In an effort to avert ecological catastrophes associated with oil spills from freighters before they happen, the Coast Guard announced Aug. 26 its crews will begin enforcing new regulations that place added responsibility on ships’ pilots and owners. The tighter rules require any “nontank” vessel (greater than 400 tons, using carrying fuel for propulsion only) operating in U.S. ports or waterways to prepare plans to address worst-case oil spill scenarios, and submit those plans in advance to the Coast Guard. The higher standards were put in place after an incident last November, in which the Chinese-owned container ship Cosco Busan spilled oil into San Francisco Bay after striking the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge in dense fog after departing the Port of Oakland. The ship was under control of an American harbor pilot at the time of the accident. Such plans must include information on availability of those under contract to act quickly to clean up such spills, and describe training, testing, drill and response protocols the ships and their crews must follow.
