Olympic Tug and Barge fined for Seattle oil spillBy WA Department of Ecology
The incident involved crew inattention during a fuel transfer between two tug boats, according to findings in an Ecology investigation. "Washington law is very clear about oil spill prevention," said Dale Jensen, who manages Ecology's spill prevention, preparedness and response program. "All fuel transfers are serious business, every time. This penalty is about a failure to exercise that care." Olympic crews began to transfer 25,000 gallons of diesel fuel from the tug C.F. Campbell to the tug Hunter D. About 13,000 gallons into the transfer, a member of the Campbell's crew noticed fuel flowing out of a vent tube on the Hunter D. The crews stopped the transfer, began cleanup work, and notified Ecology and the U.S. Coast Guard. The spill totaled five gallons. Three gallons remained on deck, and two went into the East Waterway. Ecology's follow-up investigation – conducted with the Coast Guard and with Olympic's full cooperation –determined that the oil spill was primarily caused by the Hunter D's crew failing to follow Olympic's own oil transfer policies. "Olympic has a 'zero spills in the water' policy and takes any spill very seriously," said Sven Christensen, Olympic General Manager. "In the investigation following this incident, responsible crew members were found to have failed to comply with established company procedures. Since this incident, Olympic has established consolidated and updated vessel-specific transfer procedures and redoubled its training of all crew members to ensure that they comply fully with the transfer procedures in all instances. Olympic has not had a single fuel transfer spill in the year since this new training was put in place." Olympic has received and paid four other spill penalties in recent years. "Olympic Tug & Barge has worked with us to develop effective spill prevention policies, said Jensen. "We just need to ensure the policy becomes practice on Olympics vessels." The East Waterway connects the Duwamish Waterway with Elliott Bay on Puget Sound. The area hosts bald eagles, chum and coho salmon and Puget Sound chinook salmon, which is listed as threatened under the federal Endangered Species Act. Olympic may request Ecology reconsideration of the penalty or file an appeal to the Washington State Pollution Control Hearings Board within 30 days. Prevention, preparedness and response to fuel and other oil spills are parts of Ecology's commitment to protect against toxic threats to people and the environment and to meet the state's goal of protecting and restoring Puget Sound by 2020. Previous Olympic spills:
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BELLEVUE -- The Washington Department of Ecology (Ecology) has fined Olympic Tug & Barge Company (Olympic) $15, 500 for an April 13, 2009 spill of two gallons of diesel fuel to the East Waterway off Harbor Island in Seattle.