Emerging Environmental Issues

EnviroEmerg Consulting focuses on emerging regional, national and international environmental issues primarily related to oil and hazardous material spill risk, prevention, preparedness and response.  

 

EnviroEmerg provides emergency management training and services under the Incident Command System (ICS) with a focus on environmental emergencies related to oil and hazardous material spills in marine and inland environments. 

 

EnviroEmerg specializes in Shoreline Cleanup Assessment Techniques (SCAT) for oil spills in both marine and freshwater environments.

 

EnviroEmerg is available for exercise design, facilitation, and participation under the ICS.  EnviroEmerg is available in Canada and internationally for emergency response to deliver ICS planning, field observation, and SCAT.

 

Sectors include transportation (vessel, rail, road, pipeline) and industrial (manufacturing, storage). Clients include government, companies, First Nations and non-government organizations.  All training and services are to international standards.

Stafford Reid EnviroEmerg Consulting
Principal - EnviroEmerg

 

 

Stafford Reid

48 years of experience

in environmental emergency
management

LINKEDIN: https://ca.linkedin.com/pub/stafford-reid/b/160/738

 

Recipient of the Pacific States/BC Oil Spill Task Force's legacy award presented at the Clean Pacific conference  "For outstanding achievements in major vessel casualty planning and response on the coast of British Columbia" 

Recent Work
Listing of recent work with client references
EnviroEmerg Recent Work.pdf
Adobe Acrobat Document 346.2 KB

Initiatives

Presentations at Coastal Zone Canada Conference: June 2023

Two presentations were provided at the Coastal Zone Conference held in Victoria on June 2023:

 

  1. Recovering Heavy Oil in the Shore Zone by a Coastal Community.  (Link: https://tinyurl.com/4tuvrt9b
  2. Paradigm Shift in Establishing Coastal Community Response Capacity for a Marine Incident.  (Link: https://tinyurl.com/4encwtc9 )

On-line course on Introduction to Shoreline Cleanup Assessment Techniques (SCAT) for Coastal Oil Spills

https://introscatcourse.voomly.com

 

The international Shoreline Cleanup Assessment Techniques (SCAT) subject can be too complex for students to absorb all of its concept, mission, and benefits, then wade through intermediate and advanced materials about shoreline descriptions, then measurements and treatments of oiled shores. Just a handful stay on top of the subject.  To be a full-time SCAT practitioner is a career, not a side task. The best return-for-effort is to focus on those that may be engaged in SCAT to represent their agency, company, or a First Nation (indigenous) while working alongside the career, professional SCAT personnel.

 

The course objective is to establish a strong foundation on SCAT’s definition, mission, principles, benefits, and other introductory elements. The student can then decide if to take intermediate or advanced training but is now prepared to engage in the SCAT decision-making processes – which are dynamic and complex.  The introductory course addressed both social and technical aspects of SCAT delivery.  SCAT fosters competency, trust, confidence, transparency, and fairness. 

 

Content applies to temperate, cold and tropical waters and inland freshwater environments. It is designed to build local to national SCAT capacity.   The course is to international standards and up-to-date practices.  

 

The course is provided on a purpose-designed website for training that includes: videos, graphics, narrations and transcripts. There are eight modules. Youtube links are provided for an overview of each module. As well complete modules are provided for content review at: https://tinyurl.com/2hs9xxdj to help decide on course purchase. Check out my “landing -page” on Introduction to Shoreline Cleanup Assessment Techniques at: https://introscatcourse.voomly.com

Course Outline
The SCAT on-line course comprises of 8 modules with over 3 1/2 hours of instruction.

An example of a full module is provided below (approx. 10 minutes). Course modules average about 30 minutes.
_______________________________________________________________
Couse Outline - Introduction to SCAT.pdf
Adobe Acrobat Document 85.7 KB

Concept for a Shore Zone (SZ) Micro-barge

 

It is difficult to pursue innovations without identifying a problem, attaining a critical mass of understanding, and then having champions for a solution. It’s much like Malcolm Gladwell’s book: The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference which requires just a few influencers and connectors to promote a product or concept - such as establishing a Shore Zone (SZ) Micro-barge 

Please e-mail your thoughts to Stafford Reid - EnviroEmerg@gmail.com

Concept for a Shore Zone (SZ) Micro-Barge for Spill Response
Prepared by EnviroEmerg Consulting for value added comments.
SZ Micro-barge Concept web 2023.pdf
Adobe Acrobat Document 26.8 MB
WE CAN DO BETTER THAN USING RAKES, SHOVELS, AND PADS TO RECOVER MOBILE OIL TRAPPED NEAR SHORES WHERE LARGER RESPONSE VESSELS AND STORAGE BARGES CAN NOT OPERATE. IT'S THE LAST OPPORTUNITY TO RECOVER MOBILE OIL BEFORE IT STRANDS ON SHORES RESULTING IN AN EXPENSIVE, DAMAGING, UNHEALTHY, AND UNSAFE WORKING ENVIRONMENT FOR THE WORKFORCE. THERE IS A PUBLIC/COMMUNITY EXPECTATION THAT ALL ACCESSIBLE MOBILE HEAVY OIL WILL BE RECOVERED.

