The Observer, July 2007
Council seeking strengthened escort rules as federal mandate phases out
The citizens’ council has adopted a new stance on the Prince William Sound tanker escort system. The position, voted in by the council board at its May meeting in Valdez, calls for preservation of the two-tug escort requirement now in place for loaded tankers, and for a limit of two loaded tankers in the system at any one time.
The council also called for a requirement that a tug kept at Hinchinbrook Entrance for emergency response be a high-performance vessel called a Prevention/Response Tug, or PRT, rather than a conventional tug.
This latest position is in keeping with past council actions on the issue, but is stronger in some ways. It demands that each loaded tanker be escorted by one Enhanced Tractor Tug, or ETT, and by one PRT. The ETT is also a high-performance vessel considered superior to conventional tugs. Currently, one of the escorts can be a conventional tug.
Current rules require two escort tugs for each loaded tanker. Photo courtesy of Alyeska Pipeline.
Alyeska Pipeline has only three PRTs and two ETTs in the Sound, meaning no more than two tankers could be escorted simultaneously while keeping a PRT at Hinchinbrook Entrance.
The action comes in response to two major upcoming events that will affect the Sound’s tanker escort system. One occurs in November, when current contingency plans covering tanker safety and spill response expire and must be renewed.
The other is the end of the federal two-tug requirement in Prince William Sound. That requirements applies only to single-hull tankers. The Valdez fleet is converting to double-hull vessels as mandated by the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, a transition that may be complete within a year.
“With the sunset of this critical federal requirement,” the council staff advised the board, “the use of a two-escort system will hinge on voluntary compliance and state-level requirements.”
The new position on tanker escorts is as follows:
A) All laden tankers in Prince William Sound, including double-hulled tankers, should continue to be escorted by two escorts. A PWS class/ETT tractor tug will be the primary escort and the PRT tractor tug will be the secondary escort.
B) The Hinchinbrook Tug, pending future technological improvements, should always be a PRT. When it is rotated during its maintenance schedule, it should be replaced by an equivalent vessel.
C) The escort system should utilize full response capability per contingency plan and statutory regulations without waivers of prevention requirements.
D) The PWSRCAC recognizes that the above positions can only be met at all times with no more than two laden tankers underway in the system at one time and requests that the TAPS shippers manage the system appropriately.