Pollution response exercise set for Jacksonville

Pollution response exercise set for Jacksonville The U.S. Coast Guard and nearly a dozen local, state, and federal agencies are conducting a pollution response exercise for the Jacksonville area on the St. Johns River that will run through Friday.
   The National Preparedness Response Exercise is a week-long operation that starts with two days of classroom training and leads into a field response exercise for a mock pollution spill incident. The exercise and monitoring by assessment teams will begin Wednesday.
   The exercise will simulate a fully-laden automobile transport ship loosing steering and colliding with the St. Johns River Power Park coal pier at Blount Island, Fla. The ship’s impact with the pier causes coal operations St. Johns River Power Park to stop. The transport finally grounds near St. Johns River Power Park and begins spilling thousands of gallons of volatile fuel-oil into the St. Johns River.
   Approximately 130 responders from various agencies in the Jacksonville area will then have to respond to the situation. The assessment teams will then check the actual response to see how the different groups work with one another.
   The exercise will be controlled from a command post at the St. Johns River Power Park in Jacksonville.