This image provided by Greenpeace shows an aerial view of a shrimp boat hauling oil cleanup booms near the oil spill slowly approaching the coast of Louisiana east of the mouth of the Mississippi river on Tuesday May 4, 2010. Coast Guard officials knew for years there could be signifiant problems in the federal and industry response to a major oil spill. (AP Photo / Daniel Beltra - Greenpeace)

By Ben Raines
May 21, 2010, 5:00AM U.S. Coast Guard officials have apparently known for years that there could be significant problems in the federal and industry response to a major oil spill. The report that followed a 2004 “Spill of National Significance” training exercise concluded, “Oil spill response personnel did not appear to have even a basic knowledge of the equipment required to support salvage or spill clean up operations.” It continued, “as a result, some issues and complex processes unique to spill response were not effectively addressed.” The so-called SONS exercises have been conducted by the Coast Guard and other agencies every two or three years since 1997. They involve a variety of scenarios, such as tanker accidents or pipeline accidents, and all end with large-scale releases of oil. Each time, the Coast Guard produces what it calls an After Action Report. The Press-Register obtained a portion of the 2004 report that was online. Officials at Coast Guard headquarters in Washington, D.C., on Thursday would not provide the full reports for 2004, 2007, or the exercise conducted in March. The agency did not respond when asked if the later reports detailed progress made in response preparation since the 2004 exercise. “There was a shortage of personnel with experience to fill key positions,” the 2004 report read. “Many middle-level spill management staff had never worked a large spill and some had never been involved in an exercise.” …

Coast Guard officials told of potential oil spill response problems years ago