The Gulf Research Program is collaborating with the Sea Grant Oil Spill Science Outreach Program to convene a series of regional workshops aimed at improving community preparedness for future oil spills.
 
Since the Deepwater Horizon disaster, much attention has focused on the impacts of oil spills in the Gulf of Mexico region. However, oil spills have the potential to occur throughout the country, with different areas facing unique concerns. These workshops will bring together practitioners and stakeholders in five coastal regions around the United States to discuss the health, social, and economic impacts of oil spills and identify regional needs and priorities for improving preparedness.
 
The workshops are being organized in response to a National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine workshop, held in August 2017, that identified opportunities for action to improve protection of community health and well-being from oil spills.

At least five workshops will be held between fall 2018 and winter 2019 in five coastal regions: western Gulf of Mexico, eastern Gulf of Mexico, West Coast, mid-Atlantic, and Alaska. Information about each workshop will be released as it becomes available.