Hood Canal Oil Spill: NOAA Food Tasters Say Shellfish are Safe

NOAA's "Sniff Test"

(Can you smell everything?)

click here for NOAA "sniff test" details

A NOAA "sensory panel" has said shellfish in Hood Canal pass the "sniff test" and are safe to eat. As a result the Department of Health has released this statement:

We are lifting the shellfish harvest advisory in portions of the Hood Canal #1 and #2 growing areas effective immediately based on results from a sensory panel conducted by NOAA on representative samples throughout the shellfish harvest advisory and emergency closure areas.

It is unknown whether the Department of Health will propose the "sniff test" to the Chinese when they meet over concerns of shellfish safety and testing. China claimed to have received geoduck from Washington with elevated levels of arsenic and from Alaska with elevated levels of Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning toxins. Their concerns resulted in China's blocking the import of shellfish, including geoduck, from the west coast. That ban has been in place since December 5. [click here for EarthFix report]

Hood Canal Oil Spill - What may have been discharged into Hood Canal

What comes along with that oyster

from Hood Canal?



What Ohio Class Submarines contain their Waste Oil Containment Tanks
While waiting for additional information to be provided from agencies responsible for safe shellfish and Puget Sound's water quality, some may be interested in reading about what is contained in submarine bilge "water" and how it is handled. In "Submarine Bilgewater: Nature of Discharge" the Environmental Protection Agency describes the risk from what is contained in Ohio Class submarines' Waste Oil Containment Tanks (WOTC) this way:

Therefore, submarine bilgewater, uncontrolled, has the potential to cause an adverse

environmental effect.

Which tank was being pumped?
Detailed in the report mentioned above is how bilge "water" in the Ohio class submarines is dealt with. Of importance, it notes the oil and water are separated with the oil being retained until the submarines reach a land based facility. The "water" may be retained or discharged into the water, depending on location. The oil, however, is retained.

The upper, oil phase from the Waste Oil Collection Tank is discharged only to authorized shore facilities.

Was it oil or was it water or was it both?
What has not been made public by the agencies involved is what was being pumped when the failure resulting in the estimated 2,000 gallon discharge occurred. From the photos taken by the Department of Ecology is seems clear it was not simply dirty bilge water.

 

A sheen stretching 10 miles

What the discharge may have contained
Below is a table taken from the EPA report which indicates what have entered into Hood Canal and in turn may have been filtered by oysters along the shorelines of Hood Canal. How the Department of Health and the Department of Ecology are determining what may have been - or continues to be - filtered by shellfish in Hood Canal remains to be seen.

Discharged into Hood Canal

(click table to enlarge)

Hood Canal Naval Oil Spill: Department of Health Waits for Department of Ecology Test Results

[Update 2/20: The Department of Health continues to maintain a harvest advisory for the area 2 miles south of the naval facility north to the Hood Canal bridge. In addition, they continue the emergency closure of the intertidal and subtidal area along the eastern shoreline adjacent to the naval facility. As of 2/20 the Department of Ecology (DOE) has not publically released results of its water samples.]

 

Harvest Advisory/Closure as of 2/18 

(From DOH website 2/20)

 

USS Ohio Nuclear Submarine

Returning for Servicing 

to Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor

Passing Through the Hood Canal Bridge

 

Background/Update

On February 11 an estimated 2,000 gallons of "oily bilge water" from a naval ship was discharged into Hood Canal while being serviced at Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor. Presumably it was one of the Ohio-class "Trident" nuclear submarines. The naval facility is located on the Kitsap Peninsula on the shoreline of Puget Sound's Hood Canal and services the entire Pacific Fleet of the Ohio-class nuclear submarines. Initially the Navy estimated the spill to be only 150 gallons, an amount disputed a short time later by the Department Ecology who estimated the spill to be close to 2,000 gallons. The next day the Navy agreed that the spill was more likely to be 2,000 gallons. Whether more could have been done had the Navy been aware the spill was more than ten times larger is not known.

 

Bangor Naval Base - Service for

Ohio-class ("Trident")

Nuclear Submarine Fleet

 

Agency Response
The Department of Health (DOH) has stated they are awaiting test results from the Department of Ecology (DOE), expected Tuesday morning, before deciding what more to do. Until then they are advising commercial shellfish harvesters with beds from 2 miles south of Bangor to the Hood Canal bridge - a distance of 12 miles - to also wait for the results before harvesting shellfish. DOH closed the intertidal and subtidal areas at the base "...along the eastern shoreline of Hood Canal within the Hood Canal 2 Shellfish Growing Area." (see below for complete email sent to shellfish growers Friday, February 14th). It was not clear whether the Department of Health was separately testing water quality and shellfish tissue. Clean up is apparently being left in the hands of naval personnel. Whether China will take an interest in how shellfish safety is being attended to is unknown.

 

Oil 10 miles north of Bangor

at the Hood Canal Bridge

(courtesy of the Department of Ecology)

 

February 14 email from DOH to commercial growers:

In-field evaluations from our partner agencies have not identified any
significant intertidal impacts from this spill.  The Department of
Ecology has collected a sample of the spilled material and is analyzing
it in their laboratory.  We hope to have results by Tuesday morning.
Oil booms remain in place around the spill site and the Navy is
continuing to try to collect the remaining oil in this area.  The
majority of recoverable product has been collected.
We will continue to keep the shellfish harvest advisory in place until
we can evaluate the results from the samples collected by the Department
of Ecology. This advisory covers the area two miles south of the Navy
base north to the Hood Canal Bridge.  In addition to this advisory we
are closing the intertidal shoreline and subtidal areas at the Bangor
Navy Base, along the eastern shoreline of Hood Canal within the Hood
Canal 2 Shellfish Growing Area, to commercial shellfish harvest.
We will continue to keep you informed.

Oil Spill Response and Preparedness: Is it Real or Public Relations?

Public Meeting February 22, 2014: Oil Spill Response and Preparedness
(click here for details)

Are agencies really ready?

We'll find out.

Are you really ready to respond?
Agencies involved in the recent Community Engagement in Oil Spill Response and Readiness workshops held for the benefit of the public have been given the golden opportunity to show they are, in fact, "ready to respond."

Here we come, ready or not.

Oil and coal exports on ships add risk to Puget Sound's waters
As recently as January 24, and upcoming on February 22, workshops to help assuage public concerns over increased tanker traffic resulting from the Trans Mountain pipeline proposal by Kinder Morgan Canada have been held. They continue to be held. It has been estimated tanker traffic through Haro Straits and the Straits of Juan de Fuca will increase from 5 a month to 34 a month. With the addition of coal exports to Asia it has been estimated that an additional 487 ships annually to handle the coal would be added to ship traffic.

Is 2,000 gallons a "significant" spill?
At this point agencies' executing on a plan has been described in the Kitsap Sun this way:

The Kitsap Sun received mixed reports about whether a unified command would be implemented to develop a coordinated response to the spill. That level of coordination, which would include the Navy, Coast Guard and Ecology, is normally implemented for a significant oil spill.
Redfield-Wilder of Ecology said she was hearing that such a command would be established Wednesday morning, but Coast Guard spokesman Jordan Akiyama said his superiors told him that the Navy will remain in charge until further notice.

Naval Oil Spill in Hood Canal Spreads From Bangor to Hood Canal Bridge

[Update 2/20: The Department of Health continues to maintain a harvest advisory for the area 2 miles south of the naval facility north to the Hood Canal bridge. In addition, they continue the emergency closure of the intertidal and subtidal area along the eastern shoreline adjacent to the naval facility. As of 2/20 the Department of Ecology (DOE) has not publically released results of its water samples.]

 

Harvest Advisory/Closure as of 2/18

(From DOH website 2/20)

[Update 2/13: Inside Bainbridge's Julie Hall provides a detailed update on the estimated 2,000 gallon spill of oily bilge water into Hood Canal. She notes that a hotline has been established for citizens to report wildlife and/or beach damage: 1-800-22BiRDS.]

[Update 2/12: The Navy has acknowledged it underestimated the gallons of oily bilge water spilled into Hood Canal. Initially it had reported only 150 gallons were spilled but KOMO news has now reported they agree with DOH and DOE estimates of 2,000 gallons. Now is when we see whether the Community Engagement in Oil Spill Response and Readiness workshops recently held translate into meaningful action.]

The goal of the workshop is to “educate the general public and local officials about oil spills in the marine environment, who is engaged in Incident Command, how incident response decisions are made and how members of the public can become involved in spill response.” (Peninsula Daily News, January 24, 2014 on the upcoming workshop to be held.)

Oil Slick in Hood Canal

Photo: Department of Ecology

The Department of Health has reported that an oil spill into Hood Canal from an operation at the Bangor Naval Base has occurred. It is unclear how much entered the waters, with DOH reporting up to 2,000 gallons may have been spilled and KOMO news reporting 150 gallons. Oil has been seen as far north as the Hood Canal bridge, a distance of over 10 miles, with the Department of Ecology reporting oil in the Port Ludlow area, an distance of over 16 miles from Bangor.  DOH has advised shellfish operators to cease harvesting in the area. In addition to a number of shellfish beds, Taylor Shellfish's primary hatchery is also nearby.