analysis of 7/9/09 Hood River sandbar barge grounding

4Stringer/KipWinger · Since 27 Apr 2005 541 Posts Hood River Addicted

From 6/20/10 Oregonian article:

When a fuel barge transporting a million gallons of gasoline ran aground in the Columbia River last summer there was a "great deal of confusion" initially over who was in charge, with agencies responsible for containing a fuel spill left out of the loop for hours after the accident, investigation documents released by the U.S. Coast Guard indicate.

The New Dawn, a fuel barge owned and piloted by Tidewater Barge Lines of Vancouver, ran aground on an uncharted mud shoal just off Hood River shortly after 3 a.m. on July 9. No fuel spilled during or after the accident, and the Coast Guard and the company, citing the soft river bottom and the barge's double hull, judged spill risk as very low and treated the grounding as a relatively simple "salvage operation."

But spill response officials from Washington, Oregon and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency objected to that approach, saying in a debriefing weeks after the incident that they should have been notified earlier and the response should have been more aggressive.

"We have a protocol with the Coast Guard that vessel incidents that present a potential for spill should be treated the same as an actual spill, and that didn't happen in this case," Ron Holcomb, a spill responder with the Washington Department of Ecology, said in a recent interview. "We don't see a barge soft aground; we see a million gallons of gasoline in a place where it's not supposed to be."

The 1,500-foot safety zone established around the 282-foot barge would have been too small if a leak occurred, the spill response agencies said in the debriefing. The agencies were late to establish a unified command center, so Tidewater assumed "the primary leadership role" and set up the command center in Vancouver rather than near the accident site. And there was "limited coordination between agencies on response and management issues."

The Coast Guard released the documents at The Oregonian's request, but only after it completed its accident investigation. The documents underscore the complexity of spill response on the Columbia, which relies on multiple federal and state agencies as well as local officials.

Officials from Tidewater and the Coast Guard have since agreed to quickly notify the spill response agencies even if there's only potential for a spill, Tidewater officials and regulators said.

"Going forward if there's a fuel barge grounding the expectation is that immediately, in addition to a salvage component, there has to be a spill prevention component," said John Pigott, assistant to Tidewater's president. "We're good with that."

Tidewater is the primary carrier of petroleum products -- almost entirely gasoline and diesel fuel -- on the Columbia east of Portland. The company says its safety record includes no tank barge fuel leaks in nearly 16 years, despite about 400 fuel tanker round trips a year.

The New Dawn grounded at 3:15 a.m. while being pushed upriver to a fuel terminal at Pasco, Wash., by a Tidewater tug operator who was preparing to move under the Hood River Bridge. It remained stuck for about 36 hours, before Tidewater freed it by transferring about half its fuel load to another barge, a process known as "lightering."

Tidewater notified the Coast Guard 15 minutes after the incident, the investigation report indicates, scouted the barge within half an hour and surveyed surrounding waters, finding no leaks or sheen on the water.

But it took more than two hours to notify the states spill response agencies and more than three hours to notify the EPA, the federal agency in charge of spill response on the Columbia above Bonneville Dam.

Confusion about whether the Coast Guard or the EPA should take the lead complicated the response, all the parties said. Frequent turnover among Coast Guard personnel also complicates coordinated spill response; two of the Coast Guard's key responders on the New Dawn incident have already transferred to other posts.

A Coast Guard marine inspector and response personnel arrived on the scene at 8 a.m., about five hours after the grounding, according to an incident timetable. The timetable says a structural analysis of the barge was completed shortly after noon. "That's quite a bit of time that you're not 100 percent certain of what the status of the vessel is," Holcomb said.

Mike Zamperini, a commander in the Coast Guard's Portland office, the inspection happened "fairly quickly" given requirements to check oxygen levels before entering the interior of the barge.

At the time of the accident, the Coast Guard, Tidewater and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which is responsible for maintaining the Columbia's navigation channel, disagreed over whether the barge was in the channel when it grounded. A marker buoy indicated the area was inside the river's shipping lane, but a Corps spokeswoman said recently that the Corps still believes the barge was outside the official federal channel.

The charted depth at the site of the grounding was 29 feet, the Coast Guard documents say. The actual depth was 7 feet.

Pigott and Zamperini said the Coast Guard has since moved the buoy to steer ships away from the shoal. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is working on updated river mapping, Zamperini said.

Richard Franklin, EPA's Portland-based spill response coordinator, said the agency regularly drills with barge companies, the Coast Guard and spill responders. The Coast Guard has already notified EPA more quickly in subsequent incidents in the Columbia and off the coast, he said.

