BP command posts to consolidate

With response efforts slowing down since the BP oil well was capped, a Gulf Coast Incident Management Team (IMT) has been established, and will be based in New Orleans.

The Unified Area Command that was formed in response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill Monday announced its plan to consolidate the Incident Command Posts (ICP) in Houma and Mobile, Ala., into the IMT.

At the height of the response, up to 47,848 responders, 8,044 vessels and 123 aircrafts were deployed to the Gulf to spot, track and recover oil, according to a press release from the Deepwater Horizon Incident Joint Information Center.

BP representative Gerry Peereboom said approximately 1,200 responders were stationed at the ICP Houma facility at its peak, and still have approximately 900 responders.

“The ICP Houma building is really only built for 200-250 people and we came in and put 1,200 people in it,” Peereboom said of the La. Highway 311 location in Schriever.

The reorganization of the command structure, according to the press release, has been designed to “more efficiently support the needs of the day-to-day operation of the ongoing response while not impacting the frontline responders cleaning shoreline, sampling Gulf waters and responding to any recoverable oil found.”

Coast Guard Rear Adm. Paul Zukunft, Gulf state governors, state and local officials approved the consolidation.

“This consolidation reflects a right-sizing of command personnel but in no way diminishes our commitment to the people of the Gulf region in the wake of this unprecedented event,” Zukunft said in a release. “The federal government will remain as long as it takes to ensure all recoverable oil has been removed from the Gulf, seafood coming out of the Gulf is safe to eat and the beaches along the Gulf are open for business.”

Zukunft said 25,000 workers are still conducting clean up operations along 600 miles of shoreline, and response liaisons will remain in place to ensure communication between local and state officials and the IMT staff.