Juneau -- Saturday, the Alaska House of Representatives passed a bill which would require non-tanker vessels and the railroad to provide the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) with proof of financial responsibility for damages resulting from oil spills. SB 273 establishes a spill response planning standard of containment and control of up to 15 percent of a vessel's maximum capacity within 48 hours, and to clean up the spill as quickly as possible with minimal damage to the environment. It also establishes a task force to study contingency plan recommendations by the industry groups regulated under this bill.

Today's vote was a bittersweet victory for the bill's sponsor, Senator Drue Pearce (R-Anchorage). "I am very disappointed that the industry refused to deal with this bill," said Pearce. "The public will scrutinize the task force's progress on developing responsible oil spill contingency rules in a timely fashion and ensure that the effected industry groups do not use the task force to prevent such rules from coming into effect."

Most of Alaska's oil spills come from carriers that are not currently required to prepare for spill response. Recently, the Alaska Railroad has had two large spills totaling 139,000 gallons of jet fuel. There was also a disastrous spill in 1997 where the M/V Kuroshima spilled 39,000 gallons of oil on the beaches near Dutch Harbor.

"The fact is that spills and groundings are going to occur," said Pearce. "SB 273 is simply a vehicle to be prepared with a response plan for when these unfortunate accidents happen. It will expand the existing prevention and response program to include these large ships and the Alaska Railroad which transports oil in bulk."

SB 273 returns to the Senate for concurrence on House changes. A notice of reconsideration was filed.

Attachments:

• What to you think about the issue? Should Alaska require the Alaska Railroad, fishing boats, cargo vessels, and cruise ships over 400 gross tons to provide oil spill response and contingency plans?



• Sponsor Statement for senate version



• Letter from Sen. Pearce to Rep. Barnes
• Letter from Rep. Barnes to Sen. Pearce



• Senator Pearce Press Release 04-17-00
• Representative Barnes Press Release 04-19-00
• Representative Barnes Press Release 04-20-00

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