Remembering our oil spills legacy: Why Washington has an emergency response tug at Neah Bay

The March 24, 1989, Exxon Valdez oil spill was one of the worst vessel spills in history.
Eleven million gallons of crude oil spilled into Alaska’s Prince William Sound after the 987-foot oil tanker struck Bligh Reef. The toxic spill killed thousands of sea birds. Many marine animals also perished, including sea otters, orca whales, and bald eagles.

Just three months earlier, Washington experienced one of our worst-ever oil spills, fouling more than 100 miles of our Pacific Coast.

Exxon Valdez oil spill cleanup worker, Aug. 8, 1989. 

Photo from CC BY-SA 2.0.

In heavy seas, the Nestucca – a 300-foot tank barge loaded with heavy fuel oil – snapped free from a tug’s tow line near the entrance to Grays Harbor. As the tug crew worked to come alongside to board the barge and reconnect the tow line, the tug hit the side of the barge hard, creating a hole that released 231,000 gallons of fuel oil over the next several days.

In the following months, the oil reached large sections of the western coast of Canada’s Vancouver Island. The spill killed tens of thousands of sea birds.

History is worth remembering

Catastrophic spills like these form the backdrop for Washington’s drive to maintain a strong spill prevention program. They are a large part of the reason why we’ve had a permanently stationed emergency response tug at Neah Bay for the last 19 years.

Washington’s drive for oil spill prevention continues today. The recently passed 2018 Strengthening Oil Transportation Safety Act requires us to take a variety of steps to promote the safety of marine transportation and protect the Salish Sea from oil spills. One of our tasks under the Act is to develop a report for the Legislature that will include recommendations about an emergency response system for Haro Strait, Boundary Pass and Rosario Strait, which could lead to a stronger safety net for Washington and the waters it shares with Canada.

In 2010, this 712-foot container ship Horizon Tacoma was inbound to Washington from Dutch Harbor, Alaska, and about three miles off Neah Bay when the crew noticed smoke coming from one of two turbochargers on the ship’s propulsion engine. To prevent engine damage, the ship’s engineer recommended that the captain shut down the engine. The state’s emergency response tug, Hunter, shown here, quickly responded and towed the ship to Tacoma, with assistance from an escort tug. Photo from Crowley Maritime Corp.

Emergency response tug is a safety net

The Emergency Response Towing Vessel (ERTV) at Neah Bay is a powerful, fully-equipped tug that stands ready around the clock to assist disabled vessels and barges off the Pacific coast or in the western Strait of Juan de Fuca. Vessels calling for the tug may have lost propulsion, lost steering, or suffered some other type of problem, leaving them vulnerable to running aground and spilling oil.

The tug’s mission is to get a line on any disabled vessels to keep them from grounding. The tug not only prevents shipwrecks, it protects our coast from oil spills, and helps keep our shipping lanes open, which are important to the regional and worldwide economy. The tug is a safety net for all vessels – for those that carry oil as a commodity and those that carry a large amount of fuel on board for transportation.

The birth of the emergency response tug

Washington leaders established the emergency rescue tug in 1999 and initially funded it during winter months only, when the winds and seas on our coast are most treacherous.

Neah Bay was chosen as a strategic home base because it is the marine transportation crossroads of the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the Pacific Ocean. It’s the gateway to multiple Washington and Canadian ports, Naval Base Kitsap, which is one of the world’s largest naval complexes, and five Washington refineries.

Importantly, the location was chosen because there’s a lot at stake here – the cultural resources of the Makah Tribe, the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary, the Olympic National Park, the Makah National Fish Hatchery, and Flattery Rocks National Wildlife Refuge.

By 2008, the Washington Legislature committed $3.6 million to fund a full-time, year-round tug to protect our waters.

In 2010, the Legislature decided that the vessels using the shipping lanes should pay for the safety net, so the tug program moved from being state funded to being funded by the industry. By this time, the state had paid for the tug for 11 years.

Today the tug is funded by commercial cargo, passenger vessels of 300 or more gross tons, and tank vessels that transit to or from Washington ports through the Strait of Juan de Fuca. All of these vessels are required to have oil spill contingency plans to prepare for possible spills. These contingency plans spell out the details on how and when to call the tug.

The Marine Exchange of Puget Sound, a local shipping cooperative, collects fees from the vessels and decides which tug company gets the contract. The tug company currently under contract is Foss Maritime.

Both Ecology and the U.S. Coast Guard can request a deployment of the emergency response tug if needed.

Did you know? 

Since 1999, the emergency response tug has been called out 67 times, mostly to escort partially disabled ships as a precaution, and sometimes to tow a vessel into port. Since the start of 2018, the tug Denise Foss has already been deployed three times.

• Jan. 31: Traveled 530 miles to tow the 961-foot container ship MV MOL Prestige, which lost propulsion after it suffered a fire west of British Columbia’s Queen Charlotte Islands. 
• Feb. 22: Rescued a 656-foot bulk carrier Federal Iris, with more than 500,000 gallons of fuel onboard, after it suffered an engine room explosion 127 miles west of the mouth of the Columbia River. The tug got a tow line on the ship the next day. 
• On March 25: Deployed to assist the 958-foot bulk carrier MV HL Passion inbound for Canada that was having engine problems just north of Neah Bay. When the tug arrived, the crew had restarted the engine, but the tug stayed alongside and escorted the ship to Port Angeles.

Lots of oil moves through Washington

More than 20 billion gallons of oil is transported through Washington each year by vessel, pipeline, road and rail. We have one of the lowest oil spill rates because we have one of the most comprehensive spill prevention, preparedness, and response programs in the nation. Industry commitment and collaboration have helped us build a strong safety net.

We remain vigilant to prevent spills, in part, because we keep a close eye on the evolving nature of oil movement.

Find out more about the Neah Bay emergency response tug by visiting our website and our interactive map.

by Sandy Howard, Ecology communications

Protecting our great Columbia River

Bulk cargo ships at anchor in Astoria, Oregon. Photo courtesy of  Alex 
Butterfield, CC BY 2.0.

Was the mighty Columbia River created by volcanoes, floods and earthquakes, or was it created by Coyote, who according to tribal legend, realized that there were salmon in the ocean and that people needed to eat them?

