News Releases
Office of Governor Gary Locke
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - December 22, 2004
Contact:  Governor's Communications Office, 360-902-4136
Alt Contact:  Department of Ecology, 360-407-7211; U.S. Coast Guard, 206-391-1032

Gov. Gary Locke Receives Oil Spill Task Force Recommendations

OLYMPIA – Dec. 22, 2004 – Gov. Gary Locke and U.S. Coast Guard Rear Admiral Jeffrey Garrett today received the draft recommendations from the Oil-Spill Early-Action Task Force they formed after the Dalco Passage mystery spill last October, and they expressed appreciation for the task force’s efforts.

“As we saw with the Dalco Passage oil spill, swift and decisive response is needed to prevent spills from doing serious damage to our environment,” Locke said. “This task force set an example by coming up with some top-notch recommendations in record time.”

Garrett said, “The task force recommendations zero in on many measures that may improve responsiveness and public involvement in assessing and responding to spills in the future. I applaud the exceptional efforts of the task force members within a very compressed timeframe.”

During the course of just six weeks, the task force developed 11 recommendations for improving response to oil spills that occur at night and during bad weather.

The draft recommendations call for developing opportunities for volunteers to participate in assessing and responding to oil spills, involving citizens in identifying and updating geographic response plans that protect environmentally sensitive areas in Washington waters, pre-identifying suitable locations for command posts that could be set up near spills, improving the state’s early-response and notification procedures, and incorporating lessons learned from recent spills into the Northwest Area Plan.

Locke’s recently released budget provides $2 million to the Department of Ecology to implement recommendations from the task force. Most significantly, Locke will move forward with creating a citizen volunteer program to train volunteers on how to respond and provide assistance in the event of a spill.

“Our recent experience with the Dalco Passage spill demonstrated that our citizens can contribute not only to the reporting of spill, but assist in the cleanup,” Locke said. “It’s important that this corps of volunteers be properly trained and these funds will do that.”

The task force also recommended evaluating the availability of remote-sensing technology that could or should be used to help in assessing oil spills; evaluating existing citizen advisory groups in Washington and other states and considering whether a local organization should be created to monitor spill-response needs in Washington; and obtaining an independent assessment of the adequacy and positioning of response equipment currently available in the state.

The task force was appointed by Locke and Garrett and co-convened by the Department of Ecology and the U.S. Coast Guard. The members included residents of Vashon and Maury islands, tribal members, shellfish growers, environmental activists and representatives of public ports, local governments, spill-response contractors, and the oil and marine shipping industry.

“We already have one of the best prevention and response programs in the world, and these recommendations will help us be even better,” Locke said. “We need to be poised to respond to spills any time, anywhere, under any weather conditions, without hesitation.”

The task force’s draft report is available on-line at http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/spills/response/taskforce/tasksforce.htm


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