As oil spill dissipates, investigative plot thickens

By Mike Carter and Steve Miletich
Seattle Times staff reporters

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The samples were collected this week by Polaris Applied Sciences at the request of an unidentified insurance conglomerate that represents vessel operators.

Gary Mauseth, president of Polaris, would not identify his client, and referred inquiries by The Seattle Times to a Seattle law firm, Keesal, Young & Logan, that has expertise in maritime environmental defense. The law firm declined to comment.

But a scientist at Polaris, Greg Challenger, said an insurance conglomerate hired his company "as the smart thing to do from the viewpoint of litigation." The conglomerate also hired the law firm to represent it.

The involvement of Polaris, an oil-spill-response firm, is the first indication that any ship owner thinks it might be responsible for the nighttime spill, which was discovered about 1 a.m. Oct. 14 by a tug operator. About 1,000 gallons of oil were spilled near Vashon and Maury islands, soiling roughly 21 miles of beach, and it has cost nearly $1.6 million so far to clean up environmental damage.

Challenger said the insurance group hired his company "in the event one of their vessels turns out to be liable."

The U.S. Coast Guard and state Department of Ecology learned Thursday that a vessel owner or its insurer had retained Polaris, when state and Coast Guard investigators came across Polaris technicians gathering samples on Vashon Island.

Investigators questioned the technicians, who reported they were "sampling on behalf of a third party," said Paul O'Brien, the on-scene coordinator of the spill response for the Department of Ecology.

"It's obviously of interest to us in our active investigation," he said yesterday.

Coast Guard Capt. Danny Ellis, the captain of the Port of Seattle, said he was informed of Polaris' activities.

Nobody has claimed responsibility for the spill. The Coast Guard has gathered oil samples and vessel logs from a dozen ships that were in the area at the time, but tests to try to match those samples with the oil in the water have not been completed.
 
Challenger confirmed that Polaris had two scientists at the beach Thursday. He also said the company asked the Ecology Department for a portion of its samples for independent testing.

"It's not so much we would question what they are doing," he said. "But we do like to confirm their testing procedures."

Challenger said Polaris had been hired by a conglomerate of maritime insurers who pool their resources in a "protection and indemnity club." Each insurer in the club might represent several ship owners. There are about two dozen such clubs in the world, Challenger said.

Mauseth, Polaris' president, said his company's client was "not just one vessel, it's a lot of vessels."

However, two experienced Seattle maritime criminal attorneys, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they could be retained in the matter, said it's unlikely that a law firm would represent more than one vessel operator because that could create conflicts of interest.

The attorneys said a vessel company might be concerned that it will be identified as the culprit, or be gathering samples simply as a precautionary measure.

A federal official who is familiar with the investigation and asked not to be identified pointed out that whoever hired Polaris and the law firm had determined there was enough risk to spend money to acquire their services.

According to its Web site, Polaris provides "companies worldwide with scientific support to spill response."

It has consulted for vessel owners responsible for major oil spills in the Northeast and on the Mississippi River. In 1999, Polaris worked for the owners of the New Carissa, a freighter that broke apart in a storm on the Oregon coast and spilled 70,000 gallons of oil into the ocean near Coos Bay.

A government report blamed oil from the ship for the deaths of 2,300 birds and said the deaths would be a major factor in the government's efforts to recover damages from the ship's owners, according to news reports.

However, Polaris scientists disputed some of the report's findings, saying oil samples from some of the dead birds did not match the oil from the leaking ship. Mauseth said at the time that Polaris' findings resulted in the government lowering its avian death estimates.

The owners of the New Carissa paid the government $6.5 million last summer to settle the case and mitigate some of the damage.

Gov. Gary Locke, who toured spill-affected areas of south Maury Island yesterday, said the "full force of the law" will be applied to those responsible for the spill.

They will be handed a bill "for the cost of the recovery," he said.

Federal investigators are monitoring the investigation to determine whether to open a criminal probe that could result in fines or prison terms.

Locke, flanked by Coast Guard Rear Adm. Jeffery Garrett, head of the local Coast Guard district, announced that an independent task force will be formed to explore "new and better ways" to respond to oil spills that occur in bad weather and darkness, as was the case last week.

Critics have asserted that the response to the spill was slow, but the state and Coast Guard have said heavy fog and darkness kept them from gauging the magnitude of the spill for more than seven hours.

Locke said he wants the task force to find methods of overcoming those obstacles, and that environmentalists would be included in the effort.

He said he would like the group to produce its findings by the time the Legislature convenes early next year, so lawmakers can determine whether more money needs to be spent to improve oil-spill response efforts.

"There's no such thing as a small oil spill," the governor said, noting that currents and weather conditions in Puget Sound make recovery efforts difficult no matter what the size of a spill.

Locke also said he would like the state to contract with helicopter operators who can use infrared technology to detect the size of spills. The state now must rely on Coast Guard helicopters based in Astoria, Ore., or local police helicopters.

In addition, Locke called for the creation of a citizen response corps to aid in oil-spill cleanups. He said members must be trained so they can safely deal with toxic materials.

He said he also wants to create a telephone hotline that citizens could use to report on oil spills.

Mike Carter: 206-464-3706 or mcarter@seattletimes.com

Steve Miletich: 206-464-3302 or smiletich@seattletimes.com