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Cook
Inletkeeper
Watershed
Watch Program
UPDATE!!!
January 31,
2007
ANCHORAGE, AK: After
over a decade advocating for enhanced navigational safeguards in
Cook Inlet, Inletkeeper is pleased to announce Tesoro has
contracted with a 5,500 horsepower tractor tug - the T/V
Protector - to assist tankers and other vessels at the
Nikiski and Drift River Docks. Inletkeeper commends Tesoro
for recognizing the increased safeguard provided by a dedicated
tug vessel, and looks forward to working with Tesoro, the Cook
Inlet Regional Citizens Advisory Council and other agencies to
ensure an assist tug remains in Cook Inlet year round.
January
11, 2007
Repeat
Tanker Incident Prompts Call for Congressional Oversight
Ice, Tides Again Pull “Seabulk Pride” from
Cook Inlet Dock
ANCHORAGE, AK: Heavy ice and tides again ripped an
oil tanker from its berth at the Nikiski docks in Cook Inlet,
prompting calls for a congressional investigation into the
repeat incident. Less than a year ago, on February 2,
2006, the same tanker – the Seabulk Pride – at the same
dock, broke free from its mooring in heavy ice conditions, and
ran aground in the heart of Cook Inlet ‘s salmon fisheries
carrying 5 million gallons of oil product.
“With the recent spate of near-disasters in
shipping off Alaska, it seems prudent for the U.S.
Congress to convene oversight hearings to assist the Coast Guard
and State in better managing these risks” said Rick
Steiner, professor with the University of Alaska and
co-facilitator
of the Shipping Safety Partnership. In addition to the Seabulk
Pride incident, several TAPS tankers suffered significant
structural problems in heavy seas recently, the freighter “Sea
Honesty” diverted to Dutch Harbor with engine trouble last
month, and the car-carrier “Cougar Ace” rolled on its side last
summer off the Aleutians.
Details of this week’s
incident remain sketchy, though reports from the Cook Inlet
Regional Citizens Advisory Council said the vessel slipped four
winches and parted at least one line at approximately 8:00 AM on
January 9. A prolonged cold spell has created heavy ice
conditions in Cook Inlet, and ice presumably played a role in
the incident. The incident forced the vessel to depart the dock,
and proceed to ice- free waters to the south in Kachemak Bay.
The U.S. Coast Guard previously had invoked its “winter ice
rules” for Cook Inlet, and early reports suggest the vessel and
crew complied with those guidelines.The events of this week were
similar to those that caused the same tanker to ground last
winter.
“Some apologists might argue the system worked because the
tanker didn’t end up on the beach again,” said Bob Shavelson of
Cook Inletkeeper. “But anytime you have an oil tanker forcibly
removed from its berth, it’s clear to most reasonable people
there’s a serious problem.”
The incident also raised concerns about the
designation of Kachemak Bay as a Port of
Refuge for stricken vessels in Cook Inlet. Kachemak Bay is a
state critical habitat area and a
National Estuarine Research Reserve; it’s also the safest place
in Cook Inlet to bring a leaking or
disabled vessel, especially during the harsh winter months.
“Kachemak Bay supports vibrant fishing,
tourism and subsistence economies,” said
Shavelson, “and it’s unfair for the residents of Kachemak Bay to
have to bear the burden of
unsafe shipping practices in the Upper Inlet.” The Shipping
Safety Partnership, a coalition of Alaska Native, fishing,
business, and conservation organizations, has been pushing for
shipping safety improvements in the North Pacific since the
Selendang Ayu disaster in the Aleutians in 2004.
“We should heed the warning signs of a
system on the verge of catastrophic failure,” said
Steiner. “It is time for the Congress to intervene and
jump-start this sluggish process of fixing
our ship safety system.”
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
RICK STEINER 907-786-4156
BOB SHAVELSON 907-299-3277
February 2006
Seabulk
Pride Runs Hard Aground in Cook Inlet, Alaska
Oil
Tanker Carrying Over 4.8 Million Gallons of Product
UPDATE! Tanker pulled from
beach shortly after 8:30 AM, Friday, Feb. 3! No spill evident;
crews checking vessel integrity. Cook Inlet Keeper commends the
Unified Command and the responders on-the-ground and water for a
job well done, calls for better navigational safety...
See Press Release
See Latest Situation Report & More
Photos taken Feb 2, 2006 at 3:00 PM.
© Cook Inlet
Keeper
More pictures click here
COOK INLET,
AK: Heavy ice and tides ripped the oil tanker Seabulk Pride
from its mooring at the Tesoro Refinery in Cook Inlet, Alaska,
on the morning of February 2, 2006. The vessel went aground
during a high tide cycle in extreme winter ice conditions,
despite the U.S. Coast Guard’s issuance January 30 of “extreme
ice rules” designed to prevent such incidents.
