The Lower Columbia River GRP, Middle Columbia River McNary Pool, and the Samish River GRPs are now available in an online format with new language and data on non-floating oil!
In 2019, the Northwest Area Committee convened a Taskforce to address this GRP accessibility by finding out more about who uses GRPs and how they use them. The Taskforce developed a survey that generated valuable feedback around GRP best practices, common users, and ways to innovate the GRP development and publication process. A key outcome of the survey for Washington is the new GRP format hosted on this website. This change was important to address the efficiency and sustainability of GRP development today and into the future.
We recently reformatted the Lower Columbia River GRP, Middle Columbia River McNary Pool, and the Samish River GRPs into this new format. The new online format allows users to easily scroll through text-heavy narrative sections like Site Description and Resources at Risk, while also maintaining the valuable PDF format of the response-oriented sections like Response Options and Considerations and the 2-Pagers.
Also included in this format update are special non-floating oil (NFO) considerations, including a new section on Non-Floating Oil Response Options and Considerations and updates to section six – Resources at Risk. Area-specific NFO considerations include heighten risks in Sand Island; Astoria; Russian Island; and Millar Sands, Woody Island, Pillar Rock.
We believe this format addresses many of the accessibility concerns of the response community, but we would love to hear your ideas on how we can make it better. Please submit your comments, questions, and suggestions for improvement to GRPs@ECY.WA.Gov.