SENATE, No. 517

SECTION 1. Chapter 21L of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2004 Official Edition, is hereby amended by adding at the end the following section:-

Section 5.  If a tank vessel carrying more than 6,000 barrels of oil through Buzzards Bay commits a violation pursuant to this chapter and the tank vessel failed to inform the department or their designee 24 hours prior to the transit, then the fines stated in sections 4(a) through 4(e) of this chapter shall be tripled.

SECTION 2: Section 1 of said chapter 21M of the General Laws is hereby amended by inserting the following definitions:-

“Rescue Tug”, a tugboat escort having twin radar displays equipped with ECDIS or ARPA capable of integrating AIS, a towing winch and associated wire and gear capable of towing a minimum of a 470 foot fully loaded tank vessel, pilot disembarkment gear, and 600 feet of oil spill response boom and associated response gear.

“Response Time”, the amount of time required for a rescue tug to assist a tank vessel. 

SECTION 3: Section 8(a) of said chapter 21M of the General Laws is hereby amended in line 3 by inserting after the words “response teams” the following: - “, rescue tugs,”.

SECTION 4: Section 8(c)(1) of said chapter 21M of the General Laws is hereby amended in line 22 by replacing the phrase “2 cents” with the phrase “5 cents”.

SECTION 5: Section 8 of said chapter 21M of the General Laws is hereby further amended by striking out sections 8(c)(3) through and including 8(c)(5).  Section 8 of said chapter 21M is hereby further amended by striking out the number “(6)” in line 50 and inserting in place thereof the number “(3)”.

SECTION 6: Section 8(d)(8) of said chapter 21M of the General Laws is hereby amended in line 80 by striking the word “and” after the word “exercises”.

SECTION 7: Section 8(d)(9) of said chapter 21M of the General Laws is hereby amended in line 84 by striking the period at the end and inserting in place thereof the word “; and” after the phrase “Atmospheric Administration”.

SECTION 8: Section 8(d) of said chapter 21M of the General Laws is hereby amended by adding the following subsection:-

“(10) to pay for the dispatch of appropriately manned rescue tugs in Buzzards Bay.”.

SECTION 9: Section 8(f)(2)(v) of said chapter 21M of the General Laws, is hereby amended in line 127, by striking the word “and”.

SECTION 10: Section (8)(f)(2)(vi) of said chapter 21M of the General Laws is hereby amended by adding the word “and” at the end thereof.

SECTION 11: Section 8(f)(2) of said chapter 21M of the General Laws is hereby amended by adding the following subsection:-

“(vii) payment of costs associated with the dispatch of appropriately manned rescue tugs in Buzzards Bay.”

SECTION 12: Chapter 21M of the General Laws is hereby amended by inserting after section 8, the following new section:-

“Section 9.       (a) The Commissioner shall dispatch rescue tugs in Buzzards Bay to follow, observe, and be available to tank vessels carrying more than 6,000 barrels of oil transiting Buzzards Bay.  The rescue tugs shall maintain a maximum of a 15 minute response time when no more than 2 tank vessels covered by this section are transiting Buzzards Bay, and a maximum of 90 minute response time when more than 2 tank vessels covered by this section are transiting Buzzards Bay.

(b)               The rescue tug shall be manned by a Massachusetts State Pilot licensed under Chapter 103 of the General Laws.  The State Pilot shall monitor the safe passage of vessels and provide information to tank vessel operators on current and anticipated navigational issues.  State pilots may perform their responsibilities from on board the tow vessel or tank vessel upon request.

(c)                This section shall not apply to tank vessels transiting Buzzards Bay accompanied by a tugboat escort.

(d)               Rescue tugs shall report to the Commissioner all near and actual navigational incidents that could potentially lead to an oil spill, including but not limited to; tank vessels traveling outside of the designated vessel route as appearing on the national Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration chart for Buzzards Bay, failure to use AIS, near or actual collisions, allisions, and groundings, steering or engine failures, and towing gear failures.  The Commissioner shall record, make available to the public, and keep on file these reports for at least ten years.

(e)                Notwithstanding subsections (a) and (b), the commissioner may allow for longer response times and fewer state pilots only where she determines exigent circumstances exist.  No such authorization shall be construed to relieve or otherwise limit the liability of the owner or operator of a tank vessel for any release of oil, hazardous material, or hazardous waste that occurs while the tank vessel enters or transits Buzzards Bay.  The Commissioner may promulgate regulations to implement this subsection and shall report on January 1, 2009 and annually thereafter to the joint committee on the environment, natural resources and agriculture on occasions where exemptions were made.

(f)                 The Commissioner shall adopt regulations to implement this section.  The Commissioner, after a competitive bidding process, may evaluate such bids and may enter into a contract with a company to dispatch and provide rescue tugs which meet or exceed the standards required under this Act.”