Ecological Risk Assessment Workshop: Environmental Tradeoffs Associated With Oil Spill Response Technologies. Cape Flattery, Washington

Abstract

Between January and November, 2005 Regional Response Team (RRT) X sponsored three workshops to evaluate the relative risk to natural resources from an oil spill off the straits of Juan de Fuca which threatened the northwest coast of Washington. The primary purpose of the workshops was to increase understanding of the overall risk, and the role different response technologies might play in mitigating that risk, relative to other response options. The workshops generated considerable discussion and provided an important training opportunity but the participants did not feel that there was sufficient consensus on the risk ranking process to publish the results. Instead, they developed a list of recommendations for the RRT, which will form the basis for future discussions by RRT workgroups.