U.S. Navy Ship Salvage Manual Volume 6 - Oil Spill Response

S0300-A6-MAN-060of ESSM oil spill equipment from CONUS to Alaska. This organization is not available for allmajor oil spill responses. When it is activated, it can provide substantial logistics assistance.3-5.5 Media. A major oil spill is a news event. The media can be expected to be present and toreport the response. Knowledgeable people should be available to ensure the media has correctinformation about the strategies and tactics in use. Unfortunately, the demand by media for informationis greatest when response efforts are most intense and managers find it difficult to maketime available for anything other than spill response operations.Media relationships are a specialized business. Mutually satisfactory media relationships requireknowledge of the media’s motivations and requirements. In major spills, Navy public informationspecialists should coordinate media relationships, advise managers and assure that the Navy ispresented in the most favorable manner.Adherence to the following principals will enhance media relationships:• The media should be treated fairly as professionals who have an important job.• Information presented to the media should be correct and phrased in nontechnical termsthat people not familiar with oil spill response technology understand.• Information should be positive, never defensive or evasive.• Interviews should be prepared in advance and the scope discussed with the interviewer.• All media reports should include numbers—skimmers in operation, the number of personsinvolved in the response, the number of gallons of oil collected, the miles ofmarshlands protected by boom, etc.Media coverage should be coordinated by a single person or office throughout the operation, givingthe media a single, initial point of contact. Whenever possible, the media coordinator jobshould be a full-time position. Nearby naval facilities, the Coast Guard, the DOMS organizationor other federal agencies may be able to provide a full-time public affairs officer (PAO). Whencareer PAOs are not familiar with response operations, a knowledgeable member of the responseorganization should be assigned as technical liaison. The Coast Guard Public Information AssistTeam (PIAT), discussed in Paragraph 1-3.4.4, is one of the National Response Organization specialteams available to the FOSC.3-5.6 Volunteers. There are two classes of volunteers. Volunteers who deliver professional servicesrequiring special skills—such as bird and mammal cleaning and beach cleaning—make upthe first class. Many volunteer groups have highly motivated, highly skilled and experienced people.Contingency plans should recognize their special expertise, need for space and utilities andfood and shelter.The second class consists of people not specifically trained for oil spill response who just want tohelp in some way. Restoration of environmental damage caused by an oil slick coming ashore is3-19