People and companies who buy petroleum should bear the cost of beefed-up protections against oil spills in Washington, a governor's oil-spill task force has advised.

The state Oil Spill Advisory Council estimates that as much as $9 million a year could come from increased charges on oil shipped to Washington refineries, shipped out of state and pumped into ships such as fishing boats and cargo freighters.

That money could then pay for a host of measures, including a year-round tugboat at Neah Bay on the Strait of Juan de Fuca to rescue ships, the cleanup of abandoned ships with tanks that could leak, and a beefed-up task force to keep monitoring oil-spill risks.

That would more than double the money now spent annually on oil-spill prevention in Washington, but those steps are needed to better protect the state from a potentially devastating oil spill, said Mike Cooper, a former state representative from Edmonds and chairman of the council.

Spending boost proposed

A state oil-spill task force has recommended spending $12.7 million more on spill prevention in 2007 and 2008, and $18.9 million more in 2009 and 2010. The money would come largely from increased taxes on petroleum shipments in and out of the state, as well as when vessels are fueled up.

Where the money would go:

• $2.6 million/year: A year-round tugboat at Neah Bay to help ships that could spill oil.

• $500,000/year: Hiring tugboats to protect other areas, such as the San Juan Islands, when needed.

• $1 million/year: Cleanup of derelict boats.

• $878,000/year: Staffing and activities by the state Oil Spill Advisory Council.

Where the money would come from:

• $5 million/year: Tax of roughly one-tenth of 1 cent for every dollar spent transferring fuel on or near water — such as moving fuel onto a barge or oil tanker, or fueling up a ship at a marina.

• $2.55 million/year: Extension of a nickel tax on each barrel of oil to include oil brought to Washington, refined, then shipped out of state.

• $1.4 million/year: Revive a penny-per-barrel tax on each barrel of oil to go into an account to pay for responses to oil spills.

Source: Washington Oil Spill Advisory Council

"The oil industry tells us they already have a good approach, but that's what they said in Alaska before an Exxon oil tanker spilled 11 million gallons of crude into Alaska's pristine Prince William Sound," he said in a statement issued Monday, as the council issued its report.

But shipping and oil-industry representatives on the council responded that the recommendations miss the mark.

The report is the first by the council since its creation by the Legislature in 2005, amid concerns over the slow response to the October 2004 Dalco Passage oil spill in South Puget Sound.

Gov. Christine Gregoire will consider the recommendations along with others coming later this year from a separate panel she has convened to study Puget Sound cleanup, said Keith Phillips, the governor's environmental-policy adviser.

The council's recommendations were welcomed by two state lawmakers who sit on the House and Senate committees that would consider oil-spill legislation, Rep. Brian Sullivan, D-Mukilteo, and Sen. Phil Rockefeller, D-Kitsap County. Sullivan said the measures would be a "top priority" in his committee in the next Legislative session beginning in January.

But the shipping and oil representatives said the report's proposals could needlessly duplicate work already being done by government agencies, or spend money unwisely.

For example, Capt. Michael Moore, vice president of the Pacific Merchant Shipping Association, charged that the debate about the tugboat near Neah Bay has overshadowed studying the oil-spill prevention system as a whole.

The oil-spill council rushed its work, he said, and didn't fully examine the tug's best role and how other safety measures already in the works could help, he said.

"When it comes down to these kind of things, the question ought to be, Where's the best place to spend the next marine-safety dollar?" said Moore, formerly the U.S. Coast Guard's captain of the port for Puget Sound.

Warren Cornwall: 206-464-2311

E-mail article Print view

More politics headlines...

Buy a link