Governor Perry Announces Formation of Gulf Project

6 07 2010

Governor Perry is forming a coalition to help ensure that the State of Texas is prepared to respond to a large-scale oil spill.  The News Release issued by the Office of the Governor on July 6, 2010 is found below.  The purpose of the project is to make sure Texas never endure the environmental and economic disaster currently occurring in the Gulf of Mexico as a result of the Deepwater Horizon rig explosion.

Governor Perry today announced the formation of the Gulf Project, a coalition of energy and environmental scientists, policy experts, academic researchers, private sector research scientists and state officials who will work to ensure Texas never endures the environmental and economic disaster currently occurring in the Gulf of Mexico as a result of the Deepwater Horizon rig explosion.

“To keep our status as the energy capital of the nation and preserve our environment, jobs and economy, Texas must become the world leader in developing the next generation in offshore oil exploration safety and response,” Gov. Perry said. “The Gulf Project is an unprecedented collaboration of the state’s top scientists, engineers and researchers, focused on protecting our residents, environment and economy, and solving the unique challenges presented by the next generation of domestic energy exploration and production.”

The University of Texas, Texas A&M University, the University of Houston, Rice University, Texas Tech University, Southern Methodist University, the Research Partnership to Secure Energy for America (RPSEA), Texas General Land Office and Texas Railroad Commission are participating in the effort, and other experts and institutions of higher education may join later.

A key challenge for the industry is the current inability to test full drilling systems to determine their safety, and to develop proven methods of responding to large-scale oil spills such as the Deepwater Horizon incident. Other nations including the United Kingdom, Norway and Brazil are competing to develop a seafloor testing facility.

Each participating institution is already involved in significant oil and gas drilling research, and already have the facilities – such as Texas A&M’s Offshore Research Technology Center and Rice’s National Corrosion Center – but none is able to test a full drilling system to ensure it can safely operate under all deep sea conditions. Additionally, the Johnson Space Center is home to facilities that can test the safety and reliability of current and next generation equipment, which could be used as research proceeds. 

Governor Perry believes domestic oil and gas exploration remains critical to meeting the nation’s energy needs. Texas’ energy industry continues to fuel the nation, supplying 20 percent of the nation’s oil production, one-fourth of the nation’s natural gas production, a quarter of the nation’s refining capacity, and nearly 60 percent of the nation’s chemical manufacturing. Additionally, Texas’ energy industry employs 200,000 to 300,000 Texans, with $35 billion in total wages.


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Categories : Emergency Management, Oil Spill, State of Texas

How State of Texas Prepared for Hurricane Alex

5 07 2010

Good information from KEYE TV on how the State of Texas used the State Operations Center in Austin for response to Hurricane Alex.  More good information on how our State’s newly appointed Chief of the Texas Department of Emergency Management needed to begin his term of office a bit early because of Hurricane Alex.  Now we will wait and see if Tropical Disturbance 16 will call for a re-enactment of the good efforts described below.  This information was reported on June 29, 2010.

KEYE TV received a sneak peek inside the very busy Emergency Operations Center in Central Austin, hours after it opened on Tuesday. The state mobilized a team of emergency responders who are now handling preparations and response for Hurricane Alex.

The command center was in a critical 24 hour time period Tuesday evening that would determine exactly where the storm would make landfall. The responders kept an eye on evacuation routes, were in constant contact with South Texas officials and prepared for what they believed would be the greatest threat of the storm; flash flooding.

Day one at the Emergency Operations Center was anything but the calm before the storm. The responders had less than 20 hours before Alex was expected to hit our coast. 

“This is my first week on the job,” Texas EOC Chief Emergency Manager, Nim Kidd told a room of reporters.

He’s the man in charge and seemed convinced his teams did everything they could, as of Tuesday afternoon.

“The question is going to come, do we have enough resources there,” he asked rhetorically to the group of journalists. “The answer to that is, I’m comfortable with where we are. We have deep ready reserves that we are assembling to send out after landfall. But what we don’t want to do is chase this storm up and down the coast any more than we have to.”

