Washington state moves to update old oil spill rules

Washington state moves to update old oil spill rules The state of Washington Department of Ecology is moving forward to repeal six oil spill prevention and preparedness rules that were replaced in October 2006 when the agency adopted its new oil transfer and oil spill contingency plan rules.
   Following the passage of the new rules last year, WDE allowed the previous rules to remain on the books until this month when the new rules were fully implemented. The state is now using an expedited rule process to clear the old rules from the books. During the clean-up process, the state agency is also amending several existing oil spill rules to be consistent with some of the 2007 statutory changes.
   The first amendment is a definition change of 'oil' to include biologically-derived plant oils and fuels such as biodiesel. The amendment will bring the state definition of 'oil' in line with the federal government's definition. Currently, the state's definition only details “hydrocarbons coming from the earth.” Five current rules that reference the definition of oil will be affected by the change.
   The second amendment increases the maximum compensation that the state can assess to Washington residents for injuries to state natural resources caused by an oil spill. The current maximum of $50 per gallon of spilled oil will increase under the amendment to $100 per gallon.
   Under the expedited rule-making process, Ecology will take written objections regarding only the rule-making process and not the content of the rules.
   Written objections regarding the rule-making process must be submitted by Nov. 5, to Jerry Thielen, Ecology Rules Coordinator, Department of Ecology, P.O. Box 47600, Olympia, Wash., 98504.