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This story appeared on Page A1 of The
Standard-Times on February 1, 2005
Coast Guard urged to drop lawsuit
Spill regulations are object of tug of war
By DAVID KIBBE, Standard-Times staff writer
BOSTON -- U.S. Rep. Barney Frank and state
legislators yesterday urged the Coast Guard to drop
its lawsuit over the Massachusetts Oil Spill Act and
accused Gov. Mitt Romney of not doing enough to
fight the legal action.
The Coast Guard sued the state last month, claiming
the tough new law violates federal jurisdiction in
Buzzards Bay by requiring tugboat escorts, mandatory
crew levels, vessel routes and alcohol and drug
testing.
Gov. Romney signed the new measures into law last
August. The legislation was in response to the April
2003 Buzzards Bay oil spill, when a Bouchard
Transportation Co. barge drifted off course and
struck an underwater ledge, spilling as much as
98,000 gallons of fuel oil into the bay.
Rep. Frank, D-Mass., said he has been trying since
November to plot a legal strategy with the
governor's office, but Gov. Romney has not returned
his calls or showed a willingness to fight the
lawsuit.
Rep. Frank said he was told by an administration
official that the governor's position was: "We are
not going to do anything but wait and see."
"The governor ought to take the lead," Rep. Frank
said during a press conference at the Statehouse.
He was flanked at the foot of the Statehouse's Grand
Staircase by the SouthCoast legislative delegation
and other state legislators who worked on the Oil
Spill Act.
"I think it's not too late for the governor to ask
the attorney general, do you want to sit with us and
see what we can negotiate?" Rep. Frank asked. "If he
doesn't want to do that, why is the governor not
using the influence that we have been told he has
gotten with President Bush to ask the Coast Guard to
do these things?"
Gov. Romney's spokesman, Eric Fehrnstrom, said the
lawsuit was being handled by Attorney General Thomas
M. Reilly.
"The governor helped draft the oil spill
legislation, and he was proud to sign it into law,"
Mr. Fehrnstrom said. "However, matters regarding
litigation against the commonwealth are
appropriately in the hands of the attorney general.
We have every confidence that he will vigorously
defend against this lawsuit and that we will
ultimately prevail."
Rep. John F. Quinn, D-Dartmouth, was also critical
of the Romney administration. He said the governor
issued his own oil spill legislation to the press
when the bill was still being crafted by the
administration and legislators.
Rep. Quinn also criticized him for holding last
August's bill signing in South Boston instead of
SouthCoast. The governor told legislators a
scheduling conflict prevented him from signing the
bill in New Bedford.
"We are here today to express our dissatisfaction
with the feeble attempt by our Governor Romney to
influence the Bush administration in its failure to
implement the oil spill bill that we passed last
August," Rep. Quinn said.
The Coast Guard asked Gov. Romney to put off
implementation of the law last fall, and Gov. Romney
refused.
"The reason that the lawsuit was filed is because
Governor Romney refused a request from the federal
government to hold off on implementing it," Mr.
Fehrnstrom said.
Mark Rasmussen, the executive director of the
Coalition for Buzzards Bay, said the state
Department of Environmental Protection had
successfully put the law into place. The coalition
worked with the administration and legislators on
the Oil Spill Commission to draft the law.
"I think that the folks at the DEP have been doing a
great job getting this thing implemented," Mr.
Rasmussen said. "The fact is some amazing new
requirements for Buzzards Bay came on line on Jan.
1, and no one heard anything about it because it is
working. Barges now have escorts. Barges now have
pilots. They are complying with the required vessel
route. All these things that are in the bill are
happening."
Rep. Frank said he first contacted the Romney
administration in November when it became clear the
Coast Guard intended to sue the state over the new
law, and he was told the governor was still studying
the situation. He said the governor did not return a
call over the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, and
then the two spoke briefly on a plane to the
presidential inauguration last week.
Rep. Frank and Democratic lawmakers said they were
pleased with Attorney General Reilly's response to
the lawsuit. Mr. Reilly wrote to U.S. Attorney
General John Ashcroft before the lawsuit was filed,
unsuccessfully urging him to hold off.
"It is unfortunate that the department and the Coast
Guard are deploying scarce resources to undermine
the protections afforded in the act, instead of
using them to protect the public, the environment
and economic interests from future incidents of this
kind," Mr. Reilly wrote.
Rep. Frank said this could be the first time the
Coast Guard has sued a state over oil shipping
regulations, rather than the barge and shipping
industry leading the fight. Industry groups warned
the state Legislature that it would be sued if it
passed the Oil Spill Act.
The Coast Guard did not have an immediate response
yesterday. The Coast Guard has proposed federal
regulations for tug escorts and a required vessel
route in Buzzards Bay but has yet to act on them.
"This is a situation where the good guys have turned
bad," said Sen. Mark C.W. Montigny, D-New Bedford.
"I don't think it's a strike aimed at the Coast
Guard. I think it's a strike aimed at the Bush
administration and the Republican Congress."
Other legislators calling for the Coast Guard to
withdraw its lawsuit included Reps. Antonio F.D.
Cabral, D-New Bedford; Stephen R. Canessa,
D-Lakeville; Robert M. Koczera, D-New Bedford;
Michael J. Rodrigues, D-Westport; William M. Straus,
D-Mattapoisett; and David B. Sullivan, D-Fall River.
If the Coast Guard's fear is a "hodge-podge" of
conflicting state laws, it should make the
Massachusetts regulations nationwide, said Rep.
William Greene, D-Billerica, who chaired the Oil
Spill Commission.
"We think we could use our legislation as a national
model, and it would not be a hodge-podge," Rep.
Greene said.
This story appeared on Page A1 of The
Standard-Times on February 1, 2005 |
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