CIRCAC staff and committee members participated in a recent response drill at the invitation of Marathon Petroleum. The drill was intended to exercise and refine response strategies for an incident in Cook Inlet, with an end goal of providing a full accounting of the response efforts by way of public press conference at the end of the day. 

CIRCAC staff worked closely with Marathon and other local, state and federal partners in the months leading up to the drill to establish both the scenario and the planned response. 

Marathon used the National Preparedness for Emergency Response Program (NPREP) as drill planning guidance in conjunction with the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation’s Oil Spill Response Exercise Manual. This year’s exercise scope was designed to fulfill the annual NPREP Spill Management Team tabletop exercise requirements via joint participation of Marathon’s Incident Management Team, contracted Oil Spill Response Organization (CISPRI), responding regulators, and selected observers.