It’s Nim Kidd’s first time to lead the state’s hurricane response efforts. So far, he has overseen the deployment of 100 buses, 25 ambulances and 20 shelters to the Deep South, or nearby, ready to go at a moment’s notice. Kidd also tapped the Central Texas chapter of the American Red Cross to send volunteers with emergency response vehicles to the coast.

“They’ve been trained very well,” Red Cross spokesman, Amir Roohi said about the volunteers. “They’ve been through hurricanes before. They were in the Valley for Dolly and they know exactly what they’re doing and we’re very confident they’re prepared.”

“We have over 500 first responders over there with over 100 boats that are already staged in the area, ready to do water rescue if that situation rises,” Kidd reassured the group.

So now, everyone watches and waits. As of Tuesday night, the command center expected up to a foot of rain to fall on parts of Southern Texas.

Kidd wasn’t supposed to start his new job as Interim Chief of Emergency Management until this Thursday. Obviously, Alex sped up the process. He replaced Jack Colley who suffered a heart attack and died in May. Kidd served as San Antonio’s Emergency Manager since 2004.

Link to KEYE TV News Report:  http://weareaustin.com/fulltext?nxd_id=73835


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Categories : Emergency Management, Hurricanes, State of Texas

Baptism by Fire: Nim Kidd

5 07 2010

This is reprint from Mike Ward item printed in Weather Watch, Austin-American Statesman on June 30, 2010:

Talk about arrival by crisis. 

Or, in W. Nim Kidd’s case, hurricane-force winds and deluging rains. 

Kidd, 41, takes over officially tomorrow as the new chief of the state’s Division of Emergency Management, the agency that oversees Texas’ official response to hurricanes, tornadoes, wildfires and other such disasters.

He started work on Monday, as what was then Tropical Storm Alex began menacing the Texas coastline. By this afternoon, three days into his tenure, the storm had grown into a hurricane — though its path had shifted to the south enough to miss a direct hit on Texas.

“I’m used to it,” Kidd said yesterday during a press briefing about Alex at the Texas Department of Public Safety’s headquarters in Austin. “I was emergency management director in San Antonio … It goes with the job.”

In the past, according to Kidd’s resume, his job has included being sent as a first-responder to New York when the World Trade Center was destroyed by terrorists in 2001 and to the Texas A&M bonfire collapse in College Station in November 1999 that killed 12 and injured 27.

In times of crisis, Kidd will be the front man for the state’s response, the guy who will be applauded if if preparation and relief efforts go well — and guy who’s blamed if they do not.

In recent years, as Hurricanes Rita, Ike and Dolly have blasted Texas, the emergency management chief has also protected the flank of Gov. Rick Perry, the state’s top elected official who oversees DPS and will fade heat if disaster planning fails — especially critical as Perry seeks re-election this fall.

For Kidd, the new job seems a perfect fit — even if he has big shoes to fill.

Kidd replaces Jack Colley, a straight-talking, barrel-chested former military commander who was the state’s well-known and well-liked emergency chief for 12 years. Colley, 62, died of a heart attack in early May.

Kidd had been a San Antonio firefighter since April 1993, had been the Alamo City’s emergency management coordinator and a district fire chief since August 2004. He has also served as San Antonio’s homeland security director.

Before he became a firefighter, Kidd worked as a facilities maintenance manager for H-E-B Stores and for himself and was an H-E-B construction foreman before that.

A graduate of Judson High School in Converse, San Antonio College, Southwest Texas State University (now Texas State) in San Marcos, Kidd’s resume shows he is currently working on advanced degrees at Central Texas College and Texas A&M University in Commerce.

He has a long list of emergency-management certifications from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and a variety of professional groups, for training in such things as mass fatality management, hazardous materials, terrorist bombings and incident command.

Several came from the state office he now heads.

