Senate Hearing on Reducing Oil Spill Risk
On August 1, the Subcommittee on Fisheries and Coast Guard of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation conducted a field hearing in Seattle on Reducing the Risk of Future Oil Spills. Among the various witnesses, Captain Myles Boothe, USCG testified that the majority of oil entering waters of the United States comes from land-based sources and the majority of vessel-based oil spills in the Pacific Northwest comes from recreational and fishing vessels. Mr. Dale Jensen, Washington State Department of Ecology, testified that state and regional agencies should be allowed to establish higher vessel pollution prevention standards than those utilized by the federal government. Dr.
Spill Prevention and Response Protocols Formalized
The Thirteenth U.S. Coast Guard District and Washington state (Ecology) have formalized protocols for improved coordination of their oil pollution prevention and response efforts in Washington state waters. Capt. Myles Boothe, Chief, 13th Coast Guard District Marine Safety Division; and Dale Jensen, Ecology’s spills program manager, signed the protocols last Friday at the 13th Coast Guard District office. In May 2001, Governor Gary Locke and USCG Rear Adm. Erroll M. Brown signed a Memorandum of Agreement to work together to achieve a coordinated and efficient working relationship. The new protocols for Washington waters apply to all oil spill incidents and include information sharing…
