Bela James keeps a bag packed at all times, ready to jet off at a moment's notice from Houston International Airport for destinations unknown. James is part of Shell Oil's rapid response team, a small strike force of environmental and technical specialists on call in the event of an oil spill.

The "away team," as it is known, visited Tampa recently for a two-day spill drill involving dozens of company experts, and local, state and federal emergency response personnel. Exercises such as these are required by OPA90 to keep companies prepared and test inter-agency coordination and response.

The idea is to iron out any kinks before an accident occurs.

Details of the scenario - a dockside collision resulting in a spill of 3300 barrels of gasoline, jet fuel and oil at the Motiva terminal south of Gandy Boulevard - were withheld from participants until the start of the exercise. The first day of the simulated spill was used to test Motiva's emergency response plans and equipment, while day two focused on establishing a multi-agency command center at Tampa's Airport Marriott to coordinate spill response and cleanup.

The Marriott ballroom is transformed for the elaborate, choreographed exercise. Color-coded crew members assigned to specific groups man phone lines and computer terminals, funneling critical information back to a unified command team composed of a federal and state on-scene coordinator and Shell's designated incident commander. The incident command structure was first conceived in the 1970s for interagency management of large forest fires, and over the years has been adapted for other catastrophic emergencies including oil spills and earthquakes.

Photo: Mary Kelley Hoppe At a command post set up at the Tampa Airport Marriott ballroom in June, workers "respond" to a major simulated oil spill in the bay. Exercises like this one, organized by Shell Oil, are used to test response planning in action.

At the head of the ballroom a giant SitStat board beams electronic updates of the spill's movements and areas where protective booms have been deployed. Flanking each side are bulletin boards posted with the latest overflight maps, meeting schedules, press advisories and claims numbers. An inter-agency public information team fields calls from reporters, develops joint advisories, and prepares for the afternoon press briefing.

Shell knows the stakes are high. The company transports a billion barrels of oil a day in the U.S. alone. "Basically, our company policy is to overreact," says Tim O'Leary, Shell's point man for media relations. "We throw as many resources at this as possible." Shells conducts two major exercises per year, plus dozens of smaller tabletop drills.

Surveying the controlled frenzy, Bela James is pleased. Dangling from a belt hoop is his trusty Rite in the Rain, an all-weather pen attached to a small waterproof writing tablet. The man is prepared.