His resume shows he responded to the World Trade Center terrorist attack in New York in September 2001, as a planning officer with Texas Task Force 1, a specially trained emergency team. He was also a squad officer with the task force when they responded to the Texas A&M bonfire collapse in November 1999.

Kidd has lists numerous citations and awards for his work, including a meritorious certificate from the San Antonio mayor and council.

“I knew Jack well … He was a friend of mine. I worked with him for many years,” Kidd said.

This afternoon, as Kidd directed the state’s ongoing emergency response to the fast-approaching Alex, the memory of his friend remained close.

Earlier this month, the Texas Public Safety Committee voted unanimously to rename the underground bunker at DPS’ headquarters on North Lamar Boulevard the Jack Colley State Operations Center.


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Fort Bend Flood Management Association holds symposium on reducing flood risk

15 06 2010

The Fort Bend Independent reported on the recently held Flood Risk Reduction Symposium held in Fort Bend County on June 4, 2010.

The evolving Federal regulatory environment associated with flood risks, as well as emergency management challenges created by Hurricane Ike, played a major role in the recent creation of the Fort Bend Flood Management Association (FBFMA).   FBFMA members represent most Fort Bend County government agencies with flood management responsibilities.  The main focus of the group is protecting Fort Bend residents from flood risks as well as providing effective emergency management resources when necessary.

FBFMA sponsored its first annual “Flood Risk Reduction Symposium” on June 4 in Sugar Land, with over 100 local officials and consultants in the audience.   Among the featured speakers were Peter Rabbon, Director, National Flood Risk Management Program of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), George Grugett, Executive Vice President of the Mississippi Valley Flood Control Association (MVFCA), and Susan Gilson, Executive Director of the National Association of Flood and Stormwater Management Agencies (NAFSMA).

Elected officials also presented, including keynote speaker U.S. Rep. Pete Olson, State Sen. Glenn Hegar, State Rep. Charlie Howard, and Fort Bend County Judge Bob Hebert. They discussed issues such as pending regulations, the National Flood Insurance Program, and the need for coordinated activity by Fort Bend flood management entities to address future crises associated with hurricanes or other emergencies.

Olson cautioned the audience about the potential impact to Fort Bend County residents of President Obama’s draft Executive Order 11988, which affects implementation of the National Flood Insurance Program.

Hebert addressed the influence of the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), initially created years ago as a minor agency, now playing a far greater role in the operation of other Federal agencies such as the EPA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Levee Improvement District (LID) boards in Fort Bend County must ensure that they are proactively meeting and addressing the standards required by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and FEMA to avoid any non-compliance consequences that could cost residents millions of dollars in mandatory flood insurance premiums, he said.

Hebert said, “Levee Districts can no longer afford to be passive agencies. We must understand the issues, debate our options, establish consensus opinions, and, most importantly, let our elected officials hear those opinions as they debate future flood plain or flood insurance legislation.”

André McDonald, President of FBFMA, said, “The FBFMA membership consists of most of the local Fort Bend governmental agencies with the combined responsibility of protecting over 130,000 people and $10 billion of assessed property value from flooding.

FBFMA recognized that there was a need to create a higher level of awareness about what is happening at the Federal level in regulations on flood management.

The purpose of this program was to provide critical information and education to officials, consultants, and public sector policy makers who are tasked with flood management responsibilities.

McDonald said FBFMA will continue to monitor all activity at both the Federal and state level related to floodplain and flood risk issues and will also sponsor future events.


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Categories : Emergency Management, Flooding, Levees

Oil Spill in Gulf of Mexico

13 06 2010

Though Fort Bend County is not directly threatened by the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, many of our citizens are keenly interested in what is taking place to resolve the crisis.  Many of our residents work for energy companies, firms heavily tied to the energy industry, or businesses that are dependent on the seafood that comes from the Gulf of Mexico.  For the most up-to-date information, the best place on the Internet to click on is the official site of the Deepwater Horizon Unified Command.

