At this time last year, a freighter carrying soybeans from the Puget Sound to China foundered in the Bering Sea. The captain shut down the engine for repairs in the middle of a storm and the freighter was blown onto rocks near Alaska’s Unalaska Island in the Aleutians. The ship broke in two and spilled more than 300,000 gallons of heavy bunker fuel into these biologically rich waters. Six crew died in a failed rescue attempt. The ship, named the Selendang Ayu, created Alaska’s worst oil spill since the tragic Exxon Valdez spill in 1989.
Following the Selendang Ayu spill, a number of groups including Pacific Environment came together to create the Shipping Safety Partnership. This coalition of groups is working to improve shipping safety standards around the “Great Circle Route” for tankers and freighters transiting the North Pacific. More than 2,700 cargo ships transit through the North Pacific each year. We thought it was about time that we strengthened our efforts to protect the North Pacific from the risks of oil spills coming from this traffic.
Earlier this week, I attend a forum in Seattle on oil spill risks in the Puget Sound and Alaska, timed to occur a year following the Selendang Ayu spill. The forum, hosted by People for Puget Sound and the Shipping Safety Partnership, was a great place to discuss how to improve shipping safety from Puget Sound to Alaska, and extending across the Pacific Rim to Russia and China. We learned about new legislation that is being introduced by Senator Maria Cantwell and Representative Jay Inslee to strengthen oil spill prevention standards. We were inspired by Rick Steiner and Walt Parker – two of our long-time Alaska colleagues and supporters – about the opportunities to improve our oil spill prevention systems. The time to act is now – before we see any more accidents like the Selendang Ayu. And the focus needs to be on prevention – once the oil is in the water, it’s too late.
We tend to think of the Pacific Rim as an economic region. Indeed, shipping across the Pacific Rim embodies the trade ties between North America and Asia. But we have to come to terms with the environmental impacts of our increased trade. We have to recognize that this increased shipping comes with environmental risks. And if we don’t address these risks, a large oil spill could threaten communities, local economies, and cultures at any point along the Great Circle Route.
Oil spills happen – especially in bad storms. But they are preventable. Most oil spills occur due to human error. We can improve safety standards and regulations, creating redundant systems that can reduce the number of oil spills throughout the Pacific Rim.
We can do better here. I think the Shipping Safety Partnership is a great start. The Partnership is not an environmental coalition. It’s a coalition that brings native tribes, municipalities, labor groups, and conservation groups together to fight for a common goal: protecting our marine resources from oil spills. We’re working with the Partnership to expand it internationally – to bring in partners from Russia, Korea, Japan, and China – so that we can address shipping safety standards all across the North Pacific.
Our friend and colleague Pete Hendrickson is a crabber, fisherman, and longshoreman in Dutch Harbor, on Unalaska Island in the Aleutians. He lost out on crabbing last year due to the Selendang Ayu. Let’s work together to make sure we don’t see more such accidents – they are entirely preventable.
Cheers,
David Gordon
PS – On another “Pacific Rim connection,” check out this excellent editorial cartoon from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer:
PPS – You might also be interested in this excellent column by Joel Connelly in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, which provides more information on the forum.http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/connelly/251994_joel14.html
Posted by David Gordon 
