Media Advisory: EPA and USCG kick off national emergency response exercise on Monday at Chicago’s Navy Pier

WHO: EPA Regional Administrator Mary A. Gade and Rear Admiral John E. Crowley Jr., Commander, U.S. Coast Guard 9th District, will provide a preview of next week’s emergency exercise. Illinois EPA Director Douglas P. Scott and city of Chicago Water Commissioner John F. Spatz Jr. will also attend.

WHEN: 2 p.m., Monday, June 18, 2007.

WHERE: The kick-off press conference and photo opportunity will be held aboard EPA’s Lake Guardian, docked near the main entrance to Navy Pier. A USCG vessel and EPA’s mobile command post will also be present. EPA and USCG will demonstrate deploying a boom to contain an oil spill.

WHAT: The Spill of National Significance (SONS) emergency exercise will begin on Tuesday, June 19, last three days and span 11 states.

The mock disaster simulates multiple oil and hazardous materials spills caused by a strong earthquake along the New Madrid fault line near St. Louis and a large tornado that strikes Naval Station Great Lakes.

Personnel and equipment will be mobilized and deployed to test the coordination and communication procedures outlined in the National Response Plan. Participants include EPA, USCG, national and regional response teams, state and local agencies and private industry. For more information, go to http://www.sons-program.org