According to a March 13 report from South Coast Today, the Mass. state Department of Environmental Protection has stopped awarding contracts for its controversial rescue tug program designed to assist distressed, double-hulled oil tankers transiting Buzzards Bay. DEP Commissioner Laurie Burt announced Thursday at a Statehouse hearing that the agency will back a House bill proposed by SouthCoast legislators. The bill, which amends an oil spill law enacted in August 2008, would require escort tugs to shadow double-hulled tankers throughout their transit rather than wait at the dock to respond to an emergency call from a tanker.
(Source: South Coast Today)