Necessary backup
Published Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Digg
delicious
Facebook
Mixx
Reddit
Stumble It!This year, the 20th anniversary of the Exxon Valdez oil spill, would be an appropriate time for Congress to affirm in law one of the key safety measures designed to prevent another such disaster.
Each time an oil-laden tanker passes through Prince William Sound, it is escorted by two massive tugboats. Federal law requires that two such tugs accompany tankers with single hulls but not tankers with double hulls.
The dual escorts should be required for all tankers, and Congress should make it happen as soon as possible.
The Alaska tanker fleet has gradually converted to double hulls, in accordance with federal law passed after the spill. The final single-hulled tanker, in fact, should retire by 2012.
Even as oil companies have phased in the double-hulled tankers, they have retained the dual escorts for each. It’s a wise policy but one that could be dropped too easily after the last single-hulled tanker leaves. Congress should not present the opportunity.
Double hulls are worthwhile, but they still represent thin protection against a spill if a tanker hits a rock, dock or ship. The lower standard of caution is not justifiable.
A fully laden tanker needs two escort vessels to ensure complete control when the tankers’ main engines go down, especially if winds or currents are strong and obstacles are near.
This is not a theoretical risk. Tankers have lost power infrequently but regularly during the past two decades.
Legislation that would require two escort tugs for all oil-laden tankers is close to passage in the U.S House. Rep. Don Young has inserted the two-escort rule in the Coast Guard’s authorization bill, which has passed its various committees and could come up on the House floor at any time.
Progress in the Senate is less clear. Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Mark Begich have introduced a free-standing bill to require dual escorts, but the provision has not yet appeared in the Senate’s Coast Guard bill. It doesn’t need to be there, as long as the provision in the House version stands.
This is the right year for Congress to do the right thing and require that two tugs escort all outbound tankers in Prince William Sound.
Community Discussion
Newsminer.com doesn't necessarily condone the comments here, nor does it review every post. Read our full user's agreement.
20 years after the worst spill in US history settlement funds have not been paid by ExxonMobil, oil still oozes from beneath the rocks, and some oil still moves by a single hulled tanker.
Shameful.
PAF -- some of that oil pre-dates and post-dates the Exxon Valdez accident.
do not worry in a few more years obama will be sure to stop the oil drilling in alaska and developement and cutting of treees and mining.
Me thinks Prospector is splitting hairs to divert the spotlight away from what happened on Good Friday 1989. Keep chipping away at it Prospector, maybe in 20 years you and Fox News can claim that the spill was actually just a myth perpetrated by environmentalist!
Why is it BigBiz in America prefers to hire LAWYERS to solve all of their problems before they consider hiring qualified Engineers to solve the problems ??
BigOil spent millions on trying to blame as much of the Valdez oil spill as they possibly could on the oil seep at Katalla on the east side of the Copper river near Kanak and Kayak Islands.
http://www.google.com/#hl=en&safe=of...
Having Three Skippers on Three Bridges escorting the tankers seems prudent..
this rule should also apply to the receiving end of the shipments at all Westcoast Ports too.
The Two-Tug Escort Rule seems like a good idea if you don't think too hard about the whole picture..
but it's the Lazy Mind that will put a band-aid on a malignant melanoma too.
This doesn't adequately address the fact the CrudeOil product is in violation of the original 1970 FERC license for Alyeska Operations.
The Spiked-Crude is a dangerous gassy runny soupy mess that will not solidify at +45F temps without excess VOC's.
This is as stupid as Congress allowing thousands of unescorted uranium and plutonium shipments to be trucked willy-nilly across the country.
Self-Deception has already killed America.
Alaska would do much better to quit exporting CheaterCrudeOil ASAP and convert the entire hydrocarbon export stream to Value Added LNG,GTL,diesel,gasoline,lube oils,plastics,etc...
If a typical shipment of any one of these products is spilled the potential damage is far less than the hazard presented by a VLCC or supertanker loaded with a big gooey mix of BlackPlaguePetroleum.
You can't lie yourself out of alcoholism any easier than you can lie yourself out of being braindamaged.
If it was up to me I'd hire every unemployed fisherman in Alaska to use his boat in a flotilla of little tanker escorts too.
like mcgrilla said soon drilling will be history and we won't even need to drive because the government will take care of us. Wheres my check?
So a couple of tugboats could have stopped the oil from spilling out? no...they could have stopped the tanker from sinking? It didn't sink in the first place...
What is this tangent about again? It was a drunk driving through a well charted stretch of water, a pair of tugboats wouldn't have made much difference.
Post a comment
Commenting requires registration.