Title: An act relating to oil spill management.

Brief Description: Requiring oil spill contingency plans to include shellfish beds.

Sponsors: Senator Poulsen, Kline, Shin, Spanel, Fraser and Kohl-Welles.

Brief History:

Committee Activity: Water, Energy & Environment: 2/8/05, 2/15/05 [DPS].

SENATE COMMITTEE ON WATER, ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT

Majority Report: That Substitute Senate Bill No. 5676 be substituted therefor, and the substitute bill do pass.Signed by Senators Poulsen, Chair; Rockefeller, Vice Chair; Morton, Ranking Minority Member; Fraser, Hewitt, Honeyford, Pridemore and Regala.

Staff: Richard Rodger (786-7461)

Background: The Legislature enacted oil spill prevention and response measures in 1991 to promote the safety of marine transportation and protect state waters from oil spills. The director of the Department of Ecology has the primary authority to oversee prevention, abatement, response, containment, and cleanup efforts for oil spills in state waters.

The oil spill program requires oil spill prevention plans, contingency response plans, and documentation of financial responsibility for vessels and facilities that may discharge oil into navigable waters.

Owners and operators of onshore and offshore facilities must prepare and submit oil spill contingency and prevention plans. The plans are valid for five years and may be combined into a single document. Facilities may opt to submit contingency plans for tank vessels unloading at the facility

Summary of Substitute Bill: Shellfish beds are added to the list of natural resources to be considered for facility and vessel oil spill contingency planning purposes.

Substitute Bill Compared to Original Bill: Adds vessel contingency plans to the bill.

Appropriation: None.

Fiscal Note: Not requested.

Committee/Commission/Task Force Created: No.

Effective Date: Ninety days after adjournment of session in which bill is passed.

Testimony For: This bill makes an important fix to last year's oil spill response legislation. The requirement to include shellfish beds in the facility oil spill contingency plans was in the bill, but was in a section of the bill that was subject to a null and void clause. It would also make sense to add the same provisions to the vessel contingency plans.

Testimony Against: None.

Who Testified: PRO: Fran McNair, Department of Natural Resources; Bill Dewey, Taylor Shellfish Company; Ron Shultz, Department of Ecology.