Did Coyote stage a large battle with a great beaver, backing the beaver up into the Cascade Mountains, where the beaver tail scraped out the Columbia River Gorge? Is this what opened up a channel from the ocean to bring the salmon to the people?

This tribal legend told in oral tradition, taken from a Northwest Power and Conservation Council Columbia River history report, is just one example of the rich cultural lore associated with the river.

Today, the river is this and a whole lot more. It’s a vital shipping corridor that benefits both Washington and Oregon, and our regional and international economies.

Keeping an eye on vessel traffic

Here at the Department of Ecology, we are watching vessel traffic on the river with an eye to protect it from oil spills.

Each year, hundreds of oil-carrying vessels enter the Columbia River to deliver more than a billion gallons of gasoline, jet fuel, and other petroleum products to ports in Washington and Oregon.

Chemical tanker heading to sea from the mouth of the Columbia River. Photo 

courtesy of Bruce Fingerhood, CC BY 2.0.

The river is a busy corridor. Oil-carrying tankers and barges share space with cargo ships, passenger vessels, recreational boats, and fishing vessels.

A big oil spill could not only harm the river, its shorelines, and the fish and animals that depend on the Columbia’s waters, it could also impact both states’ economies. The river could be closed to vessels that deliver goods and services to communities along the river, interrupting the region’s export of grain and other farm products.

A spill could threaten both Washington’s and Oregon’s rich cultural and historic resources that lie along this vital corridor. Based on 2006 numbers, a large spill could cost Washington $10.8 billion and 165,147 jobs.

Many hands help keep the river safe from vessel mishaps. They include the Lower Columbia Region Harbor Safety committee, the Northwest Area Committee, the Sector Columbia River Area Maritime Security Committee, the Oregon Board of Maritime Pilots, and the U.S Coast Guard.

We recently worked with them all to complete a just-out report on Columbia River vessel traffic safety for the Washington Legislature.

A key finding is an obvious point – while the likelihood of a major oil spill on the Columbia River is low, the consequences are high to both Washington and Oregon.

Why we did the evaluation

As our energy picture changes, new oil-handling projects may come online that would increase the number of oil tankers transiting the river. Concerned about the potential increased risk of spills, the Washington Legislature directed us in 2015 to assess vessel traffic management and safety within and near the mouth of the Columbia River to determine:

• The need for tug escorts for vessels transporting oil as cargo
• Tug capabilities to ensure safe escort
• The highest level of protection that can be attained using technology, staffing, training, operational methods, while considering cost and achievability.

Spill prevention is a collaborative effort

Our evaluation showed us that the river has a robust set of safety standards already in place to reduce the risks of accidents and oil spills, but that more could be done to ensure we’re prepared should worst come to worst. Some of these safety measures are mandated by state and federal laws and regulations, while others are voluntary. For example, all tank vessels operating on the Columbia are required to have double hulls, reducing the likelihood of spills from collisions and groundings, but if tanker traffic increases, tug escorts could provide added protection to reduce oil spill risks.

Many partners participated as we conducted the evaluation, and together we generated a common framework for understanding oil spill risks and identifying potential risk reduction measures. A key recommendation in the report is that existing collaborative maritime safety programs are our best opportunity to prevent oil spills on the river and bar.

Keeping our spill prevention safety net strong

The safety evaluation is a valuable step in protecting both Washington and Oregon against future oil spills. The river is valuable and worthy of our attention. Just ask Coyote, the beaver, the salmon, and the people.

Read the full report online, access a brief focus sheet, and find additional information about our risk assessment work on our website.


By Sandy Howard, Spills Program

Are we ready for next big oil spill?

Lack of secure funding threatens our ability to test spill response capabilities and a lot more

Aerial view of Seattle from Ecology's marine monitoring 

program, Eyes Over Puget Sound.

While Seattle sleeps, an environmental catastrophe unfolds in Seattle’s Elliott Bay.

A powerful ship loses its steering, and in the ink-black, pre-dawn of October 12, it collides with a tank barge pumping fuel into a giant container ship.

Several of the barge’s side tanks are punctured. A million gallons of oil spills into Puget Sound. Potentially, two million more gallons could quickly spill.

Oil in water.

Early morning joggers in West Seattle can already smell it. The oil spreads across the bay, coming into contact with the feathers of marine birds. It’s beginning to slime the picturesque beaches of the Seattle shoreline. U.S. Coast Guard officers are already worried. How will they keep open a critical Washington port that delivers food and medicine to the rest of the world?

News helicopters are buzzing overhead. Social media is lighting up. Facebook and Twitter are popping with outraged comments. By midday, protesters line the beaches. Tribal members are dismayed.

How could this happen? The story goes national – international.

This is our biggest nightmare – the kind of catastrophic oil spill we work so hard to prevent and prepare for.

Thankfully, this disaster never happened.

Table-top, worst-case scenario spill drill 
held in Seattle Oct. 12.

In reality, this was a “table top” oil spill scenario we used to test a Seattle company’s oil spill contingency plan. In this case, more than 100 participants gathered Oct. 12 in Seattle to test how well the company and partners could respond to the fictitious spill. Besides the company, other partners participating included the U.S. Coast Guard, Navy, state Department of Fish & Wildlife, a number of environmental contractors, and Ecology. Make no mistake, it was serious business.

Oil spill drills are part of contingency planning in Washington

This drill was literally a test of the company’s oil spill contingency plan, just one of the approximately 35 plans we review and approve for oil facility and commercial vessel operators across the state. We spent months ahead of drill day designing and organizing the drill with the company and other agencies so we could meet specific objectives within the plan.  It will take another couple of weeks to review what we saw at the drill and write our evaluation of the company’s performance.

We drill to help the oil industry be ready for spills

Oiled duck. Photo courtesy WA Dept. of Fish and Wildlife

Outside of a real spill, which we want to avoid, drills are the best way for us to see firsthand the strengths and weakness of these response plans and improve them.

Each of the 35 facility or vessel plans we oversee are required to conduct three drills a year. This means that we design, attend, and write an evaluation for more than 120 drills annually. At many of these, response equipment is deployed – including boats, pre-positioned booming and pre-trained personnel, and contractors. Our oversight and evaluations provide consistent best practices we are able to carry across industry sectors and improve everybody’s plans.

