Islands' Oil Spill Association or IOSA home page

     Welcome to the home page of Islands' Oil Spill Association (IOSA). We are a non-profit, community-based oil spill response organization that provides prompt, effective, local oil spill response and prevention throughout San Juan County in Washington state.
     IOSA is the only oil spill response organization in the San Juan Islands and the only private, non-profit, community-based response organization in the Pacific Northwest.
     We have trained responders available for quick assessment and clean-up 24 hours a day throughout the year and many of IOSA's responders are trained in both oil spill containment/clean-up and oiled wildlife search & rescue.

About IOSA - Our role in helping to protect the San Juan Islands
Responder Info - Provides IOSA responders with currently-relevant information
How You Can Help - Support IOSA in a variety of ways
Weather - Provides links for the San Juan Islands such as current conditions, forecasts and satellite imagery.
Calendar - For IOSA activities: Dates for containment drills, HAZWOPER training, Oiled Wildlife Search & Rescue and Primary Care training and other IOSA events.
Spill-related Links provides links to:

Immediately useful info regarding weather, tide charts, shoreline images, buoy data, ferry info, sunrise/set and correct time.
Sites to locate and print out MSDSs (Material Safety Data Sheets)
Government agencies
Oil spill-related organizations and industries
Wildlife rescue
Spill response equipment providers
Downloadable documents such as GRPs (Geographic Response Plans), NOAA's Incident Command System and relevant software.
Training/education

The map below shows:

►The location of IOSA's oil spill response equipment;
► The number of spill clean-ups, containment and/or wildlife
      search & rescue in general areas;
►The location of rock anchor bolts installed by IOSA;
► The locations of IOSA's containment drills/
      GRP protection strategy field tests.

   **** Click on the map to enlarge the image ****

The "Esperanza" hit a rock & sank off the southwest side of
San Juan Island in Aug 2007. In IOSA's 100th spill response,
170 gallons of diesel was removed from the vessel. To read
a detailed description of this spill response, click here.
photo by Julie Knight

IOSA crew readies equipment on deck in preparation to set
anchor during Sucia Island containment drill in May 2006.
IOSA conducts several containment/boom deployment
drills each year throughout the San Juan Islands.
See info on GRP (Geographic Response Plans)
photo by Steve Simpson

IOSA containment boom surrounds this 100' yacht that hit a
rock near Yellow Island over the 4th of July weekend in 2002.
IOSA responders initially deployed containment boom and recovered fuel from the engine compartments, with a crew
onshore standing by with a skimmer, 55-gal. drums and a
pump truck in the event that the 2500 gallons of diesel still
onboard should begin to leak. Over the 3-day holiday
weekend, IOSA crews tended boom round-the-clock and
recovered small amounts of fuel as it was released inside
the boom. The vessel was eventually lifted onto a barge
and hauled away for major repairs.
photo by Bruce King