12/15/2004
Brandywine Hundred Legislators Call For Elimination Of Single-Hulled Tankers On Delaware

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 15, 2004
Contact: Stephanie Mantegna, House of Representatives, 302-577-8515

Lawmakers call on fellow legislators in Pennsylvania and New Jersey to demand the voluntary elimination of single-hulled tankers servicing refineries along the Delaware River

     State Representatives Robert J. Valihura, Jr. (R-Delaware North), Wayne A. Smith (R-Brandywine Hundred North), Gregory F. Lavelle (R-Sharpley) and Diana M. McWilliams (D-Shipley Ridge) and State Senators Catherine Cloutier (R-Heatherbrooke) and Charles L. Copeland (R-West Farms), gathered together at Fox Point State Park backed by the sight of an oil slicked Delaware River, today called on the operators of refineries along the Delaware River to voluntarily agree to use only double-hulled tankers for crude oil deliveries to their facilities. They also announced a legislative initiative to increase the limitations of liability that exist under Delaware’s Oil Pollution statute and to remove the caps on damages for single-hulled ships that are involved in an oil spill accident on the Delaware River, the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal, in the Delaware Bay or along the coast.

     Federal law controls the types of ships that may traverse the Delaware River and Bay, and, as a result, Delaware and its sister states are without the legislative power to act to ban single-hulled tank vessels on the Delaware River. Coast Guard regulations, however, provide for a ban on these types of ships in all United States coastal waters by the year 2011. The legislators are calling on the refineries to accelerate that ban by voluntarily implementing it by starting the scheduling of only double-hulled tankers for all deliveries which are newly scheduled after January 1, 2005 with the complete ban becoming effective as of July 1, 2005.

     Representative Valihura, expressing the outrage of the community about this tragic, yet wholly preventable oil spill, stated, “Whether by accident, negligence or plain recklessness, we cannot tolerate further crude oil caused environmental degradation of the Delaware River ecosystem. We are calling on all of the refineries to implement this voluntary elimination of single-hulled tankers so that no such tankers will be on the Delaware by July 2005. Europe has already imposed a mandatory ban, and to protect our fragile environmental resources for the future, we are asking that these refineries take this common sense step as good citizens and good neighbors.”

     There are a total of seven refineries along the Delaware. The only Delaware facility is operated by Premcor in Delaware City. Sunoco has a total of three refineries—its Marcus Hook and Philadelphia refineries in Pennsylvania and its Eagle Point facility in New Jersey. CITGO operates the facility in Paulsboro, New Jersey where the crippled tanker Athos I was headed, and Valero Energy Corporation also operates a refinery in Paulsboro. ConocoPhillips operates a facility in Trainer, Pennsylvania. In letters to each of the operators of these facilities, the legislators expressed their concern about the future of the River prior to the Coast Guard’s Rules becoming effective in 2011, and explained their reasons for the importance of all of the refineries committing to this voluntary elimination. (See attached letter)

     To highlight the fact that this is an issue affecting the entire state, Rep. Valihura said that State Representative Joseph W. Booth (R-Georgetown), soon-to-be-named Chairman of the House Natural Resources and Environmental Management Committee, will hold a committee hearing to address the November oil spill. Rep. Booth said, “I plan to invite DNREC officials, representatives from the refinery industry and environmental advocates, to provide an update on the progress of the clean-up effort and to explain what steps are being taken to ensure a similar incident does not occur again.”

     Senator Cloutier, noting that additional encouragement might be necessary for those refineries that operate further up river, explained that the legislators are enlisting the aid of their legislative colleagues in Pennsylvania and New Jersey to get the attention and cooperation of these refineries. “While none of our three states is in the position to pass legislation to ban these outdated ecological time bombs, the state legislators in each of the three states do represent the interests of the millions of residents of the Delaware Valley who are concerned and shocked by the devastation that has been caused by using a single-hulled tanker, where only double-hulled tankers should be. We are today contacting the legislative leaders in Pennsylvania and New Jersey and asking them to join with us in demanding all of the refineries accept deliveries from only double-hulled tankers.”

The legislators also announced that they are calling on the Delaware Petroleum Council and the Delaware River Pilots’ Association to support this voluntary ban and are urging them to join with them in their efforts to help protect the environment, ship crews and the public from these inherently problematic transport ships. Last week, another single-hulled tanker—in a horrific mid-winter disaster—split in half in the waters on the west coast of Unalaska Island off the Alaska coast, causing the loss of six crew members and possibly spilling hundreds of thousands of gallons of crude oil into the pristine Bering Sea.

     To further support the effort to encourage refineries to schedule the use of only double-hulled tankers on the Delaware, Rep. Lavelle announced that the legislators will introduce, when the General Assembly returns to session in January, legislation to increase liability for all crude oil accidents and to remove Delaware’s statutory liability cap on accidents involving single-hulled tankers. Rep. Lavelle said, “Those who wish to ignore our call for immediate action, will do so at their peril. The legislation that we will introduce will ensure that a single-hulled tanker will suffer the full consequences of any accident that befalls it in and around Delaware. The risk/reward calculation should now tip toward protecting our coastline and the Delaware estuary.”

     Eileen Butler, Environmental Advocate for the Delaware Nature Society, commended the legislators and encouraged the refineries to adopt this voluntary prohibition. Ms. Butler stated, “While some refineries may believe that they have a handle on this by having a majority of their deliveries made by double-hulled tankers, it is simply unacceptable, given the catastrophic results that just one tanker can do to our environment. It may take years to fully realize the ecological impact of this one spill. Nothing less than 100% double-hulled tankers can give us the protection that is reasonably necessary from accidents such as the one we are suffering now.”

     Senator Copeland said, “I am hopeful that this legislative initiative will be the first step toward preventing a similar devastating incident along our waterways. When you have hundreds of thousands of oil spilled in the Delaware, resulting in a multi-million dollar clean-up and a significant death toll of wildlife, something must be done, and it must be done sooner rather than later.”

302-475-5460

READ THE LETTER

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