Salvors are concerned about the environment and want official approval to jettison.ĭischarge of valuable oil cargo means a reduction in the salved values and perhaps in the salvage award.Ĭircumstances of groundings rarely support a clear-cut decision to jettison. The vessel eventually was lost.Īccording to Ellis, salvors are reluctant to jettison even when it may be more expedient than waiting for proper equipment and weather to lighten the ship. After the Argo Merchant ran aground on Nantucket Shoals in 1976, jettisoning was suggested but rejected.

When the Arrow grounded off Nova Scotia in 1970, jettisoning was authorized, but part of the vessel sank before action could be taken. The case is notorious, Ellis said, because such drastic action now appears to have been unnecessary. After grounding off Puerto Rico in 1973, some 5,000 tons of crude oil were jettisoned and the ship was refloated. The only purposeful jettison of oil cargo identified in recent years was from the Zoe Colocotronis. Successful salvage of the remainder, have been identified in the last thirty years or so, although tankers often are lightened for refloating. In developing its analysis, conclusions, and recommendations, the committee received some input from sources other than the papers and discussion in symposium. The third section presents the conclusions and recommendations the committee derived from its analysis. The second section of the report outlines the committee's analysis of the major issues emerging from the symposium. The first is a summary of the symposium proceedings, including presented papers, audience question-and-answer sessions with the speakers, and two panel discussions that focused on jettisoning as an option for response to an accident scenario. Make recommendations concerning the feasibility of developing guidelines for deciding whether to discharge oil intentionally, including consideration of other options. law concerning intentional discharges of petroleum cargoes to save ships and prevent the loss of larger amounts of cargo.Ĭonsider the implications of advances in oil spill contingency planning, environmental data acquisition, and spill trajectory forecasting, especially how such advances might be harnessed in making time-critical operational decisions about stranded tankers. Their purposes were to:Īssess the significance of the jettison issue and its implications for shipping and marine environmental protection.ĭocument the need to clarify U.S. Participants represented federal and state agencies and the fields of marine environmental protection, salvage, vessel operations, admiralty law, and marine insurance. In recent years these organizations and others have found common cause over stopping the Canada-to-Texas Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, wielding their collective power to help turn the project into the red line on climate change for President Obama.The Symposium on the Purposeful Jettison of Petroleum Cargo was convened on February 23, 1993, by the Committee on Marine Salvage Issues of the National Research Council, as the first phase of the committee's assessment of marine salvage in the United States.

Today the 10 organizations driving the modern green wave- profiled in the infographic below-collectively have 15 million members, 2,000-plus staffers and annual budgets of more than $525 million to advance environmental agendas at the local, national and international levels.Īlthough often characterized as a monolithic entity, each group has its own priorities and tactics, and each represents diverse interests and constituents-from youth climate activists to hunters and anglers. New groups from the hyperlocal to the national and global were born. In the aftermath of that debacle, some