A Unified Command has been established to manage response operations to the April 20, 2010 “Deepwater Horizon” incident. A Unified Command links the organizations responding to an incident and provides a forum for those organizations to make consensus decisions. This site is maintained by the Unified Command’s Joint Information Center (JIC), which provides the public with reliable, timely information about the response.

To date, those agencies involved in the Unified Command include BP, NOAA, US Department of Defense, USGS, Transocean, US Environmental Protection Agency, US Fish & Wildlife Service, CDC, US Coast Guard, US Department of Homeland Security, National Park Service, OSHA, Minerals Management Service, US Department of the Interior, and the US Department of State.

Here is the link:  http://www.deepwaterhorizonresponse.com/go/site/2931/


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FEMA Welcomes The City Of Sugar Land, Texas To The Community Rating System

13 06 2010

From a June 11, 2010 FEMA News Release:

Residents and business owners in the City of Sugar Land can now enjoy a reduction in flood insurance premiums because of the city’s active participation in the National Flood Insurance Program’s (NFIP) Community Rating System (CRS). In addition to lower premiums, the CRS program helps to reduce the threat of damage due to flooding.

“The flood insurance program rewards communities for implementing programs and policies that protect their residents from flooding,” said Tony Russell, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) regional administrator.  “City of Sugar Land’s higher regulatory standards, public education outreach, and other initiatives, have earned the city lower premiums as a CRS Class 7 Community.”

The City of Sugar Land’s flood insurance policyholders who reside in Special Flood Hazard Areas will receive a 15 percent reduction on flood insurance premiums and policyholders located outside Special Flood Hazard Areas will enjoy a 5 percent discount. The reduction in flood insurance premiums represents an annual savings in premium costs for Sugar Land policy holders and will take effect at the time a new policy is written or an effective policy is renewed.

New to CRS, the City of Sugar Land’s participation in the CRS has been beneficial in many respects.  In addition to the reduction in insurance premiums, the City of Sugar Land officials are more knowledgeable about floodplain management and its residents are more knowledgeable about mitigation and flood insurance.  

The program helped make the City of Sugar Land a safer place to live, reduced the economic impact of flood hazards and saved their citizens money on their flood policy premiums.

The community rating system (CRS) is a voluntary program for NFIP- participating communities.  The intended goals of the CRS are to reduce flood losses; facilitate accurate insurance ratings; and to promote the awareness of flood insurance.  For more information on the NFIP’s CRS program, go to www.fema.gov/business/nfip/crs.shtm.

FEMA’s mission is to support our citizens and first responders to ensure that as a nation we work together to build, sustain, and improve our capability to prepare for, protect against, respond to, recover from, and mitigate all hazards.


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Katy Fire Department Chaplain Selected To Serve On National Emergency Planning Task Force

13 06 2010

From an article recently reported in InstantnewsKaty.com (John Pape, May 27, 2010):

Katy Fire and EMS Chaplain Robert Crutchfield has been tapped to be part of a task force charged with the development of a new facet of the National Incident Management System.  The National Incident Management System, or NIMS, is a system used nationally to coordinate emergency preparedness and incident management among federal, state and local agencies. It is also a key component of FEMA’s National Response Plan to major disasters.

Crutchfield will be part of a nationwide group responsible for the development of a new “resource type” category of NIMS called “disaster general reservist.”  Under NIMS, a resource type is a detailed, standardized description of a resource that can be deployed during an emergency. The disaster general reservist will be a new category of personnel, typically volunteers, that can be used in support roles such answering telephones, assisting with meal distribution and similar functions.

Among the issues the task force will be considering are training, qualifications, scope of duties and how the volunteers would be requested and assigned to disaster scenes.  Crutchfield noted volunteers such as CERT team members have already proven invaluable during emergency situations, including in the aftermath of Hurricane Ike. Likewise, they could serve in important support roles during other emergencies.

He also said he was looking forward to the task at hand.  “This is my first opportunity to contribute to emergency management at a national level, and I am literally jumping at the chance,” Crutchfield said. “I appreciate my colleagues for allowing me to contribute at such a high level.”

Crutchfield said his role would be “very representative.”

“I won’t be relying on my own experiences and expertise on this one. I will be aggressively seeking input that I can forward to the other members of the group,” Crutchfield said.  Among those he plans to ask for advice is Katy Fire and EMS Chief Marc Jordan, as well as Fort Bend County Emergency Management Director Jeff Braun.

In addition to his role as chaplain for the Katy Fire and EMS Department, Crutchfield is also the founder of Christ 4 Responders, an emotional and spiritual support network serving the needs of first responders.


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Categories : CERT, Emergency Management, Volunteers

Nim Kidd Appointed as Chief of Texas Division of Emergency Management

12 06 2010

As we enter the 2010 Hurricane Season, there has been concern about the need for the State to appoint a new head of the Texas Division of Emergency Management (TDEM).  For many years, the Division was headed by the late Jack Colley.  However, earlier this year on May 16th, Colley died as a result of a heart attack.  With prospects for a busy hurricane season in 2010, and with the unknown threats to Texas from the BP oil spill, it is critical that there remains continuity in leadership at TDEM.  I am pleased to report that an interim appointment has now been made.

As reported in a News Release from the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) on June 11th, San Antonio District Fire Chief W. Nim Kidd has been named as the interim chief of the Texas Division of Emergency Management starting July 1, 2010.  This appointment was made by Steve McCraw, Director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, with concurrence of Governor Rick Perry and Allan Polunsky, chairman of the Texas Public Safety Commission.

“Jack Colley was a national icon in emergency management, a man whose invaluable service saved countless lives in Texas and established a legacy of competence that will be felt for years to come,” Director McCraw said.  “As we enter the 2010 Hurricane Season, we are fortunate to welcome Chief Kidd, an experienced leader in handling disasters in our state, whose skills and dedication will keep Texas a national leader in emergency preparedness and management.” 

The News Release from DPS notes that Kidd “is currently San Antonio’s Homeland Security Director, managing the Homeland Security Grant Program, and is chair of the Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI) Working Group. Kidd has also served as the city’s Emergency Manager since 2004, managing the city’s preparedness, response and recovery efforts for all local disasters, including more than a dozen substantial disasters impacting the community.”

I have known Chief Kidd for a number of years and look forward to his leadership.  He understands the “big picture” related to emergency management in Texas—- from the need to react to events based on the risk not on occurrence to the mundane issues related to grants management.  Grants management is important— it will be through Chief Kidd’s knowledge of homeland security grant processes that he will be able to continue the important initiatives started and maintained by Chief Colley.

Chief Kidd “has worked with the San Antonio Fire Department (SAFD) since 1993, holding the rank of firefighter, fire apparatus operator, lieutenant, captain, and District Fire Chief.  He has led the SAFD Technical Rescue Team and the Hazardous Material Response Team. Additionally, Kidd has served as a member of Texas Task Force 1 Urban Search and Rescue Team since 1997, responding to state and national disasters including the World Trade Center attack in September 2001. Chief Kidd holds the Certified Emergency Manager designation from the International Association of Emergency Managers and has served as a member of the Board of Directors of the Emergency Management Association of Texas. Chief Kidd currently serves on the Governor’s Emergency Medical Services and Trauma Advisory Council-Disaster Committee, and the Governor’s Texas Preparedness Advisory Council for the Texas Division of Emergency Management.”

As you can tell from his background, Chief Kidd is well suited to perform in the interim role for which he has been selected.  It is my hope that he will not have to face disasters and catastrophes during the term of his appointment; however, I am confident that he will perform in a fine manner when faced with events that threaten the citizens of the State of Texas.  Congratulations Nim!


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TEEX Helps the State Prepare for Potentially Busy Hurricane Season

6 06 2010

From the TEEX Express, dated June 3, 2010…….

The State of Texas has been working with Texas Engineering Extension Service (TEEX) to prepare for an active 2010 hurricane season that forecasters say could spawn 8-14 hurricanes. A series of planning meetings, tabletop exercises and rehearsal of concept (ROC) drills culminated in two full-scale functional exercises in the Houston-Galveston and Lake Sabine hurricane areas and the regions that shelter their evacuees – completed before June 1, the official beginning of the Atlantic hurricane season.

 TEEX has coordinated the Texas Hurricane Exercise Program for six years, and works closely with the coastal regions and inland sheltering jurisdictions on preparation activities and exercises.  TEEX’s National Emergency Response and Rescue Training Center (NERRTC) designs, develops and delivers the annual statewide hurricane exercises for the Texas Division of Emergency Management.

 The 2010 full-scale exercises included approximately 1,000 participants from the two regions and the sheltering jurisdictions. Six regional councils were involved in the exercises and 42 hurricane exercise “nodes,” which included multiple jurisdictions.

 The goal of the two-and-a-half-day exercises was to provide responders and officials experience in activating an emergency operations center, notifying appropriate authorities and the public, staffing and managing the EOC, requesting resources, and coordinating with other local, state and federal agencies for hurricane response and recovery activities, said Chuck Klafka, who coordinated the Lake Sabine exercise.

Each exercise included a scenario involving a Category 3 hurricane hitting the Gulf Coast with a storm surge leading to large-scale evacuations of coastal counties, sending large numbers of evacuees to inland shelters. Along with the Dallas area and North Central Texas, a sheltering jurisdiction participating was the Huntsville/Walker County region, which conducted a full-scale shelter exercise at the Walker County Storm Shelter.  Thirty high school student volunteers role-played several scenarios, including a busload of evacuees with various special needs and pets that arrive unexpectedly at the shelter.

One of the highlights of the 2010 exercises was hands-on experience with the statewide WebEOC software in conjunction with the State Operations Center, a first for the hurricane exercise, according to Amy Raines, who coordinated the Houston-Galveston exercise.  “The jurisdictions could log into their actual WebEOC accounts and subscribe to the event, which allowed them to view the Significant Event logs, submit and track resource requests, track tasks and report events and status. This provided all organizations an opportunity to identify and fix numerous issues during the exercise.  Additional items will be addressed prior to future events.  This was a very successful first endeavor.”


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Categories : Emergency Management, Hurricanes, Training

Speaker at the Upcoming Fort Bend County Emergency Preparedness Workshop Chosen to Serve On Federal Task Force

17 03 2010

Lyda Ann Thomas, Mayor of the City of Galveston, is one of the keynote speakers at the soon approaching 4th Annual Fort Bend County Emergency Preparedness Workshop.   The Workshop will be held on Saturday, May 8th, at the Stafford Centre, 10505 Cash Road, Stafford, Texas from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm.  Mayor Thomas was selected to be one of the primary speakers for the Workshop so she could discuss her experiences during Hurricanes Rita and Ike.

It was just announced this week that Mayor Thomas has been chosen to serve on a federal task force charged with making recommendations about federal policies on disaster preparedness and response.  The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the parent organization of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, invited Thomas to serve on a committee that will evaluate which federal policies and guidance on disaster preparedness need updating; the most appropriate process to update those policies; which grant programs work the most efficiently; where programs can be improved; and the most appropriate way to assess the government’s strengths and weaknesses in preparing for disasters.

The Task Force’s first meeting is in April in Boston.  “My membership will be good for Galveston …” Thomas says. “Hopefully, changes will be made that will be important for our disaster planning in the future.”  Thomas is a frequent speaker at hurricane and emergency preparedness workshops.  Last year, she traveled to Cuba to learn more about how that country prepares for hurricanes.

Fort Bend County is excited that Mayor Thomas will be visiting our Workshop to provide her insights— not only on her local hurricane experiences, but now about federal policies affecting disaster preparedness and response.  Please block out your calendar to come to the Emergency Preparedness Workshop and to see Mayor Thomas speak!  For more information on the Workshop, please send me a note.


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Categories : Emergency Management, Hurricanes, Outreach, Workshops

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