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National Spill Control School Texas A&M University - Corpus Christi, Texas

The National Spill Control School(NSCS)National Spill Control Schoolwas established to provide training in the prevention, planning, safe and effective handling of oil and hazardous material spills. The NSCS has been providing oil spill response classes since 1977 and Hazmat/waste classes were initiated in 1980. The NSCS is a non-profit educational institution and is a part of Texas A&M University at Corpus Christi Texas A&M University Corpus Christi.

The NSCS has earned an excellent reputation for its training programs over the years since its inception. This was recognized when the NSCS was written into the OIL POLLUTION ACT OF 1990 as a training and research resource for the National Response Team. The School was also recognized in 1998 by the Texas General Land Office "in recognition of … leadership in protecting the environmental quality of Texas coastal waters".

NSCS achievements and recognition have included the following: •	1990 OPA Designation as a Research and Response Resource for the National Response Team (NRT) •	1998 Recognized by Texas for Protecting State’s Waters •	2005 Developed GIS as a Planning and Response Tool •	2007 Recognized by Texas for 30 years of training Emergency Responders

Both the NSCS and TAMU-CC are located on Ward Island Ward_Island_(Texas)in Corpus Christi Bay []. TAMU-CC has a student population of about 10,200 and the NSCS typically trains 500 to 1000 people from government, industry, and academia annually. Spill response training is conducted in a variety of south Texas coastal habitats.

The Port of Corpus Christi (www.portofcorpuschristi.com/) []is the 5th largest port in the US and the deepest on the Gulf coast. There are 17 major refining and petrochemical companies around Corpus Christi Bay. The weather in Corpus Christi is almost always pleasant and sub-tropical. Annual seawater temperature ranges from 50 degrees F in Winter to 89 degrees F in summer. Corpus Christi is a great place to visit, fish, and enjoy the beach; the city and region have strong petro-chemical and shipping industry foundations; and Corpus is the perfect place to for year-round spill response training.

The National Spill Control School has recently expanded training operations and course offerings with new equipment, course titles, specialized courses, and multi-lingual spill response training. In addition, the NSCS has greatly expanded hands-on training capacity through the generous contributions of valuable response equipment by corporate sponsors & benefactors. In 2012 the NSCS expanded oil spill programs with the addition of a new 30 ft. Kvichak Harbor Class Rapid Response Skimmer Vessel (http://www.kvichak.com/marco_hc.htm), a contribution to the NSCS from BP (http://www.bp.com/sectionbodycopy.do?categoryId=41&contentId=7067505). The NSCS also offers deepwater and offshore spill response classes in collaboration with the Marine Spill Response Corporation (http://www.msrc.org/). Other new equipment includes skimmer systems, pumps, computers, marine radios, about 5000 feet of oil spill containment boom, a portable/towable tank, and various other equipment. This contributed equipment allows the NSCS oil spill training programs to be much more relevant and realistic, and also supports the overall preparedness of oil Spill response organizations (OSROs) as they strive to protect the unique marine resources of te South Texas Gulf Coast.

The NSCS courses and schedules are available online at www.nscs.tamucc.edu.