BOSTON – The crew of Coast Guard Cutter Juniper will conduct their annual oil spill recovery exercise in Narragansett Bay in Rhode Island, Friday.
The crew of the 225-foot buoy tender CGC Juniper and personnel from local Coast Guard units will depart at 8 a.m., from Pier 2 at Naval Station Newport to conduct training on the Spilled Oil Recovery System.
The SORS consists of outrigger arms, fast-sweep containment booms, an inflatable 25,000-gallon capacity barge, and floating oil skimming pumps. This equipment, combined with the annual training, allows the Newport, R.I.-based CGC Juniper to act as a first responder in the event of a maritime oil spill.
Members of the Coast Guard’s Atlantic Strike Team, a deployable pollution response unit based in Elizabeth City, N.C., and a Coast Guard rescue helicopter from Air Station Cape Cod, are scheduled to participate.
In addition to marine environmental protection, CGC Juniper is responsible for other missions including: search and rescue, servicing aids to navigation, icebreaking, fisheries enforcement, migrant interdiction, and homeland security. CGC Juniper’s area of responsibility is from northern New Jersey to Cape Cod, Mass.
