The Observer, January 2007

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Spill program sought in Puget Sound

A citizen oversight panel set up last year by the Washington legislature issued its first major report this fall, calling for major improvements in the state’s systems for preventing and responding to oil spills.

The 272-page report, developed by the Washington State Oil Spill Advisory Council and released in early October, recommended several changes to how the state deals with the complicated issue. The primary ones were:

• Permanently station a rescue tug in the Western Strait of Juan de Fuca, the passageway between Puget Sound and the Pacific Ocean.
• Create a tug fund in the state’s Department of Ecology for as-needed placement of rescue/response tugs in key locations.
• Fund a one-time program to eliminate a back-log of derelict vessels in state waters, and thereafter adequately fund an ongoing derelict vessel program.
• Give the oversight council a sufficient budget to carry out the mission assigned to it by the state legislature. The group is requesting $1.8 million annually and a staff of five, up from about $250,000 and a two-person staff now.

The council proposes to pay for the recommended improvements by a slight increase in taxes on oil and gasoline in the state.

The Washington council was set up in response to an oil spill in Dalco Passage two years ago, and is modeled to some extent on the Alaska citizens’ councils for Prince William Sound and Cook Inlet.

There are major differences, however. One is that board members are appointed to the Washington council by the state’s governor, rather than being seated by the council itself. Another is that the makeup of the Washington council, by law, includes representatives of the oil industry and other business interests the council is assigned to oversee.

The inherent strains in that structure were evident in the council’s October report, which includes a 25-page minority report by oil and shipping interests.

Representatives of the Western States Petroleum Association opposed a funding increase for the council, complaining that “the current staff and consultant have not demonstrated adequate knowledge or understanding of the issues facing the council. Evidence supporting this fact includes misinformation, bias against industry, and erroneous calculations.”

Mike Moore, who represents the Pacific Merchants Shipping Association on the council board, opposed its creation and wrote in the minority report that his organization does not believe “it is necessary to have separate and independent oversight committees reviewing actions of each state agency and program in perpetuity.”

Mike Cooper, a former firefighter and state legislator who chairs the council board, told the press in Seattle that the oil industry is making a push to kill the council.

As the Observer went to press in late January, it looked as if the industry might get its way. Just before Christmas, Gov. Gregoire proposed legislation to move the advisory council under the state’s Department of Ecology, which environmentalists fault as being too deferential to the oil industry, according to a report in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

The proposal was immediately denounced by advocates of citizen oversight. One Washington state lawmaker accused Gregoire of wanting to “defang” the council. The Post-Intelligencer editorialized that Gregoire’s proposal “seems a surefire way to shrinkwrap the council into an industry-approved non-entity.”

John Devens, executive director of the Prince William Sound Regional Citizens’ Advisory Council, was interviewed by the Post-Intelligencer for its story on the Washington council. Devens said the Gregoire proposal illustrates one of the main points the Prince William Sound council has always made about effective citizen oversight: “If it’s under the control of a governmental agency or a political figure, they’re not truly independent.”

Gregoire said the move would “help ensure an efficient and effective governance model.”

The Washington advisory council’s web site is www.governor.wa.gov/osac. The report can be downloaded in Adobe Acrobat format at this link: www.governor.wa.gov/osac/report/finalreport.pdf