Government Goofed, Coast Guard Commander Says

LONG BEACH —  The commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard said Tuesday that the government made “a goof” by failing to require depth soundings at pipeline moorings such as the one off Huntington Beach where an oil tanker spilled 394,000 gallons of crude.

“I think in the future, the Coast Guard will take a very hard look at requiring . . . a more frequent sounding and determination of the depth,” Adm. Paul A. Yost said during a visit to Coast Guard district headquarters at the Port of Long Beach. “Where we’ve got a mooring being used on a frequent basis by tankers that discharge oil with something like seven or 10 feet of water under the keel, that’s a sounding that’s critical.”

Yost said he would like to see depth readings whenever a large tanker uses an offshore terminal in relatively shallow water. He did not say how the requirements could be enforced other than to suggest that shipping firms or mooring owners might be required to perform the surveys. There are 16 such sea berths in the ocean off California.

Like other Coast Guard officials, Yost speculated that there was less water than believed at the ill-fated mooring when the American Trader ruptured its hull on its anchor and spilled crude that closed miles of Orange County beach.

He said “one of the last places to put blame” would be on mooring master John E. Keon and Capt. A.R. (Robert) La Ware, who were at the helm of the ship when the accident occurred Feb. 7.

“Let’s not jump out ahead of it and blame the pilot or the (mooring) master, because the initial indications are it may not have been their fault,” Yost said. “It might have been the fault of someone in the charting area.”

Yost praised the spill recovery effort. Authorities said about 35% of the oil was skimmed from the ocean, well above the average of 10% to 15% typically recovered in such an operation.