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NAVSTA Great Lakes Oil Skimmers Support Gulf Oil Spill Cleanup

Navy NewsStand

Story Number: NNS100623-01
6/23/2010

By Bill Couch, Naval Facilities Engineering Command Midwest Public Affairs

GREAT LAKES, Ill. (NNS) -- Environmental and public works civilian employees of Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) Midwest deployed June 22 to help with the Gulf of Mexico oil spill response.

The team of 12 environmental specialists and other volunteers departed Naval Station Great Lakes for Gulfport, Miss., in a convoy of six trucks and trailers carrying the base's harbor spill response skimmer, two utility boats, and other spill response equipment.

"We've trained for years to prepare for spills, and now we've got a chance to put that training to work and hopefully make a difference," said Kelly Devereaux, a NAVFAC Midwest environmental engineer and leader of the deploying team. "This is important, and we all eagerly volunteered to help out."

Though the team members and boats have responded in the past to minor oil spills from pleasure craft in the base harbor, this is the first time they have been sent to a major spill.

The team will likely be assigned to clear harbors and inland waterways along the Gulf coast, operating under Navy Region Southeast as part of the unified response effort.

Since the oil spill began April 20, the team had been preparing to go if called. Its deployment now comes in response to a June 19 order from the chief of naval operations to deploy additional Navy teams and equipment to the Gulf.

NAVFAC Midwest provides civil engineering, public works, and environmental support to Navy, Marine Corps and other Department of Defense activities across the 16 states that comprise Navy Region Midwest. The command's 900 professionals include civilian architects, engineers, acquisition specialists, environmental specialists, public works trades people, and administrative personnel, as well as active-duty Civil Engineer Corps officers, Seabees, and Reservists.