OSPR - Oil Spill Prevention and Response
The 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska was a wake-up call for the United States. It clearly identified the need to develop a comprehensive oil spill prevention and response program. In no place, outside of Alaska, was that call heard louder than in California. Public concern hit a threshold, in February 1990, when the tanker vessel American Trader discharged 10,000 barrels of oil into Southern California waters, oiling an estimated 3,400 birds and forcing the closure of 25 kilometers of prime beach for five weeks. As a direct result of the public’s demand for action, the California legislature passed the Lempert-Keene-Seastrand Oil Spill Prevention and Response Act of 1990 that established the OSPR. OSPR, as a division of the CDFG, is the lead state agency charged with the mission:
“…to provide the best achievable protection to California’s natural resources by preventing, preparing for, and responding to spills of oil and
other deleterious materials, and through restoring and enhancing affected
resources”.
OSPR, and its mission, is unique in that it is the only state agency in the United States with combined regulatory, law enforcement, pollution response and public trust authority along the coast or within tidally influenced waters. Thus, OSPR’s dual regulatory / trustee authority assures that oil spill prevention and response to spills will safeguard wildlife and the ecosystems in which they live and restore these resources when injured by pollution incidents.
The Enforcement Program within OSPR enforces laws that prevent oil spills, dispatches personnel, and investigates spills. Fish and Game Wardens are sworn peace officers with the authority to enforce both criminal and civil statutes. Wardens conduct spill investigations and gather and prepare evidence that is essential to any court case.
During a spill response, the State On-Scene Coordinator (or Incident Commander) is usually an OSPR Warden. The OSPR Enforcement Program includes the Department’s 24-hour Communications Center, which received more than 3300 spill reports in 2004. There are approximately 30 officers (Captains, Lt’s, Wardens) assigned to the Enforcement Program in California.
Email: info@californiafishandgamewardens.com
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Source of oil that killed seabirds identified;
State will remove oil from historic cement ship at Seacliff State Beach |
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Fuel oil that’s killed more than 50 seabirds since 2004, will be removed from the SS Palo Alto,
Seacliff State Beach, beginning Tuesday, Sept. 5. Expected completion of the oil removal operation on
the historic 1919 World War I tanker is mid-October.
California’s Office of Spill Prevention and Response (OSPR) – the pollution division of the
Department of Fish and Game (DFG) – will lead the project in partnership with the California Department
of Parks and Recreation (DPR), which owns the historic cement ship. OSPR will work to ensure that the
oil is safely removed without causing any damage to the popular local landmark.
After a lengthy investigation and oil fingerprinting, OSPR’s Petroleum Chemistry Laboratory
identified the SS Palo Alto as the source of oil that has killed 51 birds and left another 19 injured since
2004. Authorities have long believed that all the oil had been removed from the vessel. The 87-year-old
ship is in an accelerated state of deterioration, allowing diving birds such as cormorants access to internal
compartments.
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Inspectors found oil in some of the ship’s tanks in July, and will search for additional oil, as this
project begins. Accessible oil will be removed by precision mechanical techniques that will not cause any
further damage to the eroding vessel. Additionally, screen barriers will be fabricated and installed to
prevent birds from entering the oil tanks in the future. The screens will only affect areas nearest to the oil
tanks. They will not prevent wildlife access to other parts of the ship where they breed and shelter in areas
unaffected by the oil.
From September 5 to completion of the project, some Seacliff State Beach parking areas and the pier
leading to the Palo Alto must be closed for public safety. OSPR scheduled the work to be done in
September because the local bird population is lowest, the summer tourist season is concluding, and tide,
current and weather conditions are most favorable for worker safety and efficiency.
OSPR has deemed the oil trapped aboard the deteriorating SS Palo Alto to constitute an imminent
threat to the environment. Removing the old oil from the cement ship will not only protect wildlife and
the environment now; it will also help prevent a future oil spill, as the vessel continues to deteriorate.
Built as an oil tanker for World War I, the Palo Alto was launched in Oakland in 1919. The vessel
remained in Suisun Bay among the Navy’s mothball fleet in Benicia for a decade, before the Cal-Neva
Company purchased it in 1929 and towed it to its current location in Aptos. There, it was intentionally
grounded. The lower decks were flooded and the upper decks turned into an amusement center. Two
years later, the owners took the vessel out of business and the ship was stripped. Cal-Neva later sold it to
State Parks for one dollar, and it quickly became a popular fishing pier. It also became a kind of artificial
reef, attracting fish, crustaceans, barnacles, seabirds, and harbor seals.
As time, surf and weather eroded the Palo Alto, and its deck became dangerous, State Parks had to block
access, to protect public health and safety. The public pier that connects the ship to the beach will reopen
once the project is completed. DPR expects to re-open the pier in time for the Monte Foundation
fireworks show scheduled for Oct. 14. |
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