HOUMA, La. -- Alton Bates and Thomas Tregle from the BSEE Oil Spill Preparedness Division – Gulf Section - conducted a Government Initiated Unannounced Exercise (GIUE) with Enterprise Field Services, LLC on July 15, 2015. As the Exercise Designer and Controller, Alton Bates presented a scenario to Enterprise Field Services LLC that required the company to respond to a simulated oil spill from a damaged pipeline that resulted in a shoreline impact in the Sabine River at the Louisiana-Texas state border. The GIUE required Enterprise Field Services, LLC to activate a spill management team and to deploy oil spill response equipment, including a skimmer, vacuum transfer unit, and portable barge from a staging site in Lake Charles, Louisiana.
This exercise provided an opportunity for joint cooperation, partnership, and governmental efficiency between federal and state organizations. BSEE planned and executed the functional exercise in coordination with other offices within BSEE, the U. S. Coast Guard, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Texas General Land Office and the Louisiana Oil Spill Coordinator’s Office.
