The number of oil spills occurring in U.S. waters from vessels and facilities has decreased steadily over the past several years, and professional oil spill response contractors have found themselves in the position of bolstering and/or securing other lines of work to ensure they remain vigilant, viable, and ready to respond when and where needed. Coupled with a down economy, spill contractors – like other businesses – are making tough decisions on how to do more with less, while maintaining the same level of readiness expected of them from their clients – which includes the oil and maritime industries, along with local, state and federal government. While the regulatory mechanisms are in place to exercise contractor resources between spill events, they are not enforced or utilized enough. Of equal importance is ensuring that the response contractor is compensated for deploying its resources during these drill scenarios. This paper will discuss the measures private sector response contractors are taking to ensure they remain ready to respond, other business lines they are pursuing, and how the regulatory authorities can assist in maintaining the national protection and readiness provided by the private sector response community. It will also discuss how the private sector response community can assist with the national Homeland Defense initiatives, most notably mitigation services for terrorist actions that ultimately impact the environment

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