Legislative work

ESHB 1578 requires us to work with BPC under an interagency agreement to adopt rules implementing tug escorts in Puget Sound by Dec. 31, 2025. These rules will apply to:

• Oil tankers between 5,000 and 40,000 deadweight tons.
• Articulated tug-barges (ATBs), towed waterborne vessels, or barges greater than 5,000 deadweight tons, by zones.

The rulemaking applies to waters east of Discovery Island Light south to New Dungeness Light and all points in the Puget Sound area.

Deliverables:

• Develop an interagency agreement with BPC to assist with rulemaking activities.
• Identify and define zones to inform modeling analysis.
• Complete a synopsis of changing vessel traffic trends.
• Complete a modeling analysis for tug escorts consistent with section 4, with consultation, with summaries provided to the Legislature. This report is published and can be found here: https://apps.ecology.wa.gov/publications/SummaryPages/2308009.html.
• Assist BPC with promulgating new tug escort rules. For more information, visit the rulemaking website.

In addition to using the model for informing tug escort rulemaking, ESHB 1578 requires us to assess whether an emergency response towing vessel in the San Juan Islands will reduce oil spill risk. We submitted the Analysis of an Additional Emergency Response Towing Vessel Report to the Legislature on September 1, 2023.

• Functional oil spill risk model.
• Legislative report on modeling analysis for an emergency response towing vessel in the San Juan Islands.

The first annual Salish Sea Shared Waters Forum was held in Bellingham in October 2018. All levels of government on both sides of the border — tribes, First Nations, environmental groups, and industry — were invited, and over 150 participants attended. The first Forum focused on advancing collective knowledge about current policies and practices and potential safeguards and began a cross-border conversation about:

• Gaps and conflicts in oil spill policies.
• Opportunities to reduce oil spill risk, including requiring tug escorts for oil tankers, articulated tug barges, and towed vessels or barges.
• Enhancing oil spill prevention, preparedness, and response capacity.
• Whether an emergency response system, similar to the Neah Bay emergency tug, will decrease oil spill risk and how to fund such a shared system.

In 2019, ESHB 1578 directs us to discuss options for a shared emergency response system in advance of the Salish Sea Shared Waters Forum with:

• all potentially affected federally recognized Indian treaty tribes; and
• relevant organizations such as (but not limited to) the Coast Salish Gathering.

Generally (not limited to 2019), the forum must also address impacts of vessel traffic on treaty-protected fishing.

The Forum serves as a platform for open dialogue to exchange information regarding minimizing the risk and impacts of spills in the Salish Sea. It is a non-voting and non-decision-making entity. The Pacific States/British Columbia Oil Spill Task Force, of which Washington and British Columbia are founding members, worked with Ecology and the B.C. Ministry of Environment and Climate Change to establish and hold the Forum. 

•  Visit the Salish Sea Shared Waters Forum web page

Deliverable: Hold at least one facilitated meeting per year until July 2021.

The study area for the synopsis is Northern Puget Sound (north of Admiralty Inlet) and the Strait of Juan de Fuca, including Canadian portions of transboundary waters. A draft of the synopsis is due to the Legislature on June 30, 2021. For more information, visit the Synopsis of Vessel Activity webpage.

ESHB 1578 requires pipeline and rail oil transfer reporting requirements to include additional, new information concerning the type of oil for facilities receiving crude oil by rail and pipelines transporting crude oil, and the gravity of oil for pipelines. This work builds on the existing Advance Notice of Oil Transfer (ANT) System and quarterly crude oil movement reports.

ESSB 5579 prohibits an oil handling facility from loading or unloading crude oil into or from a rail tank car if the oil’s vapor pressure is nine pounds per square inch (psi) or greater under certain conditions. Additionally, under ESSB 5579, advance notice information provided to us must include additional, new information concerning the type and vapor pressure of crude oil received from a rail tank car. The Utilities and Transportation Commission (UTC) must receive and use rail oil transfer data in the development of its annual work plans for inspection activities.

We adopted rule amendments that incorporate sections of ESHB 1578 and ESSB 5579, since they both required amendments to Chapter 173-185 WAC, Oil movement by rail and pipeline notification. Initially the rulemaking was scoped to address statutory limits on the vapor pressure of crude oil that can be loaded or unloaded into or from a rail tank car by facilities. However, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) determined that the crude oil vapor pressure limit is preempted by the Hazardous Materials Transportation Act. Ecology continued rulemaking, but did not pursue the limits on vapor pressure.

Final deliverables:

• Amended rules governing notice of crude oil transfers to facilities from railroads, and pipeline transport of crude oil
• Updates to Ecology’s Advance Notice of Oil Transfer (ANT) System to accommodate new advance notice information requirements
• Aggregate quarterly reports to the public posted on Ecology’s website that reflect the new information collected

We adopted rule amendments that incorporate sections of ESHB 1578 to Chapter 173-180 WAC, Facility oil handling standards and Chapter 173-184 WAC, Vessel oil transfer advance notice and containment requirements.

ESHB 1578 requires vessel over-water oil transfer advance notice reporting requirements to include additional, new information on the type of crude oil, the gravity of oil, and region per the bill of lading. This work builds upon the existing advance notice of transfer (ANT) System.

Final deliverables: 

• Amend rules governing advance notice of oil transfers.
• Update data system to accommodate new advanced notice information requirements.

Rulemaking information

• Chapter 173-182 WAC, Oil spill contingency plan
• Chapter 173-186 WAC, Oil spill contingency plan — railroad

We will require:

• Updates to oil spill contingency plans.
• Oil spill drills that verify the updates to contingency plans in situations where oil may submerge or sink.
• Approval of contractors providing spill management and wildlife rehabilitation service providers under approved contingency plans.

In addition, the Legislature — through the 2018 State Supplemental Operating Budget — provided the resources to conduct rulemaking regarding contingency plans for short-line railroads that transport non-fuel oils, per ESHB 1136. We are currently developing a timeline for this work.

We evaluated the first industry-hosted joint drill in October 2018 to address oils that may submerge or sink.

Deliverables: Adopted rules, updated contingency plans, and approved spill management team applications by December 2019.

Community input will be part of the GRP update process.

• Review and comment on GRPs

Deliverables: 

• Report to the Legislature in December 2019.
• Updates to the following GRPs:
  • North Central Puget Sound
  • Strait of Juan de Fuca
  • Central Puget Sound
  • South Puget Sound
  • Willapa Bay
  • Spokane River
  • Snake River Lower Monumental Pool
  • Snake River Little Goose Pool
  • Snake River Lower Granite Pool

The Activity and Funding Report includes:

• A description of the Spills Program's ongoing activities, as well as activities expected to end after fiscal year 2019
• Recommendations about potential sources of funding for the Spills Program
• Recommendations about the allocation of funding from the barrel tax among various state agencies, including whether funding should be discontinued or reduced for any agency
• A forecast of the Spills Program's funding needs after fiscal year 2019

For questions, please contact Brittany Flittner, Brittany.Flittner@ecy.wa.gov or (360) 584-4490.