DEP Delivering Emergency Spill Response Equipment Trailers To North Shore Communities

August 20, 2008

The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection is in the process of delivering 12 emergency spill response equipment trailers to Cape Ann communities this week.

Each trailer contains equipment that can be deployed quickly by local emergency response officials in case of an oil spill. A trailer was delivered to Gloucester yesterday and they are being delivered this week to Salisbury, Newbury, Newburyport, Rowley and Essex. The remaining six trailers will be delivered to Ipswich, Rockport, Manchester-by-the-Sea, Beverly, Salem, and Marblehead in the coming weeks.

“Our coastline helps to shape Massachusetts’ identity as the Bay State, and while the state’s 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,” Commissioner Burt said during ceremonies held at the U.S. Coast Guard Gloucester Station. “As history has shown, failing to do so only means longer, and ultimately more expensive, cleanups. Communities with these trailers will be ready, just in case.”

“Thanks to the Department of Environmental Protection, Salisbury and Plum Island communities will now receive state-of-the-art emergency response trailers to protect our community beaches from the devastating affects of an oil spill and other environmental disasters,” said Senator Steven A. Baddour (D-Methuen).

“The Coast Guard works closely with MassDEP and the local harbormasters to prevent oil from getting into our harbors,” said Capt. Gail Kulisch, Commander of the USCG Sector Boston. “If oil does get into the water, it is critical to get equipment deployed immediately. This partnership between the Coast Guard, MassDEP, and the local Cape Ann communities is a great example of how we are all working together towards the same goal.”

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.

Two years later, in June 2005, the initial round of 14 marine spill response trailers were delivered to the vicinity of that spill, the Buzzards Bay region. Currently, the state has 36 spill response trailers in place – each costing $32,000 to purchase, stock, outfit and deliver. Over the next several years, the Commonwealth intends to place approximately 100 trailers at various coastal locations around the state, maintained and replenished by MassDEP.

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 2-cent-per-barrel fee on industrial oil shipped through state waterways into local ports.

Each trailer is 20 feet long by eight feet wide and is divided into three storage compartments containing: varying sizes and types of containment and absorbent boom; oil sorbent pads; speedy dry; inflatable bladders; portable generator; electric air compressor; anchors, anchor chains; buoys; tools (sledge hammer, spade); safety/personal safety equipment (lights, caution tape, first-aid kit, boots), ropes, ties, cables and a padlock.

The Trust Fund also provides training and educational programs to local first responders so that they will be prepared should an oil spill occur in their community, as well as access to current technological databases they need to prepare emergency response plans for their waterways.