"We're doing better at calling each other," Franklin said. "It's not perfect, but I think we're doing pretty well."

-- Scott Learn
http://www.oregonlive.com/environment/index.ssf/2010/06/new_dawn_fuel_barge_ran_agroun_1.html

pdxmonkeyboy · Mon Jun 21, 10 12:02 am

and? So what

dancingwind · Since 18 Jul 2007 321 Posts Obsessed

All is well that ends well!

bulae99 · Since 12 Jul 2006 1691 Posts I give out bad advice.

It's really amazing that nothing was spilled . We were lucky that it was a quick fix. Do remember when they moved those reactor cores encased in concrete? What if that bad boy got stuck?
Most gov agencies have trouble with communication, and when you compound it with jurisdictional rights its just a potential cluster #$%@.

Mark · Mon Jun 21, 10 7:00 am

Hopefully Tidewater has learned the perils of drinking and driving....

Pepi · Mon Jun 21, 10 8:10 am

DROCK999 · Since 31 May 2007 852 Posts Left Coast Opinionated

4Stringer/KipWinger · Since 27 Apr 2005 541 Posts Hood River Addicted

hitithard · Since 28 May 2010 12 Posts

If you think it’s too much to read, well then do not read it,
I say thanks for posting it, great article

pdxmonkeyboy · Mon Jun 21, 10 2:21 pm

I have to say that it is nice to get news from other sources besides the John Stewart show. Even if it is very unsurprising news. TONIGHT ON NEWS CHANNEL 8---Money influences politicians!!

Lurk · Since 04 Apr 2009 355 Posts Obsessed

Thanks for the reposting. Its juvenile fucktarts like these guys that ignored BP's past failures that led to that diasater in the GULF.

FYI: BP is saying today that Cape Hatteras is directly in line with loop current for the Atlantic coast.

Bye Bye Hatteras ocean side wave riding.

Thanks Right wing nutjobs for such effective deregulation.

SalmonSlayer · Since 27 Nov 2005 648 Posts Addicted **CGKA Member**

Tommy · Tue Jun 22, 10 2:04 am

Well articulated or poorly articulated, I'm not sure you're interpreting Lurk's point the same way I am, SS. I don't see anything in there about boycotting oil companies, and I would hope that by now at least some of us understand that easy access to oil influences how we live well beyond the context of transportation (okay everyone, look around you, right now, and tell me how long it takes you to find an object that's made entirely of wood, metal, glass and/or ceramics - not counting your coffee cup)...

Rather, the argument I'm seeing put forth is that thirty years of deregulation and neoliberal economic and trade policy, starting with Reagan of course, but continuing on with Clinton as well as the shrubs that came before and after him, have left us at something of a disadvantage when it comes to looking after anything other than shareholder return, and that's an argument I don't have a whole lot of trouble getting behind. It's not a boycott that's in order, or even a re-examination of consumption, really, so much as just getting our damn hands back on the wheel (and don't even get me started on the WTO or the IMF). Anyway, not to put words in your mouth or anything, Lurk, but that was what you were getting at, right?

Lurk · Since 04 Apr 2009 355 Posts Obsessed

Thanks Tommy. Well put.

Republicans began this after they elected Reagen in 1980. Carter warned us on oil dependence. He actually took action requiring a 55 mph speed limit among many other things. Reagan began the greed that led to our current econmic collapse. It was a style of capitalism that put huge risk, minimal regulation and outright greed ahead of basic human needs. Now were faced with the fallout of making a few very rich while most lost far more than they ever gained. Wages have fallen back to 1970 levels, unemployment is rampant, housing is a dream most will never see again, safety nets have been smashed, retirements ruined or put off until your 80. It's a sad outcome but richly deserved by those who chose our leaders. This is a turning point in the U.S. never again will preceding generations do better than thier baby boomer parents. The Oil age is in decline, our standard of living forever changed by bad Republican policies, poor leaders and greed. (Democrats certainly share the blame from Clinton forward)

SS:

Yes I use oil, for christ sake our modern economy runs on it. Its why this country can feed itself. Without oil we would have to live like our ancestors did in 1800. The answer is not going to exclude oil, ever. Thier is no magic bullet to replace it. The only truly effective method is conservation. So I guess you will turn your kites into backpacks? Stop wearing shoes? Stop eating food that was cultivated with machines?

No, you won't so stop with the Holier than thou BS.

pdxmonkeyboy · Tue Jun 22, 10 9:47 am