Senate Hearing on Reducing Oil Spill Risk

On August 1, the Subcommittee on Fisheries and Coast Guard of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation conducted a field hearing in Seattle on Reducing the Risk of Future Oil Spills. Among the various witnesses, Captain Myles Boothe, USCG testified that the majority of oil entering waters of the United States comes from land-based sources and the majority of vessel-based oil spills in the Pacific Northwest comes from recreational and fishing vessels. Mr. Dale Jensen, Washington State Department of Ecology, testified that state and regional agencies should be allowed to establish higher vessel pollution prevention standards than those utilized by the federal government. Dr. Thomas Leschine, University of Washington, testified that oil pollution prevention regulations should be negotiated before, rather than after, an oil spill. (HK Law)