Cook Inlet
boasts the highest tidal range in the United States, and
currents can run up to 10 miles per hour. The region is also
notorious for its heavy and unpredictable icing conditions. As
a result, Cook Inlet poses extreme navigational hazards to ships
and tankers during heavy ice and tide conditions.
Cook Inlet
also stands out for its lack of navigational safeguards. Unlike
Prince William Sound and Puget Sound, where laden tankers
receive tug escorts during transit, loaded vessels ply the rough
and icy waters of Cook Inlet without tug escorts or legitimate
emergency/docking assistance.
A 1992 report
commissioned by the Cook Inlet Regional Citizens Advisory
Council (“Dickson Report”) found Cook Inlet to have the
most dangerous navigational conditions of any major port in the
Western Hemisphere, and recommended, among other things, tug
boat assists during vessel loading and unloading during heavy
ice conditions. Significantly, the navigational hazards in Cook
Inlet have not lessened since the Dickson Report 16 years
ago.
Cook Inlet is
an amazingly rich and productive estuary, and the risks posed by
oil spills are considerable. The region supports all 5 species
of wild Pacific salmon. Commercial salmon fisheries alone bring
over $14 million a year to local fishing families, and sport and
subsistence fisheries account for untold millions more. Cook
Inlet also supports an isolated stock of beluga whales, whose
numbers have dropped over 50% recently, leading to a “depleted”
listing under federal law.
Despite
numerous spills, accidents and close-calls, the U.S. Coast
Guard, shipping companies and oil and gas corporations have
refused to adopt appropriate safeguards to protect Cook Inlet
fisheries and the communities they support. Importantly,
technologies do not exist to adequately address oil spills in
heavy ice and current conditions. For the past decade, Cook
Inlet Keeper and others have called for tug assist vessels and
other navigational safety improvements. While Keeper applauds
Tesoro’s workers, agencies and the on-the-ground spill
responders for a job well done, the Seabulk Pride
grounding must prompt the Tesoro Corporation, other Cook Inlet
corporations and the U.S. Coast Guard to invest the necessary
resources in an area that has produced billions in dollars in
oil and gas industry profits.
An Abbreviated
History of Vessel and Structure Damage in Cook Inlet Caused by
Extreme Ice & Tides.
1964:
Winter ice and tides causes tear pilings from petroleum dock at
Port of Anchorage, approx. $33,000 damage.
1964:
Icebreaker Milton II caught in heavy ice.
1967:
Winter ice and tides demolish dock extension away from Port of
Anchorage, $1.9 million damage.
1967:
Tanker Evje IV strikes shoal, ruptures cargo oil tanks
after winter ice ripped out shoal marker buoy.
1980: Ice
pan pushes 540-ft SS Philadelphia into underwater object,
$300,000 damage.
1982:
497-ft SS Newark grounded after encountering heavy ice
and tides.
1983:
523-ft SS Galveston ripped loose from mooring at Port of
Anchorage by ice floe and tides, slight damage.
1986:
540-ft SS Philadelphia forced into dock after colliding
with large ice pan, $14,000 damage to 7 ships.
1990:
Heavy ice and currents ripped the MV Coast Range from the
Drift River pier during loading operations, resulting in spill
estimated at 200–600 gallons.
1999:
Heavy ice pushed the MV Ocean Laurel into Unocal’s dock
at Nikiski, causing $100,000 in damage to the dock and catwalk.
1999:
Heavy ice conditions cracked a oil storage tank aboard the MV
Chesapeake Trader, spilling approx. 420 gallons.
1999: The
Angelo D'Amato is ripped from its mooring in Nikiski,
causing a chemical spill and structural damage.
2000: Ice
clogged the cooling-water intake of the freighter MV Torm
Pacific, causing loss of power.
2000:
U.S.C.G. barred oil tankers and freighters from mooring at
Tesoro's and Unocal's docks due to extreme ice conditions.
Sources: N.D.
Mulherin, W.B. Tucker III, O.P. Smith & W.J. Lee, Marine Ice
Atlas for Cook Inlet, Alaska (2001)
Jon Little, Inlet Ice Shuts 2 Nikiski Docks, Anchorage
Daily News (January 21, 2000)
Additional Links to Latest Seabulk
Pride Incident Information:
Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation
United
States Coast Guard
Cook Inlet
Regional Citizens Advisory Council
Alaska Oceans
Program Shipping Safety Partnership
Seabulk Pride Vessel Information
Additional Materials:
U.S. Coast Guard Extreme Winter Ice Rules, Jan. 30, 2006
Marine Ice Atlas for Cook Inlet
Cook Inlet Navigational Safety Forum (1999)
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