Inquiry is urged into ability to react to big spill
Oil leak task force drafts recommendations
An independent investigation should be launched into whether the Puget Sound region has enough equipment readily available to contain a big oil spill, a government panel recommended yesterday.
The Oil Spill Early Action Task Force, which is examining the recent spill near Vashon Island, also advocated getting citizens more involved in planning to prevent spills. The group called for an in-depth look at how to do that in time for action by the 2005 Legislature.
One idea favored by some task force members -- and expected to be considered by the Legislature early next year -- is creating an independent citizen-run agency such as the one in Prince William Sound, Alaska.
Residents of Vashon and Maury islands were angered by the slow response to the Oct. 14 spill in Dalco Passage, and frustrated as they watched oil coat their beaches.
Merely putting citizens on existing government-run committees won't give them the well-funded platform they need to keep tabs on oil-spill preparation, argued an environmentalist on the task force that met yesterday in Tacoma.
"A bigger part is how an independent avenue for scientific expertise and credibility can be injected into our system," said Kathy Fletcher, president of the People for Puget Sound [an Earth Share of Washington organization].
Continue reading this story from the Seattle P-I:
Inquiry is urged into ability to react to big spill