Coast Guard Restricts Use of Huntington Beach Oil Depot

A U.S. Coast Guard investigation of February’s tanker accident that dumped 394,000 gallons of oil off the Orange County coast has led to restrictions on a Huntington Beach mooring, which may ultimately limit tanker traffic at similar offshore oil depots in California.

Under the new rules, there must be at least six feet of clearance between the vessel and the sea floor or any known obstruction, such as an anchor. Depth readings will be taken monthly, and the moorings will be measured before each tanker arrival, said Chris Desmond, commander of the Coast Guard’s Marine Safety Office in Long Beach.

The new regulations apply only to the Huntington Beach marine terminal, where the 811-foot tanker American Trader gashed itself on its own anchor at low tide Feb. 7 in waters that had not been charted since 1975. But Desmond said it is “very likely that similar guidelines” could eventually be extended to some of the other 20 offshore terminals in California.

Soundings at the time of the accident showed water depths at the Huntington Beach mooring between 50 and 56 feet. But the Coast Guard report said new soundings taken after the accident found the water depth at its shallowest to be 47 feet.

Under the Coast Guard’s new rules for tanker deliveries at the facility, the American Trader would not have been allowed into the terminal the day of the accident.

The disabled tanker had a draft of 43 feet at the time of the mishap, and Desmond said only vessels of 32 feet or less would have been allowed into the terminal that day because of the “low tide, four-foot groundswell and shallowness of the mooring.”

“We believe these are prudent restrictions to get oil into that refinery and still avert another accident,” Desmond said.

The operator of the mooring, Golden West Refineries in Santa Fe Springs, was notified of the restrictions last week. Roger Kemple, an executive with the firm, said his company “probably won’t challenge” the restrictions.

But he added: “It will very difficult on us and it’s going to be very costly” to make up the difference between deliveries by smaller tankers and the supplies that will have to be trucked to its refinery.