defined in the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Volunteer Plan are now posted on the www.volunteermississippi.org website and can be viewed by interested volunteers. These pre-defined service opportunities are being shared with county emergency management agencies to facilitate requests for volunteer assistance.
The Coast Watch program has been redesigned by the Audubon Society and is now being called the Audubon Coastal Bird Survey, as a long-term, ongoing program. The initial phase of the program will remain a unified collaboration between MCVS, BP and the Audubon Society to coordinate teams across the state’s coast to observe and record area wildlife and coastal habitats using cameras and GPS devices. The initial training for these teams is limited and will be open to registered volunteers through invitation.
MCVS is working with Tri-State contracted rescue workers to provide wildlife response opportunities for volunteers. These opportunities will not involve coming in contact with oil, oil-contaminated material or oiled wildlife. Volunteers will be allowed to participate in duties such as feeding cleaned birds that have been moved in to the cold zone, and cleaning and building cages.

Small Business Administration:

The SBA has opened five Business Recovery Centers on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. To file a claim or learn more call (800) 659-2955 or (800) 877-8339 for the hearing impaired, or visit www.sba.gov/services/disasterassistance.

MS State Department of Health:

MSDH continues health surveillance in the three coastal counties. For more, visit their website, www.healthyms.com.

MS Department of Mental Health:

Community Health Centers are open on the coast and are prepared to help individuals affected by the oil spill.

MS Department of Wildlife, Fisheries & Parks:

MDWFP has finished the Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response training and now has 80 officers certified.

MS Board of Animal Health:

MBAH is continuing to support the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center activities in Gulfport.

Civil Air Patrol:

CAP is currently flying three missions per week for MDMR and MDEQ, and one mission per week for the U.S. Coast Guard out of Mobile.

MS Department of Employment Security:

MDES is accepting applications from Mississippi residents seeking paid oil response work at WIN Job Centers as well as online at www.mdes.ms.gov.

MS Development Authority:

All tourism-related businesses on the Mississippi Gulf Coast remain open for business.

Please check www.deepwaterhorizonresponse.com for regular updates on the spill and the response.

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City of Ocean Springs