This Thursday (2/7), the Senate Environment, Energy, and Technology Committee will vote to advance SB 5578, which will improve the safety of oil transportation in our state.
Please contact all the members of the Senate Environment, Energy, and Technology Committee (or at least the Chair, Sen. Reuven Carlyle) and urge them to vote YES on SB 5578 to protect our state from the risk of a catastrophic oil spill in our waters!
| Sen. Reuven Carlyle, Chair (D), District 36 | Sponsor | [email protected] | (360) 786-7670 | |||
| Sen. Guy Palumbo, Vice Chair (D), District 1 | Sponsor | [email protected] | (360) 786 – 7600 | |||
| Sen. Mona Das (D), District 47 | [email protected] | (360) 786 – 7692 | ||||
| Sen. Joe Nguyen (D), District 34 | [email protected] | (360) 786 – 7667 | ||||
| Sen. Marko Liias (D), District 21 | Sponsor | [email protected] | (360) 786 – 7640 | |||
| Sen. John McCoy (D), District 38 | Sponsor | [email protected] | (360) 786 – 7674 | |||
| Sen. Lisa Wellman (D), District 41 | [email protected] | (360) 786 – 7641 | ||||
| Sen. Doug Ericksen (R), Ranking Member, District 42 | [email protected] | (360) 786 – 7682 | ||||
| Sen. Phil Fortunato (R), Assistant Ranking Member, District 31 | [email protected] |
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| Sen. Tim Sheldon (D), Assistant Ranking Member, District 35 | [email protected] | (360) 786-7668 | ||||
| Sen. Andy Billig (D), District 3 | Sponsor | [email protected] |
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| Sen. Sharon Brown (R), District 8 | [email protected] | (360) 786-7614 | ||||
| Sen. Steve Hobbs (D), District 44 | [email protected] | (360) 786-7686 | ||||
| Sen. Ann Rivers (R), District 18 | [email protected] | (360) 786-7634 | ||||
| Sen. Shelly Short (R), District 7 | [email protected] |
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This legislation authorizes the Department of Ecology to adopt rules for an Emergency Response Towing Vessel to be situated in the San Juan Islands and increases requirements for tug escorts for oil tankers and articulated tug barges. Southern Resident orcas were listed as an endangered species in part because of this region’s oil spill risk. If Southern Resident orcas are present in the event of an oil spill, that could devastate their population. SB 5578 (and the companion bill, HB 1578) would reduce threats to Southern Resident orcas by improving the safety of oil transportation (based on the Southern Resident Orca Task Force recommendation 24).
Ecology’s most recent 2012 Cost Benefit and Least Burdensome Alternative Analysis concluded that a major oil spill in Washington State is estimated to cost 165,000 jobs and $10.8 billion in annual economic activity. However, in addition to being outdated, this analysis did not include any impacts to private properties on the shoreline and did not address any impacts from non-floating (e.g., Canadian tar sands and diluted bitumen) oil spills.
The costs of the oil spill prevention measures in this bill, including the cost of an Emergency Response Towing Vessel stationed in the San Juan Islands, are a small fraction of the costs of a major oil spill’s impacts to our state’s economic and environmental and cultural resources.
Thank you for your voice and support!