Why it matters

The 2004 Legislature mandated that Washington have a “zero spills” goal, and as a result of everyone's collective work, we have one of the lowest spill rates in the nation. We don’t do this work alone. We work with many partners to make progress towards that goal. The oil industry is a big partner in helping us protect our state’s resources and economy, and to prevent oil spills from occurring.

Washington has a lot at stake. A large spill would change everything. We have one of the world’s most unique marine environments and a thriving economy. However, we live with the constant threat of a major oil spill. More than 20 billion gallons of oil is transported through Washington each year by vessel, pipeline, road, and rail.

Keeping our funding strong

We are working to keep our funding strong. We want to continue to fully participate in oil spill drills with industry.

Based on information reported to Ecology, trains carry approximately
25 percent of crude oil that is transported in Washington.

We also need enough funding to carry out our legislatively directed 2015 Oil Transportation Safety Act. The Act was a significant step forward to protect Washingtonians from new oil spill risks, such as transporting oil by rail.

Without adequate funding, other important spill prevention and preparedness work is also at risk.

We are meeting with industry representatives to enlist their support for funding solutions we have in mind. We have a history of working together to build the successful program we have today.

Together, we want to find a reliable, equitable, ongoing revenue solution to support our oil spill prevention and preparedness work. We look forward to working with the Legislature, the governor’s office, the oil industry, tribes, and all stakeholders to maintain Washington’s spill prevention safety net.

By Sandy Howard, Spills Program

Hoping for the best, preparing for the worst: Increasing our readiness to respond to oil train spills

New, geographically localized oil spill response plans are dramatically improving Washington’s readiness to respond to spills, especially along oil train routes in central and eastern Washington.

In the second quarter of 2017, 14.4 million barrels of crude oil – or almost 605 million gallons – traveled through Washington in 21,139 rail cars.

What's at risk

Many of these rail routes travel along major highways, or run next to rivers or Puget Sound. A major accident or spill could put Washington communities at risk or cause major damage to the environment and the economy.

Our work to prepare for the worst is not new. For decades, we’ve prepared oil spill response plans for Puget Sound and other marine waters to make our state ready for an accident involving tanker ships and refineries. Now, we’re expanding this work to reflect the changing energy picture that’s led to an increasing amount of oil entering our state by railroads and pipelines.

Just three years ago, we had 19 plans that mostly concentrated on protecting shorelines in western Washington. Now, we have 42 plans, and we’ve expanded across the Cascades.

This expansion is a result of the 2015 Oil Transportation Safety Act, and highlights Washington state’s efforts to protect people, the environment and our economy from new oil spill risks.

Six of the new plans cover areas on the east side of the mountains along oil train routes. Five plans in western Washington address potential spills from pipelines and railroads.

Current Geographic Response Plan areas in Washington

Why it matters

Geographic response plans take a lot of the guesswork out of the response during the early hours of a spill. The plans signal where local authorities should place oil containment equipment and which agencies and governments to notify. The plans identify specific actions that can be taken locally to protect bird and fish habitat, wetlands, water intakes, fishing areas, fish hatcheries, boating areas and public parks and beaches, and cultural resources like petroglyphs, ancient tools and fish weirs.

The geographic response plans are also pieces of a larger effort that guides a coordinated response to oil spills in Washington, Oregon and Idaho.

“Geographic response plans build on our focus to prevent oil spills to water and land and are part of our up-front planning that helps us deliver a rapid, aggressive and well-coordinated response to oil and hazardous substance spills wherever they occur,” said Dale Jensen, who manages Ecology’s spills program.

Here are our new and updated plans. You can also see them on our online, interactive map.

New plans

• Lower Skagit River – 150 square miles in Skagit and Snohomish counties
• Lower Yakima River – 676 square miles in Benton, Kittitas, and Yakima counties 
• Nooksack River – 256 miles in Whatcom County
• Palouse – 253 square miles within Adams, Franklin and Whitman counties
• Puyallup-White Rivers – 207 square miles in Pierce in King counties
• Samish River – 102 square miles in Skagit and Whatcom counties
• Stillaguamish – 89 square miles in Snohomish County
• Sumas – 53 square miles in Whatcom County
• Upper Columbia River – 207 square miles in Chelan, Douglas, Grant and Kittitas counties
• Upper Green River – 120 square miles in King County
• Upper Yakima River – 439 square miles in Kittitas and Yakima counties
• Warden Washington – 131 square miles in Grant County
• Washington Deschutes – 312 square miles in Grays Harbor, Lewis and Thurston counties
• Wenatchee – 332 square miles in Chelan County

Updated plans

• Admiralty Inlet –  extends from eastern Strait of Juan de Fuca to Foulweather Bluff
• Hood Canal –  covers 704 square miles and is bounded the Hood Canal Bridge to the north, Quilcene to the west, Seabeck to the east, and Belfair to the south
• Snake River - Ice Harbor – covers a 41-mile reach of the Snake River from the confluence of the Snake and Columbia Rivers to the Lower Monumental Dam

Did you know? 

Our state has one of the lowest oil spill rates in the nation, and one of the most comprehensive spill prevention, preparedness and response programs anywhere. We respond to about 4,000 spills a year. Visit our website to learn more about what we do to prevent, prepare, and respond to oil spills in Washington.

By Sandy Howard, Spills Program

Who ya gonna call? 800-OILS-911

By Lisa Isakson, Community Outreach and Environmental Education Specialist

 

What comes to mind when you hear the phrase “oil spill”? Do you picture the 2010 spill in the Gulf of Mexico, with thick brownish-orange mats of goo and oil drenched birds? Or black-coated shorelines with people in white suits picking up tarballs or hosing down the rocks?

While those images are certainly true for large spills, the reality is that an oil spill can be as small as a couple drops of gasoline in water. While Washington state has not experienced a spill as large as the Deepwater Horizon or Exxon Valdez, every day oil is spilled in Washington waters. Spills can happen at fuel docks in marinas, in storm drains along roadways, when boats carrying fuel run aground or sink, while transferring oil from large vessels, or during equipment failures at oil terminals. This chronic discharge of oil impacts Washington’s environment, economies, and public health.

What you can do
First, prevent spills from happening.

• Do not top off your gas tank.
• Fix oil leaks right away.
• Dispose of used oil at your county’s collection center.


