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Department of Ecology News Release - Dec. 1, 2000
00-233
OLYMPIA - Rescue tugs stationed near the mouth of the Strait of Juan de Fuca have proved effective at keeping ships from grounding and causing oil spills, according to a new report delivered today to the Washington State Legislature.
The report describes eight incidents where a rescue tug was called to assist a disabled barge or ship - two during the 1998-99 winter season, three during 1999-2000, and three times since Sept. 18, 2000, during the current season. Petroleum spills from the vessels could have ranged in size from a few hundred gallons to more than 1 million gallons.
For the past two winters, Gov. Gary Locke and Congressman Norm Dicks pulled together federal and state resources to station a rescue tug at Neah Bay to cover the western portion of the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the outer Washington coast. For the 2000-01 winter season, the state legislature appropriated $1.65 million in state funding for a tug and directed the state Department of Ecology to report on the number and types of responses performed by the tugs.
"Having rescue tugs available to distressed vessels in the western Strait provides substantially faster response, which can mean the difference between a happy ending or a disastrous spill," said Joe Stohr, who oversees the state's spill-prevention and -response program.
There have been 163 incidents since 1995 in which a commercial vessel traveling in northern Puget Sound lost propulsion or steering, grounded in shallow water, or had a collision, according to the report. The report also cites numerous previous studies about spill preparedness in Puget Sound and the Strait that cite the need for greater prevention and response capabilities.
"When you consider the billions of gallons of petroleum and the billions of dollars in trade goods being shipped through our waters each year, a full-time rescue tug looks like a very cost-effective investment," said Ecology Director Tom Fitzsimmons.
In the report, the department recommends that the federal government should provide most of the funding for a permanent rescue tug, since the federal government is a trustee of extensive land holdings along the coast and Strait, and also is responsible for protecting tribal fishing rights that could be affected by spills. In addition, most of the oil-spill threat stems from international trade that the state of Washington cannot control.
"We hope the federal government and the shipping industry will step forward to help us put a permanent rescue tug in place. Washington deserves the same level of protection that has been put in place in Alaska and other sensitive areas of the world" said Fitzsimmons.
The report is available on the Internet at www.ecy.wa.gov/biblio/0008023.html.
Contact: Joe Stohr, Spills Program Manager, 360-407-7450
Sheryl Hutchison, Communication Director, 360-407-7004
Copyright © Washington State Department of Ecology. See http://www.ecy.wa.gov/copyright.html.
