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The Pacific States/British Columbia

Oil Spill Task ForceCombining Resources to Protect the Pacific Marine Environment_________________________

Quarterly Report to our StakeholdersSeptember 2002

The Task Force honors 2002 LegacyAward Winners

The Pacific States/British ColumbiaOil Spill Task Force Members awarded their2002 Legacy Awards for Oil Spill Prevention,Preparedness, and Response at their AnnualMeeting in Tacoma, Washington on July23rd. The following persons were honoredfor their accomplishments with a 2002Legacy Award:• Kim Beasley, General Manager of

the Clean Islands Council,Honolulu, HI;

• Jerry McMahon, Vide-President,Pac i f ic Region, Amer icanWaterways Operators;

• Stephen Ricks, President, CleanBay Incorporated, Concord, CA;

• SeaRiver Maritime, Incorporated,Houston, TX; and

• The Turn Point Standard of CareDevelopment Team, which includesthe Canadian Coast Guard, MarinePrograms; the British ColumbiaCoast Pilots; and the US CoastGuard Vessel Traffic Services,Puget Sound.

Legacy Award categories include industry,non-profit or public agency organizations,individuals, and team efforts. The TaskForce gives Legacy Awards in thesecategories for projects, accomplishments, orleadership that demonstrates innovation,management commi tment , andimprovements in oil spill prevention,preparedness, or response resulting inenhanced environmental protection. Effortsto promote partnerships and involve thepublic are also considered. Organizations orindividuals nominated for the Legacy Award

must be located or primarily operating inthe Task Force jurisdictions of Alaska,British Columbia, Washington, Oregon,California, and Hawaii. Organizations orindividuals representing a regulated industrymust demonstrate a satisfactory history ofcompliance with state or provincial as wellas federal oil spill regulations.

Tom Fitzsimmons, Task Forcemember from the State of Washington,characterized these Legacy Award winnersas “…models for others in industry,government, and the public to emulate; weare pleased to honor their commitment toeffective oil spill prevention andpreparedness, efficient spill response, andcollaborative teamwork. “ More details onthe five 2002 Legacy Award winners andphotographs from the awards ceremony areavailable on the Task Force web site athttp://wlapwww.gov.bc.ca/eeeb/taskforc/tfhome.htm

Stakeholders participate in the2002 Annual Meeting

Eighty-four people attended the2002 Annual Meeting, which was hosted atthe Tacoma Sheraton Hotel by theWashington Department of Ecology. TaskForce Members or their delegates includedHarlan Henderson (California), MicheleBrown (Alaska), Tom Fitzsimmons(Washington), Jim McCracken for DerekThompson (British Columbia), Gary Gill(Hawaii), and Mike Zollitsch for Paul Slyman(Oregon). Coordinating Committeemembers Scott Schaefer, Larry Dietrick,Curtis Martin, Stan Norman and HeatherTaylor also participated.

Michele Brown, Commissioner forthe Alaska Department of EnvironmentalConservation, presented the keynoteaddress. She explained the meeting’stheme, “Doing It Right; BalancingRegu la tory and Non-Regu la tory

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Approaches,” which has been AlaskaGovernor Tony Knowles’ message to bothregulators and the regulated community.She stated that “Governor Knowles decidedresource development had to be done rightor not at all. He defined “doing it right” bythree components:• Sound science – requiring the latest and

best scientific information aboutresources and best technologies;

• Prudent management – ensuringconservation and sustainability throughadaptive management, field monitoring,assessment, and verification; and

• Responsible, meaningful publicinvolvement and decision making.”

The full text of Ms. Brown’s keynote addressis available on the Task Force website aspart of the Summary Notes of the 2002Annual Meeting. You will also find the textof the Members’ updates on activities intheir oil spill programs in Hawaii, California,Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, andAlaska in these meeting notes.

Following the Legacy Awardsceremony, Jean Cameron, Task ForceExecutive Coordinator, explained that theTask Force member agencies and their staffare NOT eligible for the Legacy Awards, sowith the approval of the CoordinatingCommittee, she had created a new awardcategory this year, called the OutstandingService Award. She explained that this awardneed not be given each year, but it isintended to honor outstanding service to theTask Force by one of its Members. Thatbeing said, Jean proudly presented the 2002Pacific States/British Columbia Oil Spill TaskForce Outstanding Service Award to MicheleBrown, Task Force Member from Alaska, inappreciation of her vision that the ideals ofregional cooperation, open communication,and continuing improvement would be theoperative values of the Pacific States/BritishColumbia Oil Spill Task Force.

In addition, Certificates ofAppreciation were awarded to TomFitzsimmons of the Washington Departmentof Ecology and to Mike Zollitsch of the

Oregon Department of Environmental Qualityin recognition of five or more years ofexceptional support for the Task Force.

Michele Brown receiving the OutstandingService Award. From left to right: TomFitzsimmons, Harlan Henderson, Mike

Zollitsch, Michele Brown,Jim McCracken, and Gary Gill.

