“It helps immensely. It’s extremely important,” Mayo said. “Training has to do with being professionally able to use our equipment, which increases our speed of response.”
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Steve Mayo is the captain of the Western Gull, Clean Sound Cooperative’s primary oil-response vessel. Mayo and his crew of two deck hands practice routine spill-response exercises on a regular basis. Photos by Chris Taylor |
Almost 14,000 oil spills are reported nationally each year,
according to the Environmental Protection Agency. After oil spills, the difference between life and death for marine ecosystems depends on the readiness and effectiveness of cleanup. According to the Washington State Department of Ecology, more than 15 billion
gallons of crude oil pass through Puget Sound each year. According to the Puget Sound Action team, approximately 418,500 gallons of oil spilled into the sound from 1993 to 2003. An estimated 70 percent of the spilled oil came from vessels.
As the Western Gull pulled into dock after the drill, a rainbow sheen on the water caught Mayo’s attention. He saw another crew with a cleanup operation underway. The crew had placed a containment boom around an old, rickety vessel, which stopped further spread of the toxic diesel. The response team dropped absorbent mats into the water to extract the oil.
“There is always potential for an accident,” Mayo said. “If something happens or breaks on the oil barges and tankers, we could have a serious spill.”
On Oct. 14, 2004, an oil spill in Dalco Passage highlighted the need for increased spill protection and training. A ConocoPhillips tanker leaked 1,000 gallons of oil into the passage. Shortly after 1 a.m. a tugboat skipper reported the oil. Nearly six hours elapsed before the initial response team arrived. Cleanup crews waited for daybreak to assess the spill, but a thick fog settled at dawn and slowed the
response yet again. Because of this sluggish reaction, the oil fouled 21 miles of Puget Sound shoreline.
“Once oil reaches the beach, cleanup becomes a lot harder,” Mayo said.
Gov. Gary Locke visited Vashon and Maury islands to see the effects of the Dalco Passage spill. An oil-slicked coastline littered with bags of waste awaited his arrival. After two weeks of restoration, the cleanup crew had collected 1.4 tons of debris. Locke urged the creation of a task force that would consider new ways to clean up oil and analyze Washington’s preparedness and response system.
Shortly after the Dalco Passage spill, Ecology requested $2.2 million for response training, spill prevention and cleanup equipment.
Several different people in the cleanup community also began devising cohesive plans to guarantee that a spill like Dalco Passage would not be repeated. Local organizations responded to the tragedy by assembling volunteer networks, engineering new equipment and creating strategic plans to improve future responses.
“The only thing that’s constant is change,” said Fred Felleman, the northwest’s director of Ocean Advocates.
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Clean Sound Cooperative crew members and Port of Bellingham officials worked together to contain fuel leaking from a boat in Squalicum Harbor. The oil-absorbent booms surrounding the boat soak up and contain the fuel. Photos by Chris Taylor
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After a spill, involved parties and engineers review the response. Some post-spill remedies include technological advancements. Annual northwest ad hoc equipment meetings address the need to consistently update cleanup machinery. The meetings are comprehensive forums that encourage federal, state and private companies to improve technology for spill response.
Emit Burke, who attended the 2005 ad hoc meeting, presented a pump that generates micro-bubbles. These tiny bubbles attach themselves to
oil so that skimmers can easily collect floating contaminated debris.
“With this equipment, we could speed up our skimmers and run these bubbles. They would attach themselves to the surface and it would improve the recovery rate of oil,” said Steve Knutson, the Coast Guard’s district response advisory team leader.
Fred Colbert, founder and president of Colbert Infrared Services, was another presenter at this year’s meeting. His handheld infrared camera would enable its operator to see the extent of spilled oil.
“This would also allow us to see oil from the air at night, so we have a chance of getting to the spill faster. It gives us another tool to help detect oil,” Knutson said.
Despite technological improvements, oil spills keep occurring in Puget Sound. On Jan. 28, 2005, another spill polluted the waters of Dalco Passage. But in this case, the silvery sheen was discovered during the bright morning hours, which enabled a quick reaction. The Coast Guard deployed a King County Sheriff’s Office helicopter, equipped with infrared cameras. Using these cameras may have expedited cleanup of the previous Dalco Passage spill.
“Most of the effort should be placed on the prevention of oil spills,” said Sven Eklof, the spill prevention and response manager of Naval Base Kitsap at Bangor.
Current training is rigorous, and crews participate in many yearly meetings. Clean Sound Cooperative Inc. requires its employees to attend courses such as hazardous-waste operations and
emergency response, damage control, equipment deployments and night operations.
“We have a lot of tools in our tool bag, but they’re useless unless we know exactly how to apply them,” Mayo said, as he prepared for the drill on the Western Gull.
The Oil Pollution Act of 1990 requires individual facilities, counties, states and federal authorities to have specific contingency plans. These plans are tools that assist in timely cleanup.
“A good contingency plan is simple. The first part establishes spill notification and initial emergency procedures. The body of the plan establishes contingency procedures and an organized command and control structure,” Eklof said.
Ecology works with local industries to improve proposed strategies. During 2001, Ecology required Washington’s 35 oil-handling facilities to present their spill-prevention procedures. Whatcom and Skagit county refineries were first to submit their plans.
On Feb. 14, 2005, a strong contingency plan assisted in saving the waters at ConocoPhillips’ Bellingham dock. A tug boat leaked a barrel of oil at the harbor. The refinery responded quickly, which lessened the damage and eased the cleanup.
“Due to good training, the refinery put some containment booms in the water, which enclosed most of the oil,” Mayo said, the day after his crew responded to the incident.
The tug spilled only 45 gallons of oil and the facility’s quick response eased cleanup, but Mayo’s crew worked for a full night and into the next day. A spill of thousands of gallons could take months of work.
According to the EPA, the United States uses approximately 250 billion gallons of oil each year. One accidental spill could wipe out entire shorelines and ecosystems. This risk is why groups such as Clean Sound Cooperative are working to reduce the probability of such large spills from occurring.