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Department of Ecology News Release - November 15, 2007
07-341
OLYMPIA - The Department of Ecology (Ecology) and U.S. Coast Guard held an unannounced oil spill preparedness drill Wednesday, Nov. 14, at U.S. Oil & Refining Co. in Tacoma to determine whether the company could meet mandatory state readiness requirements.
U.S. Oil & Refining and all oil handlers operating in Washington waters have mandatory oil-spill contingency plans that spell out how they will respond to oil spills.
Ecology approves the plans and holds announced and unannounced spill drills. The state's spill drills test how well oil handlers implement their plans.
Linda Pilkey-Jarvis, Ecology Spill Preparedness Manager, said the U.S. Oil & Refining drill was conducted to test how well the company could coordinate an adequate response to a 420,000-gallon crude oil spill at the refinery.
"They did a great job. The company met our readiness expectations - calling in their contractors, setting up an emergency response structure, and planning how best to tackle a huge spill in Commencement Bay. They did everything they needed to do and more," Pilkey-Jarvis said. "The recent spill in California is an unfortunate reminder that we need to remain diligent in our preparedness for oil spills. This test for U.S. Oil shows that the company has a viable system in place."
Alan Cabodi, U.S. Oil & Refining Co. vice president for manufacturing, said, "We will compile the lessons learned from the drill and if we can improve our existing spill readiness plan, we will make that happen. Our company takes pride in being a good environmental neighbor and being able to quickly put together an adequate response with no warning. It was an invaluable practice for us."
Other oil-handlers in Washington that have passed unannounced spill drills include: BP Cherry Point Refinery in Ferndale, Shore Terminal in Tacoma, Tesoro Terminal in Port Angeles, ConocoPhillips-Yellowstone Pipeline in Spokane and Tesoro terminal in Anacortes. The drills tested the facilities' ability to quickly notify authorities and to deploy containment boom.
U.S. Oil & Refining is the only petroleum refinery in the South Puget Sound. The company produces and supplies gasoline, ultra-low sulfur diesel, commercial and military jet fuel, marine fuels and asphalt. The refinery can produce more than 1.6 million gallons of petroleum products a day, with a storage capacity exceeding 84 million gallons.
The unannounced drill involved 35 staff from U.S. Oil & Refining while simulating the involvement of Ecology and Coast Guard spill personnel, 70 people in the field, and more than 20 vessels, including nine oil skimming vessels.
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Media contact: Curt Hart, 360-407-6239; cell, 360-480-7908 (char461@ecy.wa.gov)
Department of Ecology spill preparedness Website: http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/spills/preparedness/preparednesstable.htm
Copyright © Washington State Department of Ecology. See http://www.ecy.wa.gov/copyright.html.
