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Naval Station Great Lakes Hosts SONS Exercise

Navy NewsStand

Story Number: NNS070626-06
Release Date: 6/26/2007 10:57:00 AM

By Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Douglas Mappin, Navy Region Midwest Public Affairs

GREAT LAKES, Ill. (NNS) -- Naval, federal, state and local city officials responded to "what if" disaster scenarios at Naval Station Great Lakes during the station’s first Spill of National Significance (SONS) exercise June 19-21.

The multi-agency exercise was conducted to test the National Response Plan (NRP). The agencies involved at the training base 50 miles north of Chicago included teams from the U.S. Navy, U.S. Coast Guard and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The exercise scenario involved mock disasters spanning 13 states.

The disaster scenario planned for Naval Station Great Lakes involved an F4 tornado striking the naval station’s oil storage facilities and its protecting containment perimeter bordering Lake Michigan. Along with the tornado, a 7.7 magnitude earthquake along the New Madrid Fault line also became active seven hours after the tornado touched down, rattling Illinois and Tennessee.

These are disaster scenarios that can happen to the base and surrounding area any time and are why Marine helicopters flew around the base and skimmer ships in Lake Michigan floated offshore June 20.

SONS is expected to be conducted at Great Lakes every three years. The earthquake scenario was designed to test how well the various groups could respond to secondary disasters.

With the waters of Lake Michigan at risk, teams first mobilized immediately to clear the lake of the spill. In the event of a real disaster, surrounding communities such as North Chicago, Waukegan and Lake Forest would be heavily dependant upon the effectiveness of the response team. The goal of the exercise was to test the ability of local agencies to protect the surrounding areas in the event of disaster.

“This is a federally mandated exercise and the first time we've ever done one on the Great Lakes," said Coast Guard Capt. Bruce Jones, sector commander for Lake Michigan. He along with Capt. Rick Postera, commanding officer Naval Station Great Lakes, and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency representative Fred Micke directed the exercise to test the National Response Plan.

During the simulated oil spill, boat crews were dispatched to the scene of the disaster and immediately put out booms in the water to clear the oil spill before containment became more difficult. Salvage equipment used in such a disaster utilize tow boats, collection skimmers and containment bladders that scoop the spilled oil off the surface of the water.

The equipment is designed to remove the oil before it can further disperse or sink to the bottom of the waters of the surrounding environment, which would have detrimental effects on the local ecology. After the oil is contained it can be cleaned, processed and deemed usable again for its original intended purpose.

According to SONS officials, this clean up process is important. Such procedures are time consuming, labor intensive and expensive, yet necessary if the need arises.

“I can’t overstate how important exercises like this are to us,” Postera said. “It gave the naval station an opportunity to evaluate our own disaster readiness. It also allowed us a chance to use SONS 07 to test our preparedness. We were able to piggy back on to the exercise and practice mass casualty drills, personnel musters and force protection measures.”

The Oil Pollution Act of 1990 mandates periodic SONS exercises. In the aftermath of the exercise, assessment teams decide what worked, what did not and formulated new strategies based upon best practices.

“Timely, effective response to emergencies requires constant practice and preparation,” said Mary Gade, regional administrator for the EPA’s Region Five.
Region Five includes Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin. Wisconsin, Indiana and Illinois regularly conduct a variety of scenarios to test the response team’s reactions.

“The SONS exercise provides us with an excellent opportunity to test our capabilities and those of other responders before a real disaster occurs.” Gade said.