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June 8, 1999
CONGRESSMAN RODNEY FRELINGHUYSEN (R-NJ) STANDS UP FOR ENVIRONMENT -- ENSURES DOUBLE HULLS ON OIL TANKERS
(Washington, DC, June 8, 1999) - The full Committee on Appropriations in the U.S. House of Representatives today unanimously adopted an amendment sponsored by Congressman Rodney Frelinghuysen of New Jersey to preclude the United States Coast Guard from issuing a waiver to extend the operating life of old single hulled oil tankers past their explicit phase-out date called for under the Oil Pollution Act of 1990. The amendment was to the Transportation Appropriations Bill for fiscal year 2000.
In the aftermath of the devastating EXXON VALDEZ oil spill in Prince William Sound, Alaska, the U.S. Congress passed the Oil Pollution Act mandating double hulls on all oil tankers carrying oil in U.S. waters. The law stated that all newly built tankers would be constructed with double hulls, and that the existing fleet of old, environmentally unsafe single hulled ships would be phased out of operation between 1995 and the year 2015. The phase-out schedule of the law was explicit in that a tanker, based on its age, weight and configuration, was given a specific year when it would have to be retired. The purpose of the phase-out schedule was to encourage an orderly replacement of single hulled ships with double hulls.
Yet nine years later, some oil companies continue to fight the law rather than protect America's coastlines with an extra layer of steel, said Cynthia Brown, President of the American Shipbuilding Association (ASA). According to Brown, Exxon has, for example, asked the U.S. Coast Guard to let its single hulled tanker fleet operate for five years past its designated retirement date by proposing to not carry oil in the side tanks of its vessels. The Coast Guard, to its credit, has ruled that this would violate the letter and intent of the law. Despite this ruling, some oil companies are expected to keep scheming to find ways around the law.
Congressman Frelinghuysen's amendment puts an end to such attempts. Brown said that Frelinghuysen deserves a tremendous amount of gratitude from all Americans for preserving the integrity of the double hull provision of the Oil Pollution Act and for making sure that America's coastlines are protected from future catastrophic oil spills.
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