ISLANDS OIL SPILL ASSOCIATION

Oil spill responders clean up under starry sky

written by IOSA staff

posted 01/29/02
Luckily, it was a calm, clear winter night, although recent high tides had reached logs that had been beached for months, so the waters throughout the San Juans were strewn with big, gnarly, floating navigation hazards. For those messing about in boats that night, the going had to be slow and well lit. As much as they loved being on the water, the folks going out in the dark to remove fuel from the tanks of a sunken boat preferred to be home, although they felt blessed by the relatively warm temperature (40 degrees), the calm, windless air and the beautiful, starry sky.

The nighttime pumping of the fuel tanks was dictated, like much of life along the coast, by the tide, which would be a minus 1.0 around 9 PM. The vessel had finally slipped beneath the water several weeks earlier but residents had recently noticed small amounts of sheen in the water. That's when Islands' Oil Spill Association (IOSA) got a call and, within an hour, responders were on their way to check it out.

After the assessment, IOSA researched the boat's history, current situation and potential fuel capacity, plans were discussed with the Coast Guard and a course of action was decided on for early the next morning. Crews would meet at The Heron, IOSA's spill response boat docked at the Port of Friday Harbor, add another hundred feet to the containment boom already on board and head out.

By mid-morning, the sunken vessel and her leaking fuel tank had been surrounded by a big, bright yellow circle of containment boom and towed by Vessel Assist San Juans to a point as close to shore as possible, where she would be at least partially high and dry at the next low tide and the tanks could be more easily accessed for pumping. The folks on board would meet back at The Heron at 8 PM. When they did, the drizzly skies of morning had given way to a clear and beautiful night.

Removing fuel from a vessel is not that complicated or expensive if it's done while she's still afloat. The benefits of removing fuel and other hazardous materials from a sinking boat are plenty, to the owner(s) of the vessel as well as the surrounding environment. Once she's underwater, the costs begin to multiply. If toxic materials are involved, including fuel, or if a navigation hazard is created, the Coast Guard requires notification and a whole new set of problems arises. Penalties incur, deadlines are issued and there's a new threat to wildlife in the area.

Some sinking vessels begin to lose fuel very quickly and by the time IOSA is notified, the only way to recover it is to contain and remove it from the surface of the water. In this case, however, as well as in 8 out of the 10 other sinking vessel incidents in the area in the last 10 years, IOSA was notified of the leaking fuel early enough to contain and remove it before a significant spill occurred. IOSA responders went to work that night in minus-tide mud, draining 45 gallons of fuel into 2 barrels and rolling the barrels through the mud to where they could float and be towed by the little skiff back to The Heron.

Once there, they were hauled on board and taken back to the Port to await appropriate disposal in the morning. The next step, once again, depended on the tide, and when it was high the following morning, the soggy old boat was towed back to her original sinking place, where she would be left while the owners investigated their options for getting her out of the water. The boom was hauled back onto The Heron, everybody went back to port and that particular incident was over.

Toxic materials getting into the water due to abandoned and/or derelict boats is an ongoing problem, however. IOSA has been paged 294 times since 1988; 59 of those calls required ongoing clean-up, recovery of fuel and/or removal of other pollutants, and many of those involved sinking or sunken boats. The impact of a release from a sunken vessel can be substantial. There is currently a spill response going on in Monterey Bay, where 500 birds have so far been affected by a spill that is believed to be from a boat that sank years ago and is now corroded to the point where its tanks are periodically releasing large amounts of oil.

There has been recent legislation introduced into the Washington State House (HB 2376) dealing with abandoned and/or derelict boats but no one knows if it will pass or what the final version will look like. As it stands now, neither the U.S. Coast Guard nor any other agency has the funding or the mandate to deal with sunken boats unless there are hazardous materials or a navigational hazard involved.

Regardless of any legislative outcome, the problem of fuel and other pollutants spilling into our still-relatively-pristine waters will remain. Islands' Oil Spill Association has many wonderful, dedicated and trained responders willing to give their time and energy to help keep our waters clean and protect our shorelines and wildlife but community awareness and involvement is essential. Chances are, if you live in the San Juans, you're either a boat-owner or you know folks who are. And chances are also good that you love it here and care enough about it to pay attention to potential threats.

Fuel, paint thinner, hazardous materials of all sorts are usually in the picture where boats are involved, and because boats around here live in saltwater, corrosion happens, holes appear, things begin to go awry. If you see that happening to a boat you know, try to get the fuel tanks pumped and all the hazardous materials removed. The cost of doing so can be less than $100. Getting fuel removed when the boat is underwater is a whole different category of costs, to so much more than just the owner(s). And finally, getting a derelict boat out of the water is one of the best things you can do.

There are a number of ways to deal with these sorts of boat situations but if you have questions, please call the IOSA office at 360.3785322 and we'll do our best to help. If you know of a spill or a potential spill, call the Sheriff's Office at 360.378.4151 and the IOSA on-call person will be paged.

Not all fuel spills are the result of sinking boats, of course. IOSA responders were called upon early last December to find the source of and clean up a fuel spill in Bayhead Marina near the Orcas Ferry Landing. They found a leaking fuel line on a boat docked at the marina, stopped the leak and cleaned up the fuel in the water. On Christmas Day a year ago, IOSA was paged about a spill in Shipyard Cove. The source of the spill was never found but responders spent the afternoon and the next day recovering and disposing of 35 gallons of diesel fuel.

In addition to containment, clean-up and prevention of oil spills, IOSA gives classes throughout the year in HAZMAT emergency response and oiled wildlife rescue and we do oil spill response/containment drills throughout the San Juans. IOSA is not state or federally funded; we are a non-profit, community-based, oil spill response and prevention organization and our primary sources of income are membership contributions and private foundation grants. The more support we have, the more effective we can be. If you'd like more information, please call us.

SAN JUAN ISLANDER © 2010

editor@sanjuanislander.com

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