U.S. Coast Guard, Presque Isle Emergency Conduct Disaster Training

Preparing for a worst case discharge into the Great Lakes, local, state, federal, and tribal industries gathered in the Rogers City High School gymnasium to conduct a training exercise. It’s something they have been planning for the last five years.
They were posed with a hypothetical regarding a holding tank at the Carmouse facility, and how they would go about handling any potential diesel fuel discharge.

“When we do these, they’re for complete worst case discharge, so that would be a total loss of that product into the Great Lakes,” said Brian Streichert, an Emergency Manager with the U.S. Coast Guard Sault Ste. Marie sector.

All the different entities present – and there were around 64 to 68 of them – were tasked with creating the correct and appropriate response to such a situation. Some of those sections include planning, finance, liaison, and operations. The most important elements of the training are communication and transparency.

“We’re preparing for a scenario that isn’t going to be great, but together we’ll be able to turn a positive narrative, work together, and collectively solve something,” said Captain Jim Bendle, a Sector Commander for the U.S. Coast Guard in Sault Ste. Marie.

Part of that transparency is the communication for tribal people, so they know what is happening as well, especially if any tribal people could be impacted. That’s where Traven Michaels comes in.

“I’ll send out very frequent emails to our contact lists, making sure they know exactly what’s going on, especially if there are tribal resources or tribal citizens who could be impacted,” said Michaels, an Environmental Response Specialist for the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians.

With all the different entities present, it can sometimes be hard to coordinate and facilitate the event.

“We’ve worked effortlessly, tirelessly;” said David Herman, a member of the U.S. Venture Environmental Quality Department. “We’ve worked hours with the planning team, there’s 15 great people that really made today possible and got to this point really.”

Thursday was the third and final day of the training exercise.