Next, report spills when you see them! Call 800-OILS-911 to report sheens or other spills of hazardous materials to water. The sooner someone notifies us of a spill, the quicker Ecology can launch a rapid, aggressive, and well-coordinated cleanup response.

Earth Day every day

Earth Day is Friday, April 22. (And every day is a good day to inspire better habits for the environment!) Leading up to the big day, we’ll have additional blog posts about our work and how you can help protect the earth! Find it all on our social media channels by searching #EarthPassItOn.

Site on Maury Island recovering from 2004 Crude Oil Spill

by Lisa Copeland, communications manager, Spills program

It’s been eleven years since a significant and devastating crude oil spill occurred in Puget Sound’s Dalco Passage near Tacoma. But if you visited a former fishing port on Maury Island today, you’d probably never know the spill happened.

The October 2004 incident involved ConocoPhillips Co.’s oil tanker Polar Texas, which lost 7,200 gallons of crude oil during evening hours. The unreported spill spread oil out on the water throughout the night and later patches of oily sheen reached as far south as the Tacoma Narrows and as far north as Eagle Harbor.

The sheen touched 15 miles of shore along Colvos Passage, the Narrows and Quartermaster Harbor. Six miles of beach on southern Vashon and Maury islands required cleanup to remove the oil.

In 2010, Conoco Phillips Co. agreed to pay $588,000 to help compensate the public for environmental harm caused by the spill. Reports showed the spill caused harm to Puget Sound Chinook salmon and other salmon species, forage fish, shellfish and their habitats, as well as other bird and wildlife species. Several areas were analyzed, plans were developed and comments were collected. Dockton, an area on Vashon Island and one of three projects proposed by state, federal and tribal governments was selected to receive the restoration funds. King County agreed to manage the project.

The project got underway in 2012 and involved re-grading the Dockton site to re-create a salt marsh wetland. This was done by removing 350 feet of bulkheads to help restore natural shorelines. The project also included taking out boat houses and removing creosote-contaminated pilings and other debris in the intertidal zone.

“After removing the shoreline armoring and fill on the site, the shoreline can act naturally for the first time in over 100 years,” said Greg Rabourn, King County‘s Vashon Basin Steward and project proponent.

Today salmon, forage fish, birds, and shellfish are benefiting from the restoration. And the former village port isn’t just environmentally friendly, it’s beautiful.

Although not part of the restoration, recreational opportunities and public access to the Sound at Dockton Park are abundant and breathtaking. From dog-walking to beach-combing, these bonuses at the site promise something for all ages.

Check out the before and after pictures. Please visit our Flickr site for more photos.

Grounded at Ocean Shores: Ecology’s response to the Tamara

By Chase Gallagher, Southwest Region Communications Manager

The Tamara, aground near Ocean Shores.

In the morning hours of Tuesday Aug. 11, the 42-foot commercial fishing vessel Tamara ran aground near Ocean Shores on the Pacific coast. The U.S. Coast Guard received a mayday call from the vessel and dispatched a rescue team from Coast Guard Air Station Astoria. A Coast Guard helicopter was able to safely rescue both crew members on the Tamara and bring them ashore.


The Coast Guard noted there was some level of pollution escaping from the grounded vessel and notified our spills team. We were informed there was as much as 1,000 gallons of fuel on board at the time of the grounding.

We dispatched two of our Southwest Region spill responders to the scene, who worked with a Coast Guard contractor to assess the situation.

Mid-day Aug. 12, 2015: Tamara visible from the beachat high tide.

On the ground, no sheen was visible, but there were reports of a diesel odor on the beach. Some debris that was likely from the Tamara had also washed onto the beach.

To get a better perspective, our spills team took to the air via helicopter. They were able to spot a notable sheen from the vessel being carried south by currents.

Oil sheen carrying south along Ocean Shores. Chance a la Mer State Park in background.

Working with the contractor, our responders attempted to reach the vessel at the next low tide (around 5 p.m. Aug. 11), but the cables and lines from the Tamara prevented them from being able to safely reach the vessel. The decision was made to try again in the morning, at the next low tide.

Thanks to a little help from the moon with a strong minus tide, our spills team and the contractor were able to reach the vessel and pump off 630 gallons of remaining fuel and oily water from the Tamara via a vacuum truck. Responders were able to recover buckets and containers of oil, as well as other hazardous materials.

Coast Guard contractor working to remove remaining fuel from the Tamara at low tide, morning of Aug. 12.

Luckily, no oil sheen has been reported washing up on the beach. With the pollution threat minimized, the Department of Natural Resources’ Derelict Vessel Program removed the Tamara from the beach on Aug. 13.

DNR Derelict Vessel program removing the Tamara (Photos: DNR)

More information on our spills program, including what to do in the event of a spill, is available on our website.

When Spills come to La Push

By Chase Gallagher, Southwest Region Communications Manager

Thursday our spills team responded to a sinking vessel near La Push on the Olympic Peninsula after reports of a large sheen from the boat.


Our partners at the United States Coast Guard were able to respond first, and when our spills team arrived the fishing vessel was actively leaking diesel into the harbor.

Some fuel recovered

Around 200 to 250 gallons of diesel fuel was spilled since yesterday, but the contractor hired to help cleanup was able to recover 250 gallons from the fuel tanks before entering the harbor and stop sources of residual oil.

Working with the Quileute Tribe, our team surveyed the shoreline areas and found no pockets of recoverable oil, and no injured or distressed fish or wildlife.

With the immediate pollution threat contained, the Coast Guard and Ecology's direct involvement comes to a close, but the vessel owner plans to get the boat back above the water soon.

Know What to do

Every spill of oil or fuel into the water causes damage to our environment, and it's always important to know what to do when a spill occurs.

Use our spills reporting page to call the National Response Center, Washington Emergency Management Division, and the regional office of the Department of Ecology to get all the important information to the right people.

Southwest Washington smelt run

By Chase Gallagher, Communications Manager Southwest Regional Office

In Southwest Washington, this year’s smelt run is causing a bit of a splash in the area’s rivers. As thousands of the small fish return to spawn, the circle of life completes and their bodies wash-up along the river’s shore.

A smelt completing the circle of life in the Columbia River.

