Doubt, Hope Expressed on Oil Spill Law : Legislation Clears House Subcommittee

After the Argo Merchant tanker ran aground near Nantucket, Mass., in 1976, spilling 7.6 million gallons of oil, Congress expressed concern about the environmental hazards but never adopted major oil spill legislation.

Twelve years and an even worse oil spill later, Congress is again considering legislation, which a congressional aide fears will suffer the same fate. But Rep. Gerry Studds (D-Mass.), whose district includes Nantucket, is a bit more hopeful.

In the wake of the Exxon Valdez oil spill in March--which succeeded the Argo Merchant as the worst oil spill in U.S. history--a House Merchant Marine and Fisheries subcommittee voted favorably Wednesday on oil spill proposals.

Bill Woodward, staff director for the fisheries and wildlife subcommittee, said Wednesday that he doubts that the bill will become law.

“It’ll pass the House (as it has in various versions several times), but I have been through this too often to be optimistic it will become law. Even after the Valdez,” Woodward said, noting that the Senate has not approved bills that step on states’ own spill legislation.

However, Studds said he is less pessimistic.

“If we get it, it will be because of the Alaska incident, which makes inaction inexplicable. In Washington language, I guess you can say I’m hopeful,” he said.

“One of the lessons is that if things are not done quickly now in response to the Valdez, we risk the chance that people will forget the tragedy,” Woodward said. “Twelve years from now we could be dealing with this again.”

Fisheries Affected

The Argo Merchant was carrying about 7.6 million gallons of oil on Dec. 15, 1976, when it ran aground 27 miles southeast of Nantucket, Mass., a resort island south of Cape Cod, and subsequently was torn apart by storm waves.

The spill sent a slick more than 100 miles long across the rich fishing grounds of Georges Bank.

On March 24, the Exxon Valdez slammed into a reef off Valdez, Alaska, spilling nearly 11 million gallons of oil into Prince William Sound. The accident has fouled hundreds of miles of beaches, killing otters, sea birds and other wildlife and wreaking havoc on the area’s herring and salmon fisheries.

After the Argo Merchant accident, some legislation passed, including requirements for improved radar, improved crew training and segregated ballasts so that water used for ballast and eventually dumped would not be contaminated with oil.

However, a comprehensive oil spill bill proposed in 1977 by President Jimmy Carter, Studds and Sen. Warren Magnuson (D-Wash.), never became law.

The House subcommittee Wednesday approved yet another bill that may not pass Senate muster because it includes a controversial provision to prohibit legal action under state laws to recover damages from oil spillers. The Senate historically has refused to accept federal preemption of state laws on the issue.

The provision, dubbed by opponents as a gift to polluters, would limit liability of oil companies for spill damages to provisions of the federal law.

Other measures proposed, but never adopted since the Argo Merchant accident, include requiring protective double hulls on oil tankers and having more oil spill strike teams. President Ronald Reagan cut back Carter’s proposal of 11 teams to two. The subcommittee Wednesday approved an amendment to finance two more strike teams.