A panel discussion in the afternooncontinued the focus on the AnnualMeeting’s theme. The panel was moderatedby Jim McCracken, Director of RegionalOperations and Environmental Protectionfor the Province of BC. Speakers includedJack Buono, Vice President for Operations,SeaRiver Maritime, Inc.; CAPT DaveWesterholm, Chief, US Coast Guard Officeof Response; Dr. Mike Ziccardi, ProgramCoordinator for California’s Oiled WildlifeCare Network; and Bruce Wishart, PolicyDirector for People for Puget Sound. Thequestion, said Jack Buono, is not whether to“Do It Right” but how to do it better. As a2002 Legacy Award winner, his companyhas proven that he’s found the answer tothat challenge. Within the USCG, notedCAPT Westerhom, there has been a shiftaway from a prescriptive approach to onemore focused on partnerships with keyconstituencies, such as AWO and APICOM.CAPT Westerholm speculated, however,that this collaborative approach may bechallenged by the post 9/11 securitypressures on the Coast Guard.

Bruce Wishart observed that theneed for regulations is a function of thecircumstances and the players, but he

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acknowledged that incentives are alwaysthere to circumvent regulations, as was thecase with the oil/water separators founddisconnected on so many vessels lately. Sohaving strong regulations is only one issue;other issues are whether regulations aremeaningful and/or enforced, he said.

Dr. Mike Ziccardi of California’s OiledWildlife Care Network (OWCN) describedhow the OWCN serves as an example of asuccessful public, private, not-for-profitpartnership. The mission of OWCN is toprovide the best achievable treatment towildlife exposed to oil. This involves bothestablishing and maintaining facilities,conducting oiled wildlife response andtraining programs, and administration of acompetitive grant program. The Networkis recognized as one of the most advancedand innovative public/private partnershipsworldwide. Its protocols and programmaticstructure are being used for national andinternational standards documents, and it iscurrently being modeled by Washington, N.Carolina, Texas, Japan, the United ArabEmirates, Germany, Austria and Brazil. TheOiled Wildlife Care Network was a recipientof the Legacy Award in 2000, Mike added.

For more information on this andother discussions and presentations, pleasesee the 2002 Annual Meeting SummaryNotes on the Task Force website.

More photos….

USCG CDR William Devereaux and YevetteMyers of the Canadian Coast Guard accepta Legacy Award for their work on the Turn

Point Standard of Care

Anil Mathur (far right) and other AlaskaTanker Company executives pose with

Tom Fitzsimmons and Stan Norman of theWA Department of Ecology after receivingEcology’s prestigious ECOPRO award in a

ceremony following the Task Force’sAnnual Meeting

From left to right: Harlan Henderson,Administrator, California Office of Spill

Prevention and Response; Scott Schaefer,OSPR Deputy Administrator; CAPT Dave

Westerholm, Chief, USCG Office ofResponse

Task Force Members approve andadopt the final report andrecommendations from the WestCoast Offshore Vessel Traffic RiskManagement Project Workgroup

Also at the Annual Meeting, the TaskForce Members were given a presentationby Rick Holly of the California Office of SpillPrevention and Response, and CDR SteveDanscuk and LT Patricia Springer of the USCoast Guard Pacific Area regarding thefindings and recommendations of the West

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Coast Offshore Vessel Traffic RiskManagement Project Workgroup.

The West Coast Offshore VesselTraffic Risk Management Project was co-sponsored by the Pacific States/BritishColumbia Oil Spill Task Force and the USCoast Guard, Pacific Area. Rick Holly servedas the Task Force co-chair. USCG PacificArea co-chairs over the three year durationof the project included CAPT Ed Page, CAPTFrank Whipple, and CAPT Glenn Anderson.

They co-chaired a workgroup ofrepresentatives of the following interests:the oil spill agencies in Alaska, Washington,Oregon, and California, and the Province ofBritish Columbia; the US Coast GuardDistricts 17, 13, and 11; the Canadian CoastGuard, Pacific Region; NOAA (both Hazmatand National Marine Sanctuaries);Environment Canada; the US Navy; theCanadian Maritime Forces; the Cook InletRegional Citizens’ Advisory Council; the BCChamber of Shipping; the BC Council ofMarine Carriers; the Puget Sound SteamshipOperators’ Association; the Puget SoundMarine Exchange; the Portland MerchantsExchange; the Port of Portland; Save OurShores; the California Coastal Commission;the Western States Petroleum Association;the Council of American Master Mariners;the American Waterways Operators, PacificReg ion; Teekay Sh ipp ing ( forINTERTANKO); and the Pacific MerchantShipping Association.

Here’s a brief summary of the keyrecommendations from the Workgroup:

Regarding collision hazards, therecommendations included expedited AIScarriage and one regional ballast waterexchange standard.

