PORT ANGELES — Twenty-five years ago Tuesday, environmental tragedy struck the North Olympic Peninsula.
The Arco Anchorage, carrying 814,000 barrels of Alaskan crude oil, ran aground the afternoon of Dec. 21, 1985, as it entered Port Angeles Harbor.
Oil began leaking almost immediately through two long gashes in the single-hull ship and spread throughout the harbor in an almost-clockwise direction — coating beaches, logs and wildlife in the process — before eventually spreading to Dungeness Spit and Neah Bay.
The crew was able to stop the leak four hours later by transferring oil to another tank inside the ship, which hit rocks 800 yards north of the Rayonier pulp mill.
But the damage had already been done.
A total of 5,690 barrels — or 239,000 gallons — of oil escaped, making it the eighth largest spill in state history.
For Arnold Schouten, the worst part of the spill was seeing the thousands of helpless, oil-covered birds in the harbor and elsewhere along the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
More than 4,000 fowl perished. An unknown number of harbor seals, shellfish, salmon and otters also died.
“It’s still heartbreaking to see those birds drenched in oil,” said the 60-year-old Port Angeles-area resident who used to own Hartnagel Building Supply.
“Some were hard to distinguish what species they were, they were so saturated with oil.”
Schouten was one of the approximately 2,400 volunteers who helped rescue wildlife.
Many worked 12- to 16-hour days washing birds at a care center initially located at Port Angeles High School and later moved to a warehouse on South Oak Street.
“It had an impact on a lot of people in this community,” Schouten said.
About 1,560 birds made it to the care center funded by Arco, the petroleum company since absorbed by BP LLC.
Of that amount, about 18 percent, or 280, were released back into the wild.
“Those release rates today could be a lot better with what is now known with care of birds,” said Schouten, who has since participated in bird cleanup efforts at two other spills.
The cleanup cost Arco $13 million and was suspended April 7, 1986. About half of the oil — 131,292 gallons — was recovered.
Routine stop
The spill occurred on a routine stop to Port Angeles.
The Arco Anchorage, like many other tankers, stopped in the harbor while waiting its turn to dock at the Cherry Point Refinery north of Bellingham.
The weather was calm, and visibility reached three miles, according to a spill report by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
As required by state law, piloting duties on the 883-foot tanker had just been taken over by a captain certified to ply waters east of Ediz Hook.
Capt. Raymond Leson, with Puget Sound Pilots, was found partially responsible for the spill.
Leson — who already had 10 ship mishaps on his record, including the grounding of a freighter off of Point Wilson in 1983 — and Arco were both fined $30,000.
Known for their expertise in navigating state waters, the pilots guide all cargo, oil and cruise ships to and from Puget Sound.
Lessons from the spill
Despite the damage to the environment and economy, valuable lessons have been learned from the spill, said Curt Hart, spokesman for the state Department of Ecology’s spills program.
“What we’ve really had is a change in thinking about oil spills . . . they are not the cost of doing business,” he said.
Since the spill, new laws on spill prevention and response have been enacted, making Washington one of the most prepared states in the nation, Hart said.
That’s particularly significant for Port Angeles, since its harbor hosts more tankers than any other in the state, he said.
About 200 stop in the harbor each year for repairs or to wait their turn at the state’s five refineries, said Mark Ashley, Coast Guard’s director for Puget Sound traffic.
First safe port of call
“When these ships are coming in . . . coming down from Alaska, their first safe port of call is Port Angeles. If a ship is coming from California . . . by the time they get past the Columbia River, their first safe port of call is Port Angeles,” Hart said.
“Virtually about 90 percent of oil tankers, or even more, either come in or go past Port Angeles.”
But change did not come immediately, nor did it happen before another spill hit Washington waters.
Three years later in December 1988, a barge leaked 230,000 gallons of oil off Ocean Shores.
Following those spills and the Exxon Valdez disaster off the coast of Alaska in March 1989, the state Legislature passed new laws regarding oil spill prevention and response, Hart said.
Legislation in 1990
In part, the legislation, which went into effect in 1990, gave the state authority to seek compensation for damage done to the environment, he said. That was missing in 1985.
It also created the Office of Marine Safety and requires oil companies to have contingency plans for spills, including the ability to clean 100 birds within 24 hours, Hart said.
New team management procedures were also enacted for pilots and ship officers.
Today, Port Angeles is a staging site for the Marine Spill Response Corp., which is funded by oil companies, and hosts a slew of response boats, including skimmers and barges.
An emergency response tug boat is also stationed at Neah Bay to ensure disabled vessels don’t cause a spill in or near the strait.
Schouten said he thinks there’s still “a lot of room for improvement” but added, “I think we are better prepared now.”
Hart said Ecology has about a dozen inspectors responsible for overseeing compliance with oil spill prevention laws.
The spills program had eight positions cut in 2009, including inspectors and other positions that work with companies to make sure they’re prepared for a spill, he said.
That has resulted in fewer drills and evaluations, Hart said.
He said he thinks the state is still well-protected.
“We are as ready as we possibly can be with the limited resources that we have,” Hart said.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
