The Washington Department of Ecology is happy to announce the comprehensive update to the Snake River Little Goose Pool Geographic Response Plan (GRP) is finished and the new GRP is now published online. An important part of the update process is hearing from the people who live, work, and play in the GRP area.
You can view the updated GRP here: https://oilspills101.wa.gov/northwest-area-contingency-plan/geographic-response-plans-grps/sligo/
Description of the Planning Area
The Snake River originates in Yellowstone National Park and travels approximately 1,000 miles west through Wyoming, Idaho, and Washington before finally emptying into the Columbia River at Pasco. The Snake River is the largest tributary to the Columbia River and is itself one of the major rivers in the United States. The SLIGO-GRP encompasses the 37.2-mile reach of the Little Goose Pool, from the upstream side of the Little Goose Dam (located at river mile 70.3) to the downstream side of the Lower Granite Dam (located at river mile 107.5). The area below the Little Goose Dam is encompassed by the Lower Monumental GRP and the area upriver of the Lower Granite Dam is encompassed by the Lower Granite GRP. The area resides in Water Resource Inventory Area Middle Snake (WRIA 35).
What are Geographic Response Plans?
Geographic Response Plans (GRPs) are used to guide early response actions in the event of an oil spill. Ecology develops and updates GRPs in collaboration with state, local and federal agencies and tribes. Each GRP is written for a specific area (for example a river, a lake, or section of Puget Sound), and includes tactical response strategies tailored to a particular shore or waterway at risk of injury from oil.
GRPs have two main objectives:
- Identify sensitive natural, cultural or significant economic resources at risk of injury from oil spills.
- Describe and prioritize response strategies in an effort to reduce injury to sensitive natural, cultural, and certain economic resources at risk from oil spills.
More Information
Questions
Scott Zimmerman, Oil Spill Preparedness Planner
scott.zimmerman@ecy.wa.gov