Regarding historic casualty rates byvessel type, recommendations includedexpedited replacement of single hulltankers, implementation of the US CoastGuards’ Fishing Vessel Safety Program, andregional adoption of the Puget SoundStandard of Care for entering vessels.

Regarding Rescue Tug Availability,recommendations covered steps to create a

coast wide system of information on tuglocations, as well as consideration of variousstrategies for improving tug availability.

Regarding distances offshore, theWorkgroup recommended voluntaryminimum distances of 50 nautical miles(nm) offshore for all vessels carrying crudeoil or persistent petroleum products ascargo, and 25 nm for all other vessels 300GT or larger.

Recommendations were also madeto address data quality and availability, aswell as for the Task Force and the US andCanadian Coast Guards to review theimplementat ion status of theserecommendations in five years.

Following the presentation andpublic comment, the Task Force Memberssigned a formal Agreement acknowledgingthe accomplishments of the Workgroup andits Co-chairs, and agreeing to accept andendorse the Final Report andRecommendations. They further agreed towork with the US Coast Guard, theCanadian Coast Guard, the maritimeindustry, and local governments toimplement these recommendations.

More information on this project andthe final recommendations can be found onthe Task Force web site under the 2002Annual Report.

The Year Past and the Year Ahead:• 2002 Annual Report Available on

the WebAs noted above, information on the

Offshore Project and all other projects ofthe Task Force for the past year arecovered in detail in the 2002 Annual Report,available on our web site. The report alsoprovides annual overviews of the activitiesof the Task Force member agencies.• Highlights of the 2002-2003 Annual

WorkplanUnder the Task Force’s Spill

Prevention objective, more emphasis will beput on the database project by creating aworkgroup of representatives of themember agencies to develop both short and

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long-term strategies to implement the task.The Task Force also plans to provideleadership for a collaborative projectinvolving the US Coast Guard and tankeroperators in def in ing voluntarymanagement and operating standards fortanker charters. Implementation of theWCOVTRM recommendations, participationin the Pacific Oil Spill Prevention EducationTeam, monitoring TAPS tanker double hullconversions, and tracking developments ona number of “Topics of Concern” will beongoing activities.

Under the Task Force’s SpillPreparedness and Response objective, theCoordinating Committee plans to generate a“prototype” of key contingency planningelements for a public roundtable discussionin the Winter of 2003. Other activities areprimarily ongoing, such as maintaining theIntegrated Vessel Response Plan guidancematrix and the 1-800-OILS-911 spillreporting number, and tracking Topics ofConcern.

Under the Task Force ’ sCommunications objective, there willcontinue to be a strong emphasis onstakeholder outreach through events likethe Annual Meeting and the WinterRoundtable. The Task Force’s QuarterlyReport is now made available on the TaskForce web site rather than mailed. TheLegacy Awards program will be continued,as will an emphasis on regular meetingswith US and Canadian officials. A newproject under the Internal Communicationstask will involve development of a long-termmanagement strategy for Task Force staffin conjunction with the next round ofstrategic planning, which will be kicked offwith a planning retreat this Fall.

And in other Task Force news,• The Task Force submitted comments on

the US Coast Guard’s proposed rules onsalvage and firefighting; these areavailable on our web site.

• The Task Force CoordinatingCommittee, joined by Task Force

Member Harlan Henderson, met withSteve Benz and Mike LaTorre of theMarine Spill Response Corporation andBob Aldag of the Marine PreservationAssociation to discuss proposals forMSRC mergers with several West Coastspill response cooperatives. The notesfrom this discussion are available on ourweb site as part of our Summary Notesfrom the July 2002 CoordinatingCommittee meeting.

• Jean Cameron, Task Force ExecutiveCoordinator, was awarded a Certificateof Merit by US Coast Guard Vice AdmiralTerry Cross, Commander, Pacific Area,for her leadership on the West CoastOffshore Vessel Traff ic RiskManagement project.

The Task Force Member Agencies:• The Alaska Department of

Environmental Conservation Contact Larry Dietrick at 907-465-5255• The British Columbia Ministry of Water,

Land, and Air Protection Contact Heather Taylor at 250-952-4870• The Washington Department of

Ecology Contact Stan Norman at 360-407-7465• The Oregon Department of

Environmental Quality Contact Mike Zollitsch at 503-229-6931• The Office of Spill Prevention and

Response, California Department ofFish and Game

Contact Scott Schaefer at 916-445-9326• The Office of Hazards Evaluation and

Emergency Response in the HawaiiDepartment of Environmental Health;Contact Curtis Martin at 808-586-4249

Task Force member agency web sites may beaccessed through the Task Force web site

For more information on any topics notedabove, please contact Jean Cameron, TaskForce Executive Coordinator, at 503-392-5860 (phone/fax), or through email at:

JeanRCameron@oregoncoast.comMailing Address: PO Box 1032, Neskowin,

OR 97149-1032http://wlapwww.gov.bc.ca/eeeb/taskforc/tfhome.htm