As their bodies decompose, the smelt’s oil is released into the water, creating an oil sheen that to the untrained eye looks a lot like a hazardous spill. Our spills response teams received a number of calls last weekend about oil sheens in area rivers, but all evidence pointed to the smelt as the culprit.

The story behind every sheen

With smelt bodies along the shore, tracking the source of the oil sheen can sometimes be simple. But the river’s flow may also carry the oil downstream farther than the smelt bodies on shore, making it harder to identify. On close observation however, the smelt oil contains tiny scales, which can help guide our responders in determining the appropriate action.

While this die-off is nothing new, our unseasonably nice weather may be bringing more people outside, causing an increase in people witnessing the natural life cycle, and in turn creating an increase in calls to our spill responders.

Of course, humans aren't the only ones taking notice of the smelt:

Our friends @WDFW found these sea lions feasting on smelt at the Cowlitz River. More on that on our blog next week! pic.twitter.com/ZiJPVABnRb
— Ecology SW - Chase (@EcySW) February 27, 2015

It’s always important for our crews to assess and identify the source of any spill, whether from people or fish. Contact us to report a spill when you’re out and about, and together we can make sure we’re all doing our part to protect our waters.

UPDATE: Cleanup underway at Shelter Bay Marina in La Conner

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – 12:00 p.m., February 22, 2014

Media contacts:
Lisa Copeland, Department of Ecology, Lisa.Copeland@ecy.wa.gov, 360-515-6868; @EcologyWA
George Degener, U.S. Coast Guard, George.L.Degener@uscg.mil, 206-251-3237
Larry Kibbee, Shelter Bay Community, manager@shelterbay.net, 360-770-6925

LA CONNER –The Washington Department of Ecology, U.S. Coast Guard and other agencies are continuing to monitor cleanup at Shelter Bay Marina after a fire early Friday evening that caused seven boats to sink and damaged others, many of them filled with diesel fuel.

An undetermined amount of fuel has been released to the water. Three layers of oil containment boom and absorbent have been deployed to reduce the spread of pollution. A skimmer is also working to remove the oil. The extent of any environmental damage is still being determined, but most of the leaked fuel appears to be contained. The marina is working with boat owners to determine how much fuel is on each boat.

Global Diving and Salvage has been hired by the Coast Guard to recover as much spilled fuel as possible. A separate contractor will be using a crane barge to remove the damaged vessels from the water. Ecology is working with the Coast Guard and the contractors to monitor the cleanup. Cleanup and salvage operations are expected to continue for several days.

The Swinomish Police Department and Skagit County Fire Department are conducting a joint investigation into the cause of the fire.

Additional information and photos are posted on an Ecology web page designated to this incident. Updates will continue to be provided as more information becomes available.

Ecology incident web page: www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/spills/incidents/LaConner/index.html
Ecology Spills Program: www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/spills/spills.html
Ecology homepage: www.ecy.wa.gov/

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Multiple agencies respond to fire at Shelter Bay Marina in La Conner

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – 9:30 p.m., February 21, 2014

Contact: Dieter Bohrmann, Department of Ecology, Dieter.Bohrmann@ecy.wa.gov; Twitter @EcologyWA

LA CONNER – The Washington Department of Ecology, U.S. Coast Guard and multiple local fire departments responded to a fire involving nearly a dozen boats Friday evening at Shelter Bay Marina, including seven that sank.

The fire has been extinguished and oil containment boom has been placed around the area of the fire to prevent the spread of pollution. The boom was provided by Ecology through a 2007 equipment grant and was strategically located in the event of a spill.

The extent of any environmental damage is unknown. Multiple contractors have been hired by the Coast Guard and the marina to address environmental concerns as well as the salvage of the vessels. Ecology is working with the Coast Guard and the contractors to monitor the cleanup.

More information will be posted on a web page designated to this incident and on Ecology’s Twitter site as it becomes available.

Ecology incident web page: www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/spills/incidents/LaConner/index.html

Ecology Spills Program: www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/spills/spills.html

Ecology homepage: www.ecy.wa.gov/

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When soap and water are not a good thing

By Linda Kent, Southwest Regional Office and Lisa Copeland, Spills Program

Madge may soak in it and rubber ducks may get cleaned up with it, but soap isn’t the answer when there’s an oil spill.

 

We all use soap countless times a day, and that’s a good thing – keeping those hands clean helps us kill germs and avoid getting sick, after all.

Turns out soap's not so great when it comes to cleaning up oil spills.

Oil Sheen with soap bubbles in Westbay Marina, Olympia


Oil sheen in Westbay Marina, Olympia

In an incident that Ecology responded to at WestBay Marina in Olympia this weekend, someone had spilled diesel fuel as well as soap.

Complicating cleanup

The soap did not clean up the fuel spill. In fact, the soap (and the fact that the spill was not reported promptly) complicated things and made readily-available methods of picking up the oil ineffective. That's because detergent breaks up oil puddles into very small bits by surrounding it with molecules of water soluble compounds. When the water soluble compounds are dissolved in water they take the oil with them. That just spreads the oil around.

And that meant we had to rely on evaporation and natural degradation.

The "readily available methods" that were rendered ineffective include:

•   Using absorbent materials like pads, sweep and boom that that attract oil and do not absorb water.
•   Vacuuming up oil with a suction head on a hose connected to a tank truck.
•   Skimming oil off the surface using mechanical means.

All of these methods — absorbents, vacuums and skimmers — require fairly thick layers or patches of thick oil for them to work.

In this case, the combination of time, which allowed the sheen to spread a greater distance, and soap dispersed the diesel fuel so it was too thin.
 Harming aquatic life
Soaps and detergents actually break up oil and send it lower into the water column, causing damage to more marine organisms.

And when spilled in our waterways, soaps and detergents in and of themselves are actually a pollutant that may be harmful.


They can have poisonous effects in all types of aquatic life:

• All detergents destroy the external mucus layers that protect the fish from bacteria and parasites,
• Detergents can cause severe damage to fish gills,
• Soap and detergents can affect the critters fish eat, such as insects, by disrupting their cell membranes and by removing the protective waxes that cover the insects, causing them to die due to excess water loss.

