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Department of Ecology News Release - November 18, 2009
09-269
CORRECTION: Omitted text (paragraphs 4-7) restored on Feb. 10, 2010.
BELLEVUE — The Department of Ecology (Ecology) has fined Olympic Tug & Barge Co. (Olympic) $47,000 for two oil spills, one last year in the West Waterway off Harbor Island in Seattle and one this year off Bainbridge Island.
“Olympic took these incidents very seriously,” said Dale Jensen, who manages Ecology’s spill prevention, preparedness and response program. “The company’s success at ensuring that boat crews strictly follow its policies for internal fuel transfers will lead to effective protection for Washington’s waters.”
“In our investigations into both cases, we found that the responsible crew members failed to comply with established company procedures for internal transfers, which resulted in the termination of both individuals,” said Sven Christensen, General Manager for Olympic Tug & Barge. “Our investigations also found that human factors were the root cause in both incidents. We have since made systemic changes to improve training of vessel crews and to ensure compliance with company policies and procedures.”
Ecology fined Olympic $24,000 for a diesel fuel spill — later calculated at 161 gallons — that occurred on July 15, 2008. The tug James T. Quigg had positioned a tank barge to fuel a cargo ship. Crew from the barge and an environmental-response contractor’s boat — which was tending spill-containment boom around the tank barge and cargo ship — noticed diesel oil flowing on the tug’s deck and over the side into the water. Crew members found a fuel pump running and turned it off.
The spill was not related to the cargo ship fueling operation taking place at the same time.
Olympic responded to the spill immediately and conducted an effective cleanup. The environmental contractor quickly placed additional boom around the spilled oil.
Investigators determined that one of the tug’s fuel tanks overflowed when the pump moved fuel between tanks aboard the vessel. The internal fuel transfer violated the company’s policies for planning and supervising such operations. Ecology and Olympic investigators could not determine why the pump was left on.
The second incident — which prompted a $23,000 fine — occurred on the night of Feb. 2, 2009, when the tug Catherine Quigg was under way southbound off Bainbridge Island. Crew members noticed fuel spilling off the deck into the water. An internal fuel transfer between tanks was immediately halted.
The spill — later calculated at 211 gallons by Ecology — left a sheen in the main shipping channel. Olympic hired a response contractor which responded with four boats to recover oil from the water. Ecology inspected Bainbridge Island beaches by foot and by boat at first light and observed no shore impacts from the spill.
Investigators determined that a tank overfilled during the transfer, possibly because the piping system and valves had not been inspected beforehand as required in the company’s policies and procedures. The chief engineer — who was new to the Catherine Quigg — had not completed an orientation for that particular vessel. The tug captain had assigned too few crew members to monitor the transfer. Close monitoring enables a crew to spot and stop potential overflows. The crew also failed to plug the scuppers — drain holes on the deck.
Olympic may request Ecology reconsideration of the penalties or file appeals to the Washington State Pollution Control Board within 30 days.
Ecology’s spill prevention and response programs are part of the department’s efforts to reduce toxic threats and to restore Puget Sound.
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Media Contacts:
Larry Altose, Ecology media relations, 206-920-2600
David Byers, Ecology spill response section manager, 360-407-6974
Dione Lee, Director of Quality, Safety and Environmental Protection,
206-447-3057.
For more information: http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/spills/spills.html
Copyright © Washington State Department of Ecology. See http://www.ecy.wa.gov/copyright.html.
