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Patrick-Murray
Administration Delivers Oil Spill Emergency Response Trailers for
Protection of Boston Harbor
MassDEP Program Provides Equipment to City of Boston to Enhance
Oil Spill Response
BOSTON – The Patrick-Murray Administration today presented to the
City of Boston the first of six emergency spill response equipment
trailers, which can be deployed immediately to protect Boston Harbor
and the city’s waterfront in the event of a spill of oil or other
hazardous material.
Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP)
Commissioner Kenneth Kimmell presented the first trailer to
officials from the Boston environmental and fire departments during
a ceremony held along the waterfront in Charlestown. The trailers
contain state-of-the-art equipment, such as containment and
absorbent boom, and they will be located in Charlestown, East
Boston, South Boston and Brighton until needed.
“The city will receive trailers stocked with emergency equipment
that is essential in mitigating an oil spill’s impact during the
spill’s first few hours,” said Commissioner Kimmell. “While our
priority will always be to protect natural resources from
environmental damage, we also need our partner communities to have
the capability to respond in the event of an emergency. Now, Boston
will be ready, just in case.”
Deploying these trailers was a key part of the Oil Spill Prevention
and Response Act of 2004, legislation which was crafted in response
to the massive oil spill of April 27, 2003. Approximately 98,000
gallons of industrial fuel oil spilled into Buzzards Bay after a
tank barge struck a rocky outcropping, polluting nearly 100 miles of
coastline, leaving 178,000 acres of shellfish beds closed for months
during the cleanup, and killing more than 450 shore birds.
Since 2005, MassDEP has delivered 82 response trailers to 69
Massachusetts coastal communities. The trailers cost $32,000 each to
purchase, stock, outfit and deliver.
“These emergency spill response trailers provide the city valuable,
added assurance when it comes to the protection of our harbor and
waterfront,” said Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino. “I’m pleased to be
collaborating with the Patrick-Murray Administration on this program
as Boston continues to raise the bar as a national sustainability
leader.”
(more)
Approximately 40 of the trailers have been utilized to address oil
spills in communities that have included New Bedford, Newburyport,
Nantucket, Gloucester, Fall River, Barnstable, Falmouth, Aquinnah
and Plymouth.
“I applaud MassDEP Commissioner Kimmell's commitment to public
safety in Boston and throughout the Commonwealth,” said Senator
Salvatore DiDomenico. “In our densely populated neighborhoods,
equipping our first responders with the proper tools to contain an
oil spill or other hazardous material is a must; especially where
Boston is an active energy distribution point for much of the
Northeast.”
“I commend the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection
for selecting Charlestown as a recipient of an oil spill response
trailer,” said Representative Eugene O’Flaherty. “Charlestown is a
densely populated community with heavily traveled truck routes
surrounding its borders. An oil spill could quickly turn tragic if
the appropriate response supplies are not in place and this trailer
will assist our first-responders in the event of a crisis. It is a
resource I am relieved to see, but hope we never have to use.”
“The delivery of oil spill response trailers is imperative in
maintaining safe neighborhoods and a safe city,” said Boston City
Councilor Sal LaMattina. “It also better equips our city’s emergency
first-responders in the event of an oil spill or hazmat
catastrophe.”
“This oil spill emergency response trailer is just another example
of the wonderful cooperation we enjoy across our federal, state,
local, and industry partners here in Boston,” said U.S. Coast Guard
Captain John C. O’Connor III, Commander of Sector Boston.
“Environmental protection is a team effort and we have a strong
collaborative team here in the port of Boston.”
Each trailer is 16 feet long by eight feet wide and is divided into
two storage compartments containing: varying sizes and types of
containment and absorbent boom; oil sorbent pads; speedy dry;
inflatable bladders; anchors and anchor chains; buoys; tools like a
hammer and spade; safety/personal safety equipment, such as lights,
caution tape, first-aid kit and boots; and ropes, ties, cables and a
padlock.
The funding to purchase and distribute these trailers and the
equipment is provided from the Oil Spill Act Trust Fund, which has
as its source a 5-cent-per-barrel fee on petroleum products shipped
through state waterways to local ports.
MassDEP also provides training and regional oil spill response plans
(called “Geographic Response Plans) to local fire departments and
first-responders so that they will be prepared should an oil spill
occur in their community. As part of today’s presentation, MassDEP
will provide training classes to Boston first-responders in the
coming months.
(more)
For more information on MassDEP’s oil spill response trailer
program, turn to: http://www.mass.gov/dep/cleanup/os/index.html
MassDEP is responsible for ensuring clean air and water, safe
management and recycling of solid and hazardous wastes, timely
cleanup of hazardous waste sites and spills, and the preservation of
wetlands and coastal resources.
###
Commonwealth of Massachusetts • Deval Patrick, Governor • Tim
Murray, Lieutenant Governor
Executive Office of Energy & Environmental Affairs • Richard K.
Sullivan Jr., Secretary
Department of Environmental Protection • Kenneth L. Kimmell,
Commissioner
One Winter Street • Boston 02108 • (617) 292-5500 • www.mass.gov/dep
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