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Oil Spill Equipment Caches

In the 2006 Legislative session, the Department of Ecology was granted $1.45 million to implement a state-wide oil spill response equipment caching grant program. The purpose of the program was to pre-position (pre-stage) response equipment caches throughout the state. The equipment included oil spill containment boom and absorbent materials loaded into pre-packaged trailers. In the event of a spill, the equipment can be rapidly mobilized and deployed to contain the spill or to protect important local resources. This grant provided communities with spill response equipment that previously had not been available to them. Additionally, this equipment was added to the state’s inventory of response equipment in the event of a large spill requiring regional response equipment resources.

In 2006 and 2007, Ecology distributed new oil spill response equipment to 99 key locations across Washington State. This grant has provided 67 oil spill response trailers containing 54,800 feet of oil containment boom, plus another 33 repositories of response supplies. Of this equipment, 37 oil spill response trailers containing 32,600 feet of containment boom have been placed along the Puget Sound. More than 1,000 people state-wide have been trained to use the equipment as first responders. The oil spill response equipment has already been staged or deployed more than 35 times by first responders.

Pre-positioned oil spill response equipment can make a significant difference during a spill.

For example, in August 2005, a marina fire in Gig Harbor destroyed 50 boats containing thousands of gallons of oil and fuel. The harbor was spared an environmental disaster because inexpensive spill response equipment was pre-positioned there.

Quick deployment of booms, absorbent materials and other response equipment quickly cleaned up the oil and fuel, saving an estimated $1 million or more in cleanup costs and harm to marine and shore life.

Update: All funding for the oil spill response equipment grant has been allocated.  Ecology will continue to accept applications should additional funding become available.