Coast's oil-spill defenses called inadequate

A dozen environmental groups, including the Sierra Club and Friends of the Earth, have called California's oil spill defenses inadequate and cited the need for a powerful tug capable of towing disabled oil tankers and possibly based at Bodega Bay.

"California is far behind the rest of the West Coast and the world in oil spill prevention, preparedness and response capability," the groups said in a letter to John Laird, head of the state Natural Resources Agency, and other officials.

North Coast Rep. Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael, and Richard Charter, a veteran coastal advocate from Bodega Bay, endorsed the environmentalists' message, including a call to remove chemical dispersants as a primary spill-response tool.

Reliance on a dispersant called Corexit "is not acceptable," Huffman said, citing evidence that it is both ineffective and toxic.

"We have no tow truck," said Charter, a senior fellow with The Ocean Foundation, referring to the need for a 10,000-horsepower tug that could keep foundering oil tankers from crashing onto the North Coast's rocky shores.

"The best way to prevent damage from an oil spill is not to have one," said Charter, a longtime foe of offshore oil drilling.

Alaska and Washington operate tugs and other programs that apply "best available technology" to oil spill protection, a standard California fails to meet despite a legal requirement for it, the environmental groups said.

"The same fleet of tankers leaving Prince William Sound (Alaska) with a state-of-the-art tug escort and prevention and response system arrive in California without a similar safety net," they said.

More than 500 million barrels of oil are transported in California's waters each year, and vessels visiting the Port of Oakland carry millions of gallons of heavy bunker fuel, the groups said.

"Certainly Sonoma and the North Bay are at risk," said Amy Trainer, executive director of the Environmental Action Committee of West Marin, based in Point Reyes Station. "It's not if there's another spill, it's a matter of when."

Trainer co-signed the letter along with representatives of the Sierra Club, Friends of the Earth, League for Coastal Protection, Surfrider Foundation, Save Our Seashore and six other groups.

California's Office of Spill Prevention and Response, part of the Department of Fish and Wildlife, "operates a mature and robust oil spill preparedness program" that has "resulted in a substantial decrease in the number of oil spill incidents" since the early 1990s, spill prevention office administrator Thomas Cullen said in a written statement.

The office keeps tabs on "current and emerging spill technologies," he said, noting that the costs are high and decisions on adding them to the state's "toolkit" are evaluated on "a risk-based approach."

Critics assailed the use of the dispersant Corexit, which was included in the 1.8 million gallons of dispersant applied to the Gulf oil spill in 2010.

A federal court settlement filed in May required the government to assess whether dispersants harm endangered wildlife.

High-strength dispersants like Corexit haven't been used in California since 1990 and "are never the first method of response," Cullen said.

Any decision to use dispersants "would be based on the expectation" they would "significantly reduce or prevent human and environmental health impacts from spilled oil," he said.

Charter said that oil containment methods such as booms and skimmers are generally ineffective along the North Coast, which "leaves us with pre-approval of Corexit as the next line of defense."

The Bay Area's worst oil spill, in 1984 when the tanker Puerto Rican broke up near the Farallon Islands, dumped 1.5 million gallons of oil that fouled the Marin and southern Sonoma County shoreline, including Bodega Bay.

Alaska's oil spill defenses include heavy tugs that have towed a loaded oil tanker in drills, said Chris Jones, a maritime operations consultant who worked with the environmental groups.

The tugs, which also carry booms and skimmers, are "one of most important defenses we have," he said.

Environmentalists said the Bay Area tug should be financed by the oil and maritime industries.

Charter said it should be stationed at Bodega Bay because it is near the northern vessel traffic lane into San Francisco Bay.

You can reach Staff Writer Guy Kovner at 521-5457 or guy.kovner@pressdemocrat.com.