It was a dark and stormy night… The setting may be a cliche, but little else is in the scenario developed by the Coast Guard to describe what it calls a “reasonable worse-case” scenario for an oil spill in Hawai`i. … Continued
Hawai`i’s spill response capability has not been tested against an oil release of catastrophic proportions. Nonetheless, there have been some close calls — most recently the reefing of the Star Connecticut on the evening of November 6 last. The tanker … Continued
When the Star Connecticut reefed, it was bound for refineries in the Los Angeles and San Francisco areas, carrying several types of partially refined oil products from PRI’s Hawaiian Independent Refinery, Inc., as well as 462,000 gallons of its own … Continued
This reconstruction of events the evening of Tuesday, November 6, was stitched together from testimony given to the Coast Guard and the National Transportation Safety Board in hearings under their auspices November 13, 14, and 15. The Unmooring 6:49 p.m. … Continued
Hawai`i is one of the 20 or so states having no statutory limit on liability in the event of an oil spill, which makes it – at least in theory – able to recover more than the liability ceiling set … Continued
On August 4, Congress finally passed the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, ending nearly two decades of squabbling over what the nation’s laws dealing with oil spills would be. Congressional Quarterly called it “possibly the harshest action Congress has ever … Continued
Just as this issue was about to go to press, news broke of the grounding of the Star Connecticut. The opportunity was too good to pass up. We junked the stories on the effects of oil on Hawai`i’s wildlife and … Continued
November 6, 1990, 7:30 p.m. As most people were glued to their television sets, watching election returns (slo-o-o-wly) roll in, at Barbers Point, Captain Ronald Pouch had other worries. The 700-foot-long tanker in his command, the Star Texaco, had just … Continued