Soaps and detergents cause other problems:

• Detergents lower the surface tension of the water, making it hard for aquatic insects like water striders to float on the surface.
• They can leave fish and other critters starved for air. Detergent binds up oxygen to form bubbles. Yes, the bubbles are bad for fish. Phosphates in detergents also can lead to freshwater algal blooms. These blooms reduce available oxygen that fish need in waterways because, when algae decompose, they use up the oxygen. Lower dissolved oxygen can also change the chemistry of the sediments under water, releasing toxins that harm aquatic life.

Report your spills

If you cause a spill, the best action you can take is to report it immediately by calling 1-800-OILS-911.

Prompt reporting of oil spills is important because the sooner responders are notified, the sooner they can work to minimize potential harm to the environment.

Some people fear that reporting a spill will cause them to receive a fine. However, failure to report a spill (if you are responsible for the spill) actually causes people to have more liability because:

• It can delay response to the spill and increase the impact the spill has
• Not notifying responders in a timely fashion increases your chances of receiving a penalty, or fine.

Soap? Nope!

The bottom line: Soap isn’t the solution when it comes to keeping our waterways clean.

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Around the Sound: Derelict vessels in spotlight

By Seth Preston, Communications Manager, Toxics Cleanup Program

Boats abandoned around Puget Sound and in other Washington waterways pose significant environmental risks and possibly some big cleanup bills for taxpayers.

TVW’s “The Impact” program took a look this week at the problems that derelict vessels can cause. The report begins at about the 5:25 mark.

In the past two years, Ecology’s Spills Program had a major role in responding to two large-scale environmental problems caused by derelict vessels. In 2012, the fishing vessel Deep Sea (shown at right in a KIRO-TV image) caught fire and then sank near the fertile shellfish beds of Penn Cove off Whidbey Island. And in 2011, the old barge Davy Crockett was found leaking into the Columbia River.

Cleaning up those two incidents alone cost state taxpayers millions of dollars.

The Washington Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has a derelict vessel removal program. Gov. Jay Inslee signed legislation earlier this year to boost efforts to clear such vessels from state waters.

In other environmental news, Ecology’s Lucy McInerney authored this guest editorial recently in the Bellingham Herald on some major cleanup work in and around Bellingham Bay.

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Spill Log: Weekend spills prompt Olympic Pipe Line to shut down fuel line

By Curt Hart, Communications Manager, Spills Program

The Olympic Pipe Line Co shut down its 400-mile interstate liquid fuel pipeline system twice this past weekend after two separate fuel spills occurred at the company’s Mount Vernon control station.

As we watch the oil industry change the way and type of oil that’s being moved around the nation – a good example is the proposed Keystone XL pipeline project — it’s good to know Olympic Pipe Line did the right thing by shutting down their pipeline until the causes of the small spills could be better understood.

The Olympic pipeline is the main provider for gasoline, diesel, and jet fuels in Western Washington and Portland. This means disruptions are a pretty serious matter.

Saturday morning spill

Olympic Pipe Line reported the first incident to state and federal authorities shortly before 7 a.m. Saturday March 31.

The company knew something had happened because a sensor designed to detect petroleum hydrocarbons in the station’s stormwater sump system automatically shut the station down.

Further investigation revealed the spill occurred after a testing port valve cracked and failed on the company’s 20-inch pipeline inspection gauge – or “pig” – launcher at the Mount Vernon station.

As a result, an estimated 84 gallons of diesel fuel sprayed out but was captured inside the station’s concrete fuel containment area.

The company hired a contractor to clean up the spill. They replaced the damaged valve and put the pipeline back in service about 12 hours later.

Pipeline ‘pigs’

Companies install pipeline pigging systems to do all sorts of things inside a line without stopping the flow of the product in a pipeline.

Pigs can be used to clean the insides of a pipeline or measure pipe thickness and corrosion along the pipeline.

Since the Olympic pipeline transports about 4.4 billion gallons of gasoline, diesel and jet fuels annually in the same line, pigs are used to separate these different petroleum products.

The pig launcher is where these pigs are put into the pipeline. The launcher then is closed and the pressure inside the line is used to push it along down the pipe.

Sunday morning spill

At about 2 a.m. Sunday April 1, Ecology received a report that the same 20-inch pig launcher at the Mount Vernon station ran into another problem which shut the Olympic pipeline down again.

This time, a pressure gauge on the launcher broke and about 30 gallons of diesel fuel was released inside a pipe which ran back into the station’s sump system.

The sensor did its work again, automatically shutting down the station.

Olympic Pipe Line took the pig launcher out of service and put the pipeline back in service Sunday afternoon.

Uncommon occurrence merits investigation

It is uncommon for a pipeline company to have two fuel spills at the same location in such a short period of time.

And it’s even less common for Olympic Pipe Line to shut down their pipeline along the company’s 300-mile corridor from Blaine to Portland twice over a single weekend.

Ecology closely regulates Olympic Pipe Line. The company is required to maintain a robust oil spill contingency plan to ensure the firm can mount a quick and effective response to any oil spill.

These plans are continually tested and updated. We are pleased the company closely followed its plan:

• Olympic promptly reported the spills to Ecology.



• Their safety systems worked, keeping a major spill from occurring.



• The spilled oil stayed onsite at the Mount Vernon station; nothing reached the environment.

We will work with Olympic as the company evaluates the out-of-service pig launcher

More about Olympic Pipe Line

The Olympic pipeline is the primary source of fuel for Seattle’s Harbor Island, Sea-Tac Airport, Olympia, Vancouver, and Portland.

Fuels originate from four of the five petroleum refineries in Washington:

• BP Cherry Point Refinery, Blaine (currently shut down for repairs)



• ConocoPhillips Ferndale Refinery, Ferndale



• Tesoro Anacortes Refinery, Anacortes



• Shell Puget Sound Refinery, Anacortes

The Olympic Pipeline crosses either under or over most river systems that drain to Puget Sound and Western Washington from the Cascade Mountains.

Other regulated Washington fuel pipeline companies

Besides the Olympic pipeline, Ecology also regulates:

• Trans Mountain Pipeline, a crude oil pipeline in Western Washington



• Chevron Pipe Line Co., a finished fuel products pipeline in Eastern Washington



• ConocoPhillps Yellowstone Pipeline, a finished fuel products pipeline in Eastern Washington



• NuStar Pasco Pipeline, a finished fuel products pipeline in Eastern Washington

Getting to zero spills

Our goal is zero oil spills and Ecology works closely with all our regulated companies to prevent spills from occurring in the first place.