 

Images of crude oil recovery within a shore zone:
  • 2021 California's Orange County Oil Spill (Pipeline P0057 Incident
  • 1969 California's Santa Barba Oil-rig Blowout

 

Concept for Developing a Container & Cargo Location Buoy

 

 

 

Please e-mail your thoughts to Stafford Reid - EnviroEmerg@gmail.com

Concept to design and construct a buoy to track and locate lost containers and cargo.
Prepared by EnviroEmerg Consulting for value added comments.
Container and Cargo Location (CCL) Buoy
Adobe Acrobat Document 2.3 MB

This video walks you through a field deployment test to support the concept of a container and cargo location buoy I designed and built.  I refer to it as the CCL Buoy. The CCL Buoy’s purpose is to be manually attached to a floating container or other cargo that has accidentally fallen off a vessel near coastal waters. The buoy tracks the container’s drift and final resting place, even if it sinks to 120 meters.  Its components are off-the-shelf, with an overall cost of $400, including a SPOT-Trace Satellite tracker.

 

A detailed, 30-minute video presentation explains the CCL Buoy’s rationale, operating environment, procedure, individual components, and some creative non-emergency applications.  https://youtu.be/RlCPXEKPsuM?si=PkbmetatOgtXBEpA  

 

I am looking for your feedback on the CCL Buoy’s application based on your experiences and insights, such as real-world situations.

Place of Refuge (POR) & Course of Action (COA) Risk-based Decision Support Tool for a Vessel Master Requesting Assistance

It is difficult to make and compare the disposition of a major vessel needing assistance to repair or to stabilize a suitable place of refuge (POR) such as cove, harbour, sheltered waters or another course of action (COA) such as repair in place, intentional beaching, or go further offshore.

 

This Place of Refuge (POR) & Course of Action (COA) Risk-based Decision Support Tool (below) provides a level of rigour that helps to quickly and methodically review and capture key vessel management and impact mitigation considerations for each POR or COA to determine the best overall recommendation. The latter is based on the lowest consequences and risks to the vessel, crew, responders, public, ecology, culture and commerce of a coastal area under threat.

 

The tool is done in a collaborative, equitable and transparent way such as with federal and provincial agencies, ship owner and First Nation (indigenous). It uses situational information, checklists, and ecological/cultural/commercial information gathered before and during a marine vessel incident. The goal is not to make the marine vessel incident worse by recognizing the relative consequences and risks to coastal resources and their users. This includes the practical application of mitigation measures to reduce risk

Place of Refuge (POR) & Course of Action (COA) Risk-based Decision Tool
The overview provides context, development background, and elements of the Place of Refuge (POR) & Course of Action (COA) Risk-based Decision Tool
POR:COA Risk-Based Decision Support Too
Adobe Acrobat Document 6.0 MB
Example #1 of POR & COA Risk-based Decision Support Tool
SCENARIO Cargo Vessel: structural hull failure and potential bunker fuel release
POR:COA Risk-Based Decision Support Tool
Microsoft Excel Table 4.3 MB
Example #2 POR & COA Risk-based Decision Support Tool
SCENARIO Container Vessel: on fire and loss of containers
POR:COA Risk-Based Decision Support Tool
Microsoft Excel Table 4.7 MB
Empty POR & COA Risk-based Decision Support Tool
POR:COA Risk-Based Decision Support Tool
Microsoft Excel Table 272.5 KB

Example Deliverables

Appeared as a panel witnesses and provide a submission for the House of Commons’ Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans study of Marine Cargo Container Spills

 

Developed and delivered webinar training courses for Coastal First Nation of the Central and North Coast of British Columbia:

  • Shoreline Cleanup Assessment Techniques (SCAT) (3-days; 3 hrs each)
  • Basic Safety for Coastal Marine Oil Spill (1 day; 3 hrs)
  • Aerial Observations for Coastal Spills from a Vessel (2 days: 3 hrs each)

Undertook First Nation community workshops to identify Areas of Concern for marine oil spill response and participated in field surveys to develop Geographic Response Strategies.

 

Provided technical services to Cowichan Tribes on reconsideration of the Trans-mountain Pipeline Expansion with technical submission to the National Energy Board on fate, behaviour and operational challenges related to a dilbit spill.

 

Delivered ICS 100 (orientation), 200 (basic)and 300 (intermediate) training sponsored by the Council of the Haida Nation.

 

Up-dated BC Ministry of Environment's three spill response plans for marine and inland oil spills, and hazardous material incidents (original author in 1991-93), prepared an Incident Management Handbook, and twenty two Position Task Books for Incident Management Team positions and technical specialists. 

Webinar Course on Basic Safety forCoastal Oil Spills
Outline webinar course that examines basic safety for anyone that may be engaged in an oil spill along temperate coasts as a workforce member (shore cleanup, wildlife rescue) or technical specialist (SCAT personnel). It is Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response (HAZWOPER) in scope for "Low - Below Exposure Limits." The webinar is about 3 1/2 hours long, and rich in graphics, videos, and images.
Basic Safety for Coastal Oil Spills.pdf
Adobe Acrobat Document 1.9 MB
A Guide for Preparing Geographic Response Plans and Strategies for Marine Incidents in the MaPP Region
Prepared by EnviroEmerg Consulting and Nuka Planning and Research Group. This document outlines a process for developing Geographic Response Plans and Geographic Response Strategies . A primer on why, when, where, and how to prepare GRP and GRS. It reflects international best practice for consensus-based geographic response planning founded on successful models from the United States (US) and Australia.
2017 Guide for Geographic Response Plans
Adobe Acrobat Document 26.8 MB

EnviroEmerg Consulting

3520 Glenora Road

Duncan,  British Columbia,
Canada  V9L 6S2

 

EnviroEmerg@gmail.com

EnviroEmerg.ca


Mobile: (250) 732-5515

Skype: Stafford Reid