Number: 1977-17
WHEREAS, recent oil and chemical spills into both oceanic and inland waters from tankers and barges again have demonstrated the hazards to living creatures and to the environment which can result from mishandled shipping in congested areas; and
WHEREAS, spill hazards also exist from oil exploration, production, and transportation on offshore regions, as well as in the transfers of oil at super ports; and
WHEREAS, operations to contain or remove oil spilled by tankers or other offshore activities are rightful responsibilities of those who transport or produce, rather than governmental agencies, and they should bear any financial burdens involved;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the National Wildlife Federation, in annual meeting assembled March 24-27, 1977, in Washington, D.C., hereby its firm support of actions by the Congress and/or Federal executive agencies to implement the following principles:
The Coast Guard should be directed to upgrade its oil tanker design, construction, maintenance, and operation standards in order to satisfy the letter and intent of the Ports and Waterways Safety Act of 1972 in these respects:
- To establish tanker navigation safety regulations which do more than codify existing industry practices and reflect the best available pollution prevention technology;
- To require that tankers be equipped with the most modern and effective navigational and collision avoidance equipment, with operational personnel certified as having been thoroughly trained in its use;
- To establish standards for vessel maneuvering and stopping ability beyond systems testing applicable to all oil tankers plying U.S. waters or using U.S. ports;
- To establish rules and regulations governing the manning of oil tankers and the duties and qualifications of tanker officers and crew when oil tankers seek access to U.S. ports;
- To establish oil tanker hull protection standards, such as double bottoms, to reduce cargo loss following collision, groundings, or other accidents;
- To mandate specific designs, or at least procedure and criteria to ensure the adoption of optimum designs, for the distribution of fully segregated clean ballast capacity as defensive space on both ‘new’ and ‘existing’ oil tankers smaller than 70,000 tons;
- To establish standards for the repair, maintenance, and alteration of older tankers, including the retrofitting of major pollution prevention measures on such vessels, to ensure at least minimum levels of safety and competency for all existing oil tankers using U.S. ports, and waterways;
- To require the use in oil tankers smaller than 100,000 tons of gas inserting systems to prevent explosions when effective technology is available.
- To develop and implement a system for excluding from U.S. ports and waterways substandard oil tankers with known histories of spills and discharges; and
- To require the use of oil containment booms around tankers in all harbors during transfer operations and, in additional, skimmers, absorbents and/or other oil cleanup equipment should be available at in-harbor oil transfer locations to ensure rapid cleanup of any oil spilled during transfer operations;
- The Congress should enact legislation ensuring that damages from oil spills and costs of cleanup be borne by the shippers, owners, or producers, with suitable bonds being posted in advance to cover liability;
- The Coast Guard should be authorized and directed to develop and effectuate new vessel guidance systems, considering alternatives such as shore-base controls similar to those which handle aircraft, use of the Loran System, use of satellite navigational aids, and/or a requirement that qualified and licensed coastwise pilots be employed when vessels approach within 50 miles of U.S. shores in a manner similar to that presently existing when vessels approach major harbor entrances (such pilots also could be given the authority, as deputized U.S. Marshals, to enforce existing regulations against the pumping of bilges in protected offshore areas);
- Adequate funds must be provided for long-term monitoring and for the Coast Guard to be properly equipped with most modern and effective devices;
- The U.S. Government should reassess the order of leasing for exploration and production on offshore areas, giving first priority to those with the least environmental risks as outlined in April, 1974, by the Council of Environmental Quality in its “OCS Oil and Gas an Environmental Assessment,” a procedure being given little consideration in the current federal program;
- Because of the environmental, economic, and social onshore effects, as well as the offshore effects, which are involved, the appropriate units of federal and state governments should ensure that members of the public have adequate opportunities to comment on development plans proposed and filed by the oil companies after conducting exploratory tests on tract which they have leased in competitive bidding; and,
- Leasing of additional offshore tracts should be permitted only after governmental agencies and members of the public have had an opportunity to review and comment upon results of the initial exploratory drilling operations.