Twelve years ago BP built a second dock at its Cherry Point refinery north of Bellingham, Wash. But it didn’t do an assessment of what that added dock capacity would mean for tanker traffic in Washington waters.
Now the Army Corps of Engineers has released a long-awaited study that found that when BP built the second dock at Cherry Point it actually lowered the risk of a spill.
Another dock meant tankers spent less time waiting near the terminal –- where they’re more vulnerable to collision – and more time tied up safely.
Spill risk was also reduced by using escort tugs, requiring double-hulled vessels, and implementing one-way zones.
But here’s the catch: the study found that if traffic increases things look different.
“We have to recognize that if we increase traffic that it is possible that even with the two docks risk could increase above the level that was experienced when only one dock was there,” explains Rene van Dorp, one of the authors of the study and a professor of engineering at George Washington University in Washington, D.C.
So, two docks are better than one –- until there are more ships in the water.
Van Dorp says the San Juan Islands are the area’s hot spot for spill risk. Tankers coming and going to the BP terminal facility travel the waters of Haro and Rosario straits in North Puget Sound — essentially forming a bull’s eye circle around the islands.
Lovel Pratt, a San Juan County Council member, says her constituents are concerned.
“The potential risk of a major oil spill is one of the biggest threats to both our economy and our environment, which are intertwined.”
With the down economy tanker traffic to and from the BP terminal has actually decreased in the past few years.
But tanker traffic overall stands to increase if more Alberta oil is exported via Canada’s west coast.
There is also a proposal to build a new terminal near BP’s Cherry Point facility to export coal to Asian markets. At full capacity, that could mean more than 900 additional ships per year added to the traffic mix in Puget Sound.
Congrats to David James for his winning submission, 'Annabella smelling the Balsam.'
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