Unimak Pass rescue vessels far in future

SPILLS: First comes a study of ways to cut risks.

By ELIZABETH BLUEMINK
Anchorage Daily News
July 18, 2008

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Ship traffic through the Aleutian Islands is growing significantly and, along with it, the risk of accidents, according to a scientific report published Thursday.

Carrying cargo from Toyotas to sneakers, thousands of ships pass through the remote, stormy archipelago each year, transiting the Great Circle shipping route between Asian and U.S. ports.

The traffic through Unimak Pass, a 28-mile-long corridor through the Aleutian chain, is roughly double the amount of vessel traffic to all Alaska ports combined, according to the 185-page report, published by the Washington, D.C.-based Transportation Research Board, an arm of the National Research Council.

Unlike the boats that arrive in Alaska ports, many of the ships traveling through the Aleutians are minimally regulated. In recent years, thousands of gallons of fuel have spilled near Unalaska Island, one of the country's top seafood ports, the report said.

In 20 years of Aleutian spills, almost no oil has been recovered, and in many cases, bad weather and other problems have prevented any response at all, according to the report.

Federal and state decisions about big steps that might be taken to reduce harm from a shipping accident or spill in the Aleutians are some years off. The report published Thursday is a precursor to a two-year, joint state and federal study of how to reduce those risks.

That seems like too long for some people who live in the region.

"I have some impatience," said Pete Hendrickson, an Unalaska fisherman who says he lost fishing time due to the massive fuel oil spill from a Malaysian cargo ship that broke apart near the island in 2004.

The Selendang Ayu accident led to six deaths when a Coast Guard rescue helicopter went down. Fuel from the ship contaminated 34 miles of beach and cost roughly $100 million to clean up.

Last March, Hendrickson said, he and other Unalaska residents were petrified when a 443-foot freighter, the Spanish-flagged Salica Frigo, temporarily lost power and drifted within 500 yards of Unalaska Island.

"We need to get something in place so we don't lose another ship," he said.

Rick Steiner, a marine activist and University of Alaska Anchorage professor, spoke at a meeting held Thursday in downtown Anchorage to present the report's findings to the public.

Government officials need to deploy an "interim" rescue tug in the Aleutians now, instead of waiting for the end of the study, Steiner said.

If it takes five years to fund any rescue vessels, there will be "40,000 possible disasters out there," he said.

"We understand the sense of urgency," said Keith Michel, one of the authors of the report.

He said deploying a rescue tug requires an extensive review -- what kind and how big a tug, for example. "We were not prepared to make a recommendation on that," he said.

"I think everyone would like to have a rescue tug out there," said Gary Folley, an on-scene spill coordinator for the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation.

Yet rescue tugs are costly to operate and funding is a sticking point, according to Coast Guard officials at Thursday's meeting.

A rescue tug recently deployed to the Juan de Fuca Strait in Washington state has a $3 million annual budget, said Coast Guard Cmdr. James Robertson, the 17th District's Juneau-based chief of inspections and investigations.

A rescue tug deployed in the remote Aleutians could cost three times that amount, Robertson said.

The Coast Guard is not closed to the idea of deploying a rescue tug, he added. The study will figure out the pros and cons, he said.

The report suggested that the Coast Guard and the state should investigate funding levels for a rescue tug stationed in the Aleutian chain while the two-year study is in progress.

The $3 million study will begin this year. State and federal officials said Thursday they soon will start appointing people to serve on the study's advisory panel.

The study is being paid for by the operator of the Selendang Ayu as part of its $10 million plea agreement in federal court in 2007.