is not true. The director has charged me, and all of us, with getting our- 

 selves squared away so that we can and will perform like the professionals 

 we are, and that our performance will show the country that we do care. 



The contingency planning effort that many of you have been involved with 

 over the past year or more and the planning that you accomplish at this work- 

 shop should provide a solid foundation for developing a smooth, well-planned 

 and coordinated response to any discharge of oil or hazardous substance, 

 especially one for which a Regional or National Response Team is activated. 

 I should add also that communication up and down the line, from the Secretary, 

 the Director, the regional coordinator on down to the field man at the site 

 of a spill, is extremely important and is, in fact, essential. To deal 

 effectively with the media, Congressional interests, the National Response 

 Team, and other groups at the national level, the Washington office must 

 receive timely notification of and be kept abreast of daily activities during 

 the response. This should include the progress of cleanup, potential threats 

 to fish and wildlife, actual wildlife impacts, actions taken to minimize 

 wildlife losses, relationships with other agencies, and a variety of other 

 pertinent activities. The Washington office has been criticized too many 

 times over the past few years because it had not been adequately informed 

 about oil spills in which the Service was involved at the regional or local 

 level. 



John Mattoon, Assistant Director for Public Affairs, will touch on some 

 of these things tomorrow when he discusses public affairs aspects of oil 

 spills and our communication with the news media. This situation must be 

 turned around. Proper lines of communication must be established from the 

 \/ery outset of a spill when our people are first notified, and maintained 

 throughout the duration of response and damage assessment. 



THE FWS ROLE IN OIL SPILL RESPONSE 



The Service's role in oil spill response can be usually divided into 

 three phases: (1) prespill planning and preparedness; (2) actual response, 

 beginning with the first notification of a spill or potential spill and con- 

 tinuing through deactivation of Regional Response Teams (RRT) and termination 

 of wildlife protection and cleanup activities; and (3) postspill evaluation 

 and reporting. I will discuss each of these briefly. 



PRESPILL PLANNING AND PREPAREDNESS 



The degree to which we plan and prepare for oil spills will, in large 

 measure, determine our success during a spill response—success being measured 

 in terms of effective protection of wildlife and their habitats and in terms 

 of maintaining good working relationships with other agencies and organizations. 

 No longer can we wait until a spill occurs and then react with whatever measures 

 seem appropriate or available at the time. This approach falls far short 

 of fulfilling our responsibilities every time. Neither can we afford to 

 react by sending to the scene the closest warm body that happens to be avail- 

 able at the time. 



