The Poplar Response involving a crude oil spill in the Yellowstone River in Montana makes it stunningly clear how valuable drone video can be. Poplarresponse.com is the JIC site for response with the EPA taking federal lead and Bridger Pipeline as the responsible party. Our friend Bill Salvin of Signal Bridge served as the PIO and should take strong credit not only for excellent messaging in the response, but also for bringing in the latest "conversation management" technology to serve as the response site and for highlighting the drone videos. It's my understanding that the EPA incident commander was a primary driver in using this invaluable new tool.
This event included drinking water contamination for many local residents so certainly was not without its challenges. But from all accounts from those directly involved, the communications were handled very well with a positive outcome in terms of public response.
