ALCOAST 110/19 - APR 2019 2018 MARINE ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSE AND PREPAREDNESS AWARD RECIPIENTS

R 041405 APR 19
FM COMDT COGARD WASHINGTON DC//CG-5RI//
TO ALCOAST
UNCLAS //N16000//
ALCOAST 110/19
COMDTNOTE 16000
SUBJ: 2018 MARINE ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSE AND PREPAREDNESS AWARD RECIPIENTS
A. COMDT COGARD WASHINGTON DC 111035 DEC 18/ALCOAST 412/18
1. I am pleased to announce the recipients of the 2018 RADM Sidney A. Wallace Award for
Excellence in Marine Environmental Response and Preparedness (Wallace Award). The Wallace
Award recognizes units and individual members who exemplify the highest standards of
professionalism and initiative embodied by RADM Wallace throughout his career. This year’s
awardees were selected from impressive nominations submitted per REF (A). Thank you to
all who dedicated time to highlight both unit and individual achievements. A panel
convened and reviewed nominations based on the following criteria:
    A. Excellence in the area of marine environmental response and preparedness;
    B. Contributions to the Marine Environmental Response (MER) program;
    C. Efforts to improve coordination and cooperation among all MER partner agencies, the
industry, and the public;
    D. Professional conduct in carrying out program assignments;
    E. Innovations in response and preparedness to pollution incidents; and
    F. Furthering the goals and objectives of the MER program.
2. The Wallace Award unit recipient is Sector Boston. In 2018, Sector Boston demonstrated
excellence in marine environmental response and preparedness through two notable responses.
The first involved a discharge of over 6,500 gallons of dielectric fluid in the Mystic River.
The other involved an actual 50-gallon aqueous ammonia release and 30,000 pounds of
anhydrous ammonia potential release at a candy factory in the middle of a city. Both Type 2
incidents involved nearly 200 responders, multi-million dollar resources and close
coordination with Area Committee partner agencies, and maritime stakeholders. In an endeavor to
preserve and protect environmental resources and promote preparedness and education programs,
Sector Boston established five non-governmental organizations (NGO) community partnership agreements.
Leveraging each NGO's resource bank, Sector Boston successfully responded to seven sunken vessel
cases with over 50,000 gallons of potential pollution. Furthermore, Sector Boston and its partner
NGOs completed 15 marine environmental science outreach events for over 75,000 children.
Additionally, through the enhancement of partnerships with public organizations, Sector
Boston established the Massachusetts Marine Incident Response Team (MIRT) with the
Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA) and municipal harbormasters. Sector Boston instructed the MIRT on the
complexities of marine oil or hazardous material spill, and through a cooperative drill
with CGC KEY LARGO, conducted a hazardous substance exercise with 75 first responders in
Gloucester Harbor. These efforts trained 73 harbormasters in spill response techniques
and greatly improved response times in Sector Boston’s AOR. Capitalizing on the use of
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), Sector Boston established an agreement with the
Massachusetts State Police, to employ UAVs to assist with maritime damage assessments and
to prioritize response actions. Finally, through collaboration with academia, graphic
overlays of point source pollution as well as surveys of 75 marinas were produced to better
inform responders and trustees of pollution risks.
3. The Wallace Award individual recipient is Mr. Gregory W. Buie, National Pollution Funds
Center (NPFC). Mr. Buie serves in the NPFC Case Management Division and is the Manager for
the Western States and Pacific Region to include support for all of PACAREA and the
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Regions 8, 9, and 10. In 2018, Mr. Buie demonstrated
excellence in marine environmental response and provided extraordinary service to Sector
Honolulu during responses to the commercial fishing vessel (CFV) PACIFIC PARADISE grounding
in Waikiki and BARGES-2006 grounding at Wake Island. Mr. Buie deployed during both incidents
to assist, provide guidance for the Unified Command, and clarified financial responsibilities
for all parties involved. Mr. Buie counseled the Unified Command on operational decisions
and plans for the removal of CFV PACIFIC PARADISE to mitigate the discharge of oil to the
pristine waters of Hawaii. Additionally, Mr. Buie pushed for the use of Decision Memorandums
to document all major response decisions to include clean up and Oil Spill Liability Trust
Fund (OSLTF) endpoints. These Decision Memorandums assisted with cost recovery for the oil
spill response organization (OSRO) and natural resource trustee claims. Of particular note,
the Coast Guard has adopted these Decision Memorandums as a best management practice.
In addition, Mr. Buie collaborated with the NPFC Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA)
and Claims Division to create a training for NRDA responders to standardize and align with
response, NRDA requirements, and claim functions. A dedicated mentor, Mr. Buie whole-heartedly
donates his time to responder development. In 2018, he provided trainings to the On Scene
Crisis Management and Federal On Scene Coordinator Representative Courses, as well as
personalized training for Sectors, Districts, EPA Regions and state agencies. Additionally,
as the NPFC National Response Team liaison, Mr. Buie provided multiple presentations at the
Clean Pacific, Pacific States-British Columbia Task Force symposia, EPA On Scene Coordinator
Academy, Region Response Teams, and during various response exercises.
4. Thank you to all who dedicated time to highlight extraordinary achievements. I applaud the
efforts of the following Individual and Unit Award Nominees as honorable mentions.
        Individual:
    A. MST1 Jason Frost – MSD Santa Barbara
    B. MST1 David Irvin – Sector New Orleans
    C. MSSR3 Matthew Tilimon – MSU Port Arthur
        Unit:
    A. D13 DRAT
    B. Sector Columbia River
    C. Sector New York
5. In addition to the extraordinary achievements noted by the Wallace Award Unit and
Individual recipients, I applaud the continued environmental response efforts conducted on a
day-to-day basis. Of note were the continued efforts to the 2018 and the 2017 hurricane and
typhoon responses. These were all hands evolutions that were successful responses due to the
dedicated members of the Coast Guard. Stay safe in the field and we look forward to reviewing
next year's submissions. Semper Paratus!
6. Ms. Dana Tulis, Director of Incident Management and Preparedness Policy, sends.
7. Internet release is authorized.