House passes oil spill prevention measure

The House of Representatives on June 27 unanimously passed a bill aimed at preventing oil spills in the nation’s waterways.

Rep. Frank LoBiondo, R-N.J., wrote the “Delaware River Protection Act” following a November 2004 accident involving a Greek oil tanker that spilled 265,000 gallons into the Delaware River. The spill hampered shipping and polluted more than 100 miles of shoreline in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware — from the Tacony-Palmyra Bridge in northeast Philadelphia to south of the Smyrna River in Delaware.

The measure now goes to the Senate.

The measure would: increase liability limits on single-hull tankers under the Oil Pollution Act; require ships to report objects that are lost overboard to the Coast Guard for immediate recovery; create a new committee to report to Congress on ways to improve oil spill response and prevention, and establish a pilot project on the Delaware River and bay to test techniques to recover submerged oil.

The spill happened when the hull of the tanker was ripped open by a rusty anchor resting on the river bottom. Authorities have not determined where the anchor came from. “The unanimous support for this legislation shows that it is not only very important to our region, but to the nation as well,” said LoBiondo, chairman of the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Subcommittee. “This bill will help ensure that the ecologically significant areas in New Jersey, Delaware and Pennsylvania are protected from future oil spills, while allowing the vital commerce of the Delaware River and the nation to continue.”

Co-sponsors of the measure were Reps. Jim Saxton, R-N.J., Rob Andrews, D-N.J., Mike Castle, R-Del., and Allyson Schwartz, D-Pa.

—The Associated Press