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Coalition Challenges Coast Guard’s Proposed Oil Transport Rules for Buzzards Bay, Calls for Multiple Safety Measures July 21, 2006 CONTACT: Korrin N. Petersen, Esq., Advocacy Director The Coalition for Buzzards Bay (508) 999-6363, ext. 206 NEW BEDFORD, MA—The Coalition for Buzzards Bay is calling on the U.S. Coast Guard to be redundant in their efforts to protect Buzzards Bay from future oil spills. In extensive comments filed on June 27 in response to the Coast Guard’s proposed rules for oil transportation through Buzzards Bay, the Coalition outlines the need for multiple vessel safety regulations in the Bay, including a required escort tug, and a Massachusetts state licensed pilot for all oil laden barges, both single and double hulled, as well as a formally-designated mandatory vessel route for Buzzards Bay. “It is our view that the Coast Guard must reconsider their proposed rules and formulate strong and meaningful protections which will actually reduce the risk of oil spills in the future,” said Korrin N. Petersen, Esq., Coalition Advocacy Director. “The Bay’s fragile ecosystem together with its numerous navigational hazards demands that multiple layers of protection be applied to the transportation of petroleum products. Unfortunately, the Coast Guard’s proposed rules fail to provide any meaningful regulation which would reduce the risk of a spill like the Bouchard-120, which put 98,000 gallons of oil into the Bay and onto our shores in 2003.” In the Coast Guard’s proposed rules, filed in March 2006, the agency only calls for escort tugs for single hull barges carrying 5,000 or more barrels of oil transiting Buzzards Bay and does not mandate vessels to use a recommended navigation route based on National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration navigational charts. Likewise, the Coast Guard falls far short in their proposed pilotage provision, requiring that pilots only “monitor” and “advise” from an escort tug, not be on board the towing vessel. “This leaves the real navigation to the non licensed crew members on the towing vessel for both single and double hull units,” said Petersen. “In the end, this proposed rule does nothing to improve navigation safety.” The Coalition suggests that tug escorts should be piloted by locally knowledgeable Massachusetts state licensed pilots. The public comment period on these proposed rules closed June 27, 2006. The Coast Guard will now review the comments received and begin promulgating final rules, which could be issued a year or more from now. “Only redundant layers of safety and protection such as the ones we have proposed will reduce the likelihood of another oil spill in Buzzards Bay,” said Petersen. “No one safety measure exists to provide significant risk reduction for the Bay.”
The Coalition for Buzzards Bay is a private, non-profit membership organization dedicated to the protection, restoration, and sustainable use of Buzzards Bay and its watershed. The organization works to improve the health of the Bay ecosystem for all through education, conservation, research and advocacy and is supported by more than 4,700 members.
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download the coalition's June 2006 comments to the coast guard