When spills do happen, the contingency plans required by Ecology help us ensure that prompt notification is followed by a rapid, aggressive, and well coordinated response.

It’s our policy to respond to and investigate every significant spill from regulated pipelines.

By doing so, we can prevent future spills and incorporate the lessons learned from incidents that do happen back into the company’s spill contingency plan to improve all future responses.

For more information, see Ecology's Spills Program.

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Ecology, Coast Guard respond to grounded vessel

By Seth Preston, Communications Manager

The state Department of Ecology and the U.S. Coast Guard are responding to the scene of a grounded vessel near Shaw Island in the San Juan Islands.

The Coast Guard has removed seven people from the commercial crabbing vessel, which ran aground west of San Juan Island.

For more information

• D'Boat Grounding incident page
  
  
• Ecology Spills Program

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Ecology, Coast Guard assist grounded fishing vessel in the San Juans

By Seth Preston, Communications Manager

Responders from the state Department of Ecology (Ecology) and the U.S. Coast Guard are overseeing the removal of fuel from a fishing vessel that ran aground early today (Tuesday, June 7) on Patos Island in the San Juan Islands.

The Ruby Lily, a 50-foot commercial fishing vessel, ran aground on the south side of Patos Island at about 1:30 a.m. today. One person was on board at the time. The boat received some minor damage and is listing, but responders do not believe it is in danger of sinking.

The Ruby Lily is carrying about 4,500 gallons of diesel fuel. Less than a gallon of heavier oil is believed to have leaked into the water, but the vessel is completely surrounded by hard boom at this time. The plan is to remove fuel from Ruby Lily by pumping it into a vacuum truck brought to the scene on a barge, then float the vessel and check its stability.

The Coast Guard initially hired contractor Vessel Assist using the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund. The fund, managed by the Coast Guard’s National Pollution Funds Center, was opened to cover the costs of refloating, salvaging and any required cleanup due to the fishing vessel Ruby Lily.

The Coast Guard's National Pollution Funds Center was created to implement Title I of the Oil Pollution Act (OPA), which addressed issues associated with preventing, responding to and paying for oil pollution. Title I of OPA established oil spill liability and compensation requirements, including the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund, to pay for expeditious oil removal and uncompensated damages.

The boat’s owner has taken on the cost of the operation and has hired Global Diving and Salvage Co., Vessel Assist and Islands' Oil Spill Association, a non-profit oil spill response organization that operates in the San Juans.

Coast Guard and Ecology responders will remain on site during the fuel removal and the floating of the Ruby Lily.

Check online for more information about Ecology’s Spills Program.

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Used crankcase oil threatens Silver Creek in Eastern Washington

By Cathy Cochrane, Communications Manager, Eastern Regional Office, Spokane

“YUK!” was the word that first came to mind when I saw these photos yesterday of a thick ribbon of used crankcase oil slithering out of a culvert in Garfield and into the water of Silver Creek.

This is what happened, all because someone ignored the rule of Only Rain Down the Drain and chose to dump gallons of used crankcase oil down a drain somewhere in Garfield’s stormdrain system.

The Palouse Conservation District was conducting water sampling on Monday near Third Street in Garfield when they saw the goop oozing into Silver Creek, lethally coating grasses and generating a sinister sheen in a long stretch of water downstream. Town of Garfield personnel quickly placed hay bales and sheets of tin to build a catch basin at the storm drain outflow to stop any further migration to the creek. An Ecology spill response team placed absorbent boom in the area to soak up the oil and minimize damage to the environment. No source has been found, but based on the amount of used oil recovered—about 5 gallons—investigators believe that someone dumped used oil from a large diesel engine down the storm drain. (For more information, read the news release.)

Dumping oil down storm drains or onto roads is illegal

Many people think that whatever goes down a storm drain passes through a treatment plant where the water will be purified. What they don't realize is that all those harmful materials are flowing straight into waterways. Dumping used motor oil on the ground, roads, and into storm drains is illegal.

People who have to breathe the dust from unpaved roads may think it’s OK to apply used oil to the road, to keep the dust down. But used motor oil is not the same as the commercial oil applied for dust control. Used motor oil is full of toxins, including heavy metals and many cancer-causing chemicals. What if a child is exposed to that now-contaminated road dust? What if pets pick it up on their paws and bring it into the house? What if livestock ingest it? And that’s to say nothing of the very real certainty that the used oil will eventually make its way to nearby creeks and streams.

Oil and fuel poison water

All oils and fuels are environmental poisons. The longer oils and fuels are in the water, the more damage they can cause. A single quart of motor oil can potentially contaminate 100,000 gallons of water and spread over an acre of surface on the water.

There is no charge for dropping off used oil at any transfer station, including those in Whitman County. So why do people still make the mistake of dumping oil out into a drain or onto a road? Maybe they don’t know any better. I’m hoping that if you know of people who do this, you can tell them there’s an easy, free, and responsible way to get rid of their waste: Take it to the nearest transfer station.

Get more information about reporting spills on Ecology's how to report an environmental problem web page.

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A spill response guide is available for marinas with or without a fueling station

By Mary-Ellen Voss, Spills Program

You may wonder why a spill response plan might be important to your marina but the fact is when spills or other accidents happen, you can waste time in the confusion and panic of the emergency. Planning and practicing the steps you take to respond to a spill or a sinking boat can dramatically reduce the amount of time it takes to respond and reduces the impact a spill can have on the environment.

We know that as little as a quart of spilled oil, diesel or gasoline can contaminate acres of water and prove deadly to marine life. A planned response can reduce the adverse effects of a spill on environmental, economic, and cultural resources as well as the marina’s ability to keep operating. This can also reduce the size of penalties levied and the cost of cleanup.

This spill response guidance document contains step-by-step information and several tools that can help marinas meet the oil transfer requirements in Washington Administrative Code (WAC) 173-180. Paired with the proper training, this information can help your staff respond effectively to an emergency.

Two of the components of a spill response plan are:

Initial Actions List

1. Assess scene for safety hazards.
   
   
2. If safe, stop the flow.
   
   
3. Contain the spill if safe to do so.
   
   
4. Make the required notifications.
   
   
5. Clean up spill if safe and within your level of training. If necessary, contact a spill response contractor for additional resources.

Required Notifications

• Call 911, if necessary.
  
  
• Notify marina manager/operator.
  
  
• Manager/owner or after-hours contact.
  
  
• Contact the Spill Response Contractor, if necessary.
  
  
• Report spill to the U.S. Coast Guard National Response Center at: 800-424-8802.
  
  
• Report spill to the Washington Division of Emergency Management at: 800-OILS-911 or 800-645-7911.

In addition, there is a spill report form and other materials available that can assist you in gathering all the information needed when you make those emergency calls. A packet is also available that provides FREE oil spill prevention signage, an absorbent pad, a fuel pump notification tag and other materials simply by sending an email with your mailing address to Ecology.

The bottom line is, if a spill occurs, stop the flow and warn others in the area immediately. Shut off any ignition sources, including cigarettes, and contain the spill. Then, immediately call 800-OILS-911. By law, ALL spills must be reported.

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Gulf spill lessons: Understanding the cost surrounding oil spills is complex

By Linda Pilkey-Jarvis, Spill Preparedness Section Manager, Spill Prevention, Preparedness, and Response Program

There’s been a lot of conversation in the news lately about who pays for oil spills. These articles are interesting and sometimes confusing to me because there are a lot of different ways to look at costs. For instance, these costs can include paying for:

• The costs associated with the response, including cleanup.
  
• The costs of the public agencies who are responding to the spill.
  
• Public and / or private losses through claims.
  
• Penalties for the spill.
  
• Restoring the damage to the public’s natural resources at a level assessed by the government. These are known as natural resource damage assessments.

Spillers are legally obliged to pay for all cleanup costs but feds limit some liabilities.
The law is clear that a spiller must pay for all cleanup costs. However, the federal government limits the additional liability of a spiller for things like compensating the days lost for fishermen or restoring habitat. And for the BP Deepwater Horizon spill, we now know BP’s liability for damages is capped at $75 million dollars.

Liability for Washington spillers a different story

However, thanks to the foresight of the Washington Legislature more than 18 years ago, our state has unlimited liability for spillers. This allows Ecology to recover cleanup costs, natural resources damages, and the state’s spill response costs that go beyond the federal $75 million limit. Regulated vessels and oil-handling facilities also have to demonstrate they have the ability to pay for oil spill cleanup and damages. Now is the time for us to ask whether we have structured the levels of responsibility adequately and make improvements if need be.

A Deepwater Horizon-like spill would cost Washington State dearly

Several years ago, we conducted an economic study to try and determine how a major spill might impact Washington. Our study concluded that a significant spill would cost our economy $10.8 billion in economic losses and impact more than 165,000 jobs across the state economy. Puget Sound alone helps drive $20 billion of economic activities in Washington State. Economic losses from oil spills come from:

• Lost port operating costs, business interest and wages.
  
• Damages to marina income.
  
• Shellfish and other fish kills and closures
  
• Income loss and damages to our commercial fisheries.
  
• Income lost due to the damage to our state and national parks.
  
• Losses to recreational boating and fishing.
  
• Wildlife viewing losses as well as upland game and waterfowl hunting losses.
  
• Tourism losses.

And the $10.8 billion figure doesn’t include the spiller’s cost of public and private damage claims or the penalties Ecology would levy for the spill.

Assessing the cost of damage to natural resources

When a spill occurs, representatives from state, federal, and tribal governments perform a damage assessment to quantify the environmental harm and assess the spiller with the cost. This is intended to compensate the public and not be punitive on the spiller. It is not an exact science and can be very controversial. It’s tough because how can everyone agree on the value of geoduck, seals, salmon and seabirds? In Washington State, we’re fortunate because we created a simplified process used for the majority of spills (not a big one like the Deepwater Horizon). However, our process is a bit outdated and could be modernized. Another area for potential improvement.

What does it costs to respond?

I sometimes hear oil industry representatives say they estimate it costs somewhere in the range of $10,000 to $20,000 per gallon of oil spilled to clean up the environment. That cost varies depending on:

• Type and quantity of oil spilled.
  
• Location of the spill.
  
• Time of year.
  
• Kinds of natural resources damaged.

BP says it spent $350 million during the first 20 days of the Deepwater Horizon spill response – that’s about $17.5 million a day! In Puget Sound, we know that spilled oil quickly reaches our shorelines – unlike the scenario in the Gulf where oil took weeks. Shoreline cleanup costs and managing the waste that’s generated are some of the costliest aspects of a spill response. And it can actually be more costly per gallon spilled to clean up a small spill than a large one.

Understanding how much it costs to be prepared for spills

Here in Washington State, the oil industry is required to:

• Train people so they know how to manage any spill response in partnership with government agencies like Ecology.
  
• Develop oil spill readiness plans.
  
• Purchase and maintain response equipment.
  
• Conduct frequent preparedness drills that test and improve the plans.

Our study, which is several years old, estimated that Washington’s oil spill preparedness regulations cost Washington’s oil industry $6.8 million dollars a year. The majority of those costs are associated with the equipment they must maintain at various locations around the state. Ecology’s regulations have been in place for about 18 years. We calculate that industry’s investment in the state’s preparedness program was worth around $220 million. Investing wisely in preparedness helps to greatly reduce the costs to clean up a spill by getting equipment to the site faster, configured more efficiently and with people trained using pre-designed oil spill strategies.

Influencing the regulations

Yesterday, President Obama said this about the BP Deepwater Horizon spill, “What’s also been made clear from this disaster is that for years the oil and gas industry has leveraged such power that they have effectively been allowed to regulate themselves.”

He may have been referring to the permitting process for offshore oil rigs. But in my opinion, you can apply the same perspective to the federal rules about oil-spill preparedness. The federal planning standards set around the nation, including the Gulf, are inadequate. It’s fortunate that oil spill preparedness isn’t subject to being pre-empted by federal law and that the individual states are allowed to set higher standards. Spill impacts are local. Some may argue that our state’s standards should be raised – but I believe we can all be grateful that we can establish standards that are more specific to this area and not have to live with the blanket national standard. This is another area where we will be looking at possible improvements.

Sharing lessons learned from the Gulf

We intend to keep blogging about the lessons learned from the Gulf and how they apply here in Washington. You can send us an email if there is a topic you want to hear about.

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