PREPROPOSAL STATEMENT OF INQUIRY
Subject of Possible Rule Making: The Department of Ecology is interested in developing new or enhanced measures to improve the safety of marine transportation, and response to vessel emergencies and oil spills, for Washington waters in the Strait of Juan de Fuca and Northern Puget Sound. Measures under consideration are those within the state's authority to implement and include:
1. An emergency response system for the Strait of Juan de Fuca and Washington's Pacific Coast including a dedicated emergency towing vessel;
2. Extending Washington's tug escort requirement for tank ships from just east of Port Angeles to the entrance to the Strait of Juan de Fuca;
3. Working with Washington marine terminals to develop a "Green Award" for ships and/or operating companies that demonstrate an actual and organizational commitment to safe and environmentally sound vessel operations;
4. Working with the United States Coast Guard to implement a national and state "near-miss" reporting and data-sharing program so we may better identify hazardous conditions and measures to mitigate the hazards;
5. Requiring all vessels 300 gross tons or more to have emergency towing packages to facilitate emergency towing response when a vessel is disabled and/or without power;
6. Requiring preventive booming of all refueling and cargo operations in environmentally sensitive areas;
7. Requiring an oil spill response vessel capable of open ocean operations to be stationed at the entrance to the Strait of Juan de Fuca;
8. Evaluating local salvage capabilities to respond to a major incident affecting Washington waters and whether enhancements are required of current oil spill contingency strategies and preparation; and
9. Reviewing best achievable protection standards for tank vessel oil spill prevention plans to provide the best protection of Washington's environments from any tank vessel that enters or operates in Washington waters.
Statutes Authorizing the Agency to Adopt Rules on this Subject: RCW 43.21I.030 Rule-making authority, 90.56.050 Rule-making authority--Reporting, response equipment and standards, planning standards, chemical response, disposal, 88.46.040 Tank vessel oil spill prevention plans, 88.46.060 Vessel oil spill contingency plans, 88.46.120 Tank vessel response equipment standards, 88.46.130 Emergency response system for the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and 88.46.160 Standards for availability and deployment of response equipment during bunkering and lightering operations.
Reasons Why Rules on this Subject may be Needed and What They Might Accomplish: Washington waters in the Strait of Juan de Fuca and North Puget Sound are the primary marine conduit for crude oil and refined petroleum products, and provide Washington and British Columbia ports with access to world markets. The waters of the Strait and North Puget Sound are also significant recreational resources that attract boaters, fishers, and tourists from around the world. Increased use of these waters heightens the awareness that they are ecologically sensitive, culturally significant, and subject to severe weather, high seas and heavy fog.
Marine transportation safety and the risk of a catastrophic oil spill are affected by factors unique to these waters. These factors may be categorized as follows:
Risk of Major Spills - The waters are well known for seasonal heavy fog and bad weather, with significant traffic congestion at the entrance to the Strait of Juan De Fuca compounded by "crossing traffic" primarily from commercial and recreational fishing vessels. The Coast Guard's 1997 Volpe Transportation Center study identified collisions and drift groundings at the entrance to the strait and collisions and powered groundings in the San Juan Islands as the greatest threats to those areas.
Environmental Values and Sensitivity to Oiling - The Northern outer coast and the San Juan Islands contain the most valuable natural resources and some of the most environmentally sensitive areas in Washington's marine waters. The transportation corridor is the state's primary habitat for killer whales, sea otters and other marine mammals, and a major migration route for threatened salmon populations. The North Puget Sound area contains a national park, a national marine sanctuary, national marine refuges, other areas with special protection and extensive tribal lands.
Economic, Cultural and Quality-of-Life Values - The area is important to the region's quality of life. Important quality of life factors include: (A) A 3,500-year history of tribal subsistence harvesting; (B) Pacific Rim shipping; (C) commercial and recreational fishing; (D) crude oil and petroleum product transportation; (E) high private waterfront property values; (F) tourism and other recreational values; and (G) commercial aquaculture.
Spill Response - While Washington state enjoys a world class oil spill response system, Washington's coast and entrance to the strait are highly vulnerable. Primary caches of response equipment in the Central Puget Sound basin make response to oil spills along the coast and in the strait logistically difficult. Further, these waters are subject to seasonal heavy seas and poor weather, which reduce the effectiveness of open-water oil recovery equipment.
In 1991, when the legislature passed the Oil Spill Prevention and Response Act, the focus was prevention of oil spills through improvement of marine transportation safety. Through planning and vessel inspection programs, ecology currently is working to accomplish this legislative mandate. Tank vessels are required to demonstrate policies, procedures and practices that provide the best achievable protection of Washington waters; cargo and fishing vessels are screened and inspected to identify those vessels that pose a substantial risk of harm to the public health and safety, and the environment; and marine accidents and near misses are investigated to identify potential hazards and lessons learned to be shared with the maritime community.
Prevention is backed by well-planned response strategies and strategic location of necessary clean up and containment equipment and personnel. Ecology has developed, in cooperation with the United States Coast Guard, Washington tribes, and affected industry, geographic response plans for all Washington waters at risk of an oil catastrophic oil spill. Necessary equipment and personnel are identified based on the strategies and the particular risk posed.
Ecology has also collected data from vessel reports of accidents, near misses, and oil spills. A review of this data indicates that further measures are required.
Vessel Casualties: Collisions, groundings, fires, explosions, flooding, losses of power, propulsion or steering, equipment failures, or structural failures or damage are all casualties that must [be] reported to ecology. In the past decade, at least ninety separate incidents occurred in Washington waters in the strait and North Puget Sound producing approximately one hundred five vessel casualties. These incidents involved all types of commercial ships - tankers, bulk carriers, container ships, fishing vessels, barges and ferries. The one hundred five reported casualties include twenty-eight losses of propulsion, twenty-three equipment failures, fifteen collisions with another vessel or stationary object, nine losses of steering, eight structural failures or damage, five losses of power, five groundings, four material failures, three fires, two floodings and two explosions.
Near Misses: A situation that requires a vessel to employ nonroutine means to avoid a collision, grounding, oil spill or similar result, is a near miss. The collection and analysis of near miss information has been a goal in Washington waters since 1982 and is recognized as a key indicator of breakdowns or trouble spots within the marine transportation system. Yet it is difficult to create a reporting system comfortable enough for its users. Ecology has received approximately twenty near miss reports in the past decade for the strait and North Puget Sound. Many of these reports involved close aboard situations between commercial ships, and between commercial ships and recreational boaters.
Oil Spills: Nothing as large as the 1991 Tenyo Maru oil spill has occurred in [the] past decade in the strait or North Puget Sound, yet ecology has recorded at least forty-five separate vessel spills in these waters which spilled nearly 29,000 gallons of oil. The forty-five spills occurred during the following vessel operations: Discharging or loading cargo (20), unknown (9), bunkering or refueling (7), while the vessel was underway (4), ballasting (2), pumping bilges (1), cleaning oil tanks (1), and transferring oil internally (1).
Recent events also support an inquiry into new or improved marine safety measures. The grounding of the "New Carrissa" on the Oregon coast last January placed Washington on alert. The potential of a catastrophic oil spill along the west coast disappeared only after the ship was towed out to sea and sunk. March and April of last year, the Navy stationed a rescue tug near the entrance to the strait. The tug responded to two incidents: A tank barge set adrift off Washington's coast, and a commercial fishing vessel that ran out fuel at the entrance to the strait. Finally, in the past two winters at least five vessels lost power and drifted to within yards of shoals or rocky shores before regaining power or anchoring.
Other Federal and State Agencies that Regulate this Subject and the Process Coordinating the Rule with These Agencies: United States Coast Guard.
Process for Developing New Rule: Solicitation of written comments, sponsorship of issue-directed work groups, and participation in the North Puget Sound Risk Assessment project cochaired by the United States Coast Guard and the state of Washington.
Interested parties can participate in the decision to adopt the new rule and formulation of the proposed rule before publication by contacting Jeff Fishel, Stan Norman or Jon Neel, Department of Ecology, Spill Prevention, Preparedness, and Response Program, P.O. Box 47600, Olympia, WA 98504-7600, phone (360) 407-7455, jfis461@ecy.wa.gov.
September 21, 1999
Stan Norman
for Joe Stohr
Program Manager