NOAA's Office of Response and Restoration recently celebrated 25 years of service
to coastal environments and communities.
Better known as OR&R, the office's origins date back to 1976,
when the U.S. Coast Guard asked NOAA scientists to support operational decisions
during an oil spill that resulted from a tanker grounding
near Nantucket Shoals, Massachusetts.
In 1999, OR&R was officially created
to optimize NOAA's pollution response and restoration activities.
Over the decades, OR&R has evolved and grown its mission
as threats to coastal environments and communities have changed.
Today, OR&R’s primary role is to protect
and restore ocean and coastal resources from the impacts of oil, chemicals,
marine debris and related effects from natural and man-made disasters
to benefit the public, environment, and economy.
OR&R provides critical scientific support,
such as tools and predictive models, for use within NOAA
and by our partners to protect coastal communities
following incidents that result in marine pollution.
In this way, OR&R helps to ensure that commerce,
communities, and natural resources can recover as quickly as possible.
Each year, experts across OR&R respond
to more than 100 oil and chemical spills in U.S. waters.
OR&R analyzes the impacts of these environmental threats
to coastal and estuarine habitats, and they hold polluters accountable
for oil and chemical injury to natural resources.
OR&R and its partners in NOAA's Damage Assessment, Remediation
and Restoration program have helped to recover over $10 billion
to restore impacted resources and their public benefits.
In addition, within OR&R, the work of the NOAA Marine Debris program
helps to prevent and reduce marine debris impacts on the coastal environment,
the economy, and importantly, on navigation safety.
I am grateful for OR&R’s expertise and its dedication to helping reduce
the negative impacts from oil, chemical and other related environmental threats.
OR&R and programs across the National Ocean Service exemplify how agencies like NOAA
can help to ensure that our coastal communities are resilient
and protected for future generations.