The United States Coast Guard (USCG) has announced the next phase of the Deepwater Horizon Response, known as the "middle response", opening a range of national response center cases for three miles of coastline in Louisiana.
"Our response posture has evolved to target re-oiling events on coastline segments that were previously cleaned," said Captain Thomas Sparks, the Federal on-scene coordinator (FOSC) for the Deepwater Horizon Response.
"But let me be absolutely clear: This response is not over – not by a long shot. The transition to the Middle Response process does not end clean-up operations, and we continue to hold the responsible party accountable for Deepwater Horizon cleanup costs."
The middle response phase will include continued response to reports of oiling across the Gulf, dedicated USCG teams positioned for response to residual oil, and other oil spill removal organisations on standby. According to the USCG, the response will be rolled out to over 5,000 kilometres of shoreline along Louisiana, Florida, Alabama and Mississippi.
Coast Guard personnel have responded to 1,082 suspected Deepwater Horizon reports and overseen the cleanup of almost 2.5 tonnes of oily material since June 2013, the USCG concluded.
