Date: April 2, 2013
U.S.C.G. Marine Safety Unit Port Arthur
Contact: Mr. Robert Stegall
Office: (409) 723-6523
S.E. Texas Port System, Nationally Revered
PORT ARTHUR, Texas — U.S Coast Guard Marine Safety Unit Port Arthur and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), along with coordinators & first responders from Beaumont, Port Arthur, Orange, Port Neches, Groves and Hamshire emergency management, including industry stakeholders; will conduct a Port Security Assessment over the next two weeks. The goal is to detect potential security gaps and make recommendations to harden the region’s waterway from environmental, accidental, and terrorist threats.
The Port Security Assessment is a valuable team effort conducted by the Coast Guard, DHS and local stakeholders to examine critical focus areas, local and national needs, and intermodal transportation. Utilizing the Coast Guard’s Maritime Security Risk Analysis Model (MSRAM), the assessment is designed to increase efficiency by reducing the number of federal visits to privately owned critical infrastructure.
This is the first collaborative Port Security Assessment between the Coast Guard and DHS Office of Infrastructure Protection and the first Government initiated Port Security Assessment in Sabine Neches Port Region in over ten years; serving as a testament to recent national recognition of the Sabine Neches Port Complex’ importance to our nation’s economic, defense, and energy interests.
Similar research by analytical teams at Coast Guard Headquarters and DHS has already identified Southeast Texas as having a ‘best practice’ mutual aid program. “The Sabine-Neches Chiefs Association (SNCA) is one of the finest examples of community interaction we have ever seen.”, stated both Mr. Scott Gardner of the Coast Guard Headquarters Port Security Assessment Team and Mr. Kerry Spaulding of DHS’s Protective Security Advisor Division, under the DHS Assistant Secretary for Infrastructure Protection.
The SNCA is made up of over 100 member organizations including emergency responders from Fire, Police, Industry, Emergency Management, Public Works, EMS, Hospitals, Schools, County, Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC), State, and Federal organizations. With overlapping jurisdictions, capabilities, and disciplines, the SNCA provides Southeast Texas with a cooperative approach to recognize port security concerns and identify the means to resolve them.