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PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad -- Caribbean nations will come together for the first time to specifically address emergency response protocols for offshore deepwater drilling activities at Open Forum’s inaugural conference: One Caribbean – One Response, on September 13, 2012, in Port of Spain, Trinidad.

“The Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico are inextricably linked by the continuous flow of ocean currents and eddy streams. A deepwater event in any one of these regions becomes everyone’s challenge,” said Open Forum founder Lee Hunt, former president of the International Association of Drilling Contractors. “While the international focus has been largely an effort by the United States to protect its shores, One Caribbean – One Response will give Caribbean nations the opportunity to focus on how they can learn from each other and work together to build deepwater response capabilities.”

The goal of the forum is to improve the integration of emerging deep-water drilling with regional regulatory and industry response capabilities. A planned, coordinated set of procedures and protocols for governments in the Caribbean Sea must mesh with industry standards for safety and pollution prevention, particularly with respect to capping, containing and capturing potential sub-sea, deep-water releases.

Panel discussions will include presentations from representatives from Mexico, Trinidad and Tobago, The Bahamas and Cuba. Topics will address: deepwater drilling safety regulations; international response protocol; issues of transnational boundary pollution; and liability and options for spill events.

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