The GSN 2015 Digital Yearbook
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<strong>GSN</strong> <strong>2015</strong> DIGITAL YEARBOOK OF AIRPORT/SEAPORT/BORDER SECURITY AWARDS RECIPIENTS<br />
Best Integrated Security Programs<br />
Emergency Response Technology, LLC<br />
<strong>2015</strong> Winner<br />
Awards Category:<br />
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––<br />
Best Integrated Harbor Security Program<br />
Name of Nominated Product, Service,<br />
or Program:<br />
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––<br />
Integrated Harbor Security Program for the Port of<br />
Greater Baton Rouge<br />
Reason this entry deserves to win:<br />
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––<br />
According to the American Association of Port Authorities,<br />
the Lower Mississippi River (LMR), where the Port<br />
of Greater Baton Rouge operates, provides transportation<br />
for over 45% of all energy resources and more than<br />
60% of all U.S. commerce, making it the most critical<br />
and at the same time vulnerable critical infrastructure<br />
in the U.S. Each day that the transportation of maritime<br />
commerce on the LMR is interrupted costs the U.S.<br />
economy over $275 million per day, and international<br />
commerce over $500 million per day. A tanker cut a<br />
barge into 2 pieces in 2008, releasing 419,000 gallons<br />
of diesel and shutting down the LMR for 11 days. This<br />
interruption of transportation of maritime commerce<br />
on the LMR created a loss of over $3 billion to the U.S.<br />
economy and $6 billion to international commerce<br />
(www.cnn.com/2008/US/07/25/mississippi.spill/). But<br />
without an emergency response capability for secondary<br />
emergencies, the collision could have been much<br />
worse. <strong>The</strong> tanker had just uploaded approximately 3<br />
million gallons of Styrene monomer, a compound that<br />
reacts with itself in “autopolymerization”. If this had<br />
happened, the tanker would have exploded with the<br />
force of from 3 to 5 times that of the truck bomb used<br />
in Oklahoma City in 1995, causing extensive collateral<br />
damage and closing the river much longer. <strong>The</strong> Emergency<br />
Response Technology (ERT) IHSP is designed<br />
to autonomously detect and report multiple threats<br />
simultaneously using both active and passive advanced<br />
sensors using surveillance software. Chemical releases<br />
from either accidents or intentional acts of terrorism at<br />
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