Aug 1, 2010 12:00 PM, By Donny Jackson (donald.jackson@penton.com)

Oil spill in the Gulf becomes a proving ground for Virtual USA

Less than six months after the launch of Virtual USA — an information-sharing initiative designed to help response agencies increase situational awareness — the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) scheduled a test of the second generation of the database-integration effort for June 1.

The June 1 exercise never happened, as reality intervened on April 20, when an explosion and fire on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig licensed to British Petroleum resulted in 11 presumed deaths, 17 injuries and the leakage of crude oil and natural gas into the Gulf of Mexico. Before the primary leak was capped on July 15 — although reports of "seepage" elsewhere had surfaced as of press time — more than 100 million gallons of oil were estimated to have spewed into gulf.

Response to the event has involved myriad local, state and federal first-response units, BP and oil-industry experts, environmental agencies and others trying to resolve and assess the multifaceted damage created by the massive oil spill. Soon after the spill initiated, response groups asked if the latest Virtual USA software could be made available, so information about the spill could be shared quickly across jurisdictions and industry sectors.

Permission was granted, and the results have been eye-opening, said David Boyd, director of the DHS science and technology directorate's command, control and interoperability division.

"There's nothing that's a better test than the real thing, so it was a perfect opportunity for us to turn it on," Boyd said. "You always hate to put a positive twist on things that are so tragic, but this is an amazing opportunity to learn what's possible and what you really need to be able to do."

Key information shared through Virtual USA to the various response groups include updated weather, current flows in the Gulf of Mexico, location of cleanup crews, real-time mapping of the spill from BP, field reports, and data regarding the impact of the oil spill on the health of local residents and wildlife, and on the economy, particularly commercial fishing.

While much of the focus of Virtual USA to date has been preparation for scenario in which state and local emergency managers would be in charge, the oil spill is an indication that such information has value beyond traditional first-response entities — and that the Virtual USA model is flexible enough to address those needs.

"Historically, there hasn't been a need for continuous exchanges of information," Boyd said. "What's happened in the oil spill is that, for the first time, the range of people who are involved and the range of agencies, organizations and sources of information is limited only by your imagination.

"In many cases — as in this one — it's the environmental folks in the states who are playing the key role."

To this extent, the experience has caused those associated with Virtual USA to rethink the role of the program in the future, as additional tools have been developed on a weekly basis in response to the oil spill.

"There is no artificial test that would give us the range that the real thing does," Boyd said. "One of its positive effects is that it's helping people understand that there's more information out there than they ever realized."

Another key lessons learned in the aftermath of the oil spill is that sharing information via Virtual USA is "a lot easier to do technically than anyone ever imagined," Boyd said. The bigger challenge has been a philosophical one regarding information sharing, but there have been pleasant surprises on that front, as well — entities largely have been willing to let others access their data, he said.

"What we're beginning to see now is the increasing development of a culture of sharing beginning to break down lots of these barriers," Boyd said.

One reason for this is that the fundamental tenets of Virtual USA are geared to make the system friendly to those who have information. For instance, the data collector — be it a local county tax office or a statewide emergency-response office — gets to control the information by establishing rules regarding who is authorized to view it, so laws don't have to be rewritten to permit sharing.

Just as important, Virtual USA does not require these data-collection entities to reformat their data or change existing operations, Boyd said. Meanwhile, Virtual USA allow those viewing the data to integrate it into their own familiar mapping and database systems.

"Nobody can afford to throw away what they have and start over. Whatever you designed has to start with what they have," Boyd said. "What Virtual USA is aimed at doing is making it easy for them to exchange real-time information — no matter what form it comes in — so it can be seen inside the environment each state has."

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