SAN FRANCISCO – The Coast Guard will conduct a pollution response drill by deploying the Spilled Oil Recovery System from the Coast Guard Cutter Aspen, homeported here, south of the Bay Bridge, near Yerba Buena Island at 9 a.m., Wednesday.
The SORS is a government-owned mechanical oil response and recovery system that can be used by Coast Guard Federal On-Scene Coordinators for skimming and containing oil only when all commercial resources are inadequate or unavailable. The Oil Pollution Act of 1990 mandated Coast Guard buoy tenders such as the Aspen to be equipped with an oil skimming system capability.
While the oil spill recovery industry has the responsibility to plan, equip, and train for oil spill responses, the Coast Guard maintains this equipment to augment industry capabilities.
