“The unique testing facilities at Ohmsett are essential in developing the technology and procedures required to effectively respond to future oil spills,” said Matthew Quinney, MMS contracting officer’s representative for Ohmsett.

Located an hour south of New York City on Naval Weapons Station Earle, in Leonardo, N.J., Ohmsett conducts independent and objective performance testing of equipment, provides realistic training of response personnel and improves response techniques through research and development.

At the heart of Ohmsett is a large outdoor above-ground test tank, which is 667 feet long, 65 feet wide and 11 feet deep. The tank holds 2.6 million gallons of crystal-clear salt water. To simulate actual deployment at sea, three movable bridges, which span the tank, tow full-sized response equipment through the water at speeds up to 6.5 knots

Ohmsett has been used to evaluate mechanical oil spill cleanup equipment such as oil containment booms and skimmers, temporary storage devices, remote-sensing instrumentation, chemical treating agents and dispersants, sorbents and fire-resistant booms.

It provides about 95 percent of the quantitative performance data on mechanical equipment for industry, the U.S. Coast Guard, and the U.S. Navy. MMS uses data to develop strict regulations for its oversight of oil and gas development on the Outer Continental Shelf.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency originally constructed and operated Ohmsett from 1973 until the facility closed in 1988. The U.S. Navy acquired Ohmsett in March of 1989, just a few months before the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Prince William Sound, Alaska. The Exxon Valdez spilled 11 million gallons of crude oil into the ocean – one of the largest oil spills in U.S. history. The event prompted renewed interest in responding to oil spills, and within a year the Oil Pollution Control Act of 1990 was signed into law.

That same year, Ohmsett was formally mandated for use as a testing facility underMMS' control.. With additional financial support from the U.S. Coast Guard and Environment Canada, MMS began a two-year restoration project for Ohmsett and dedicated the facility in July 1992.

 “Ohmsett is an international asset where government, private industry and academia can conduct oil spill research and development programs,” said Joseph Mullin, MMS Program Manager for Oil Spill Response Research. “Ohmsett test results contribute to improving state-of-the-art oil spill response equipment.”

Ohmsett is major component of MMS’s Oil Spill Response Research program. The focus of the program is to improve the knowledge, technologies and procedures used for the detection, containment and cleanup of oil spills that may occur on the OCS.

Media, please contact Gary Strasburg, MMS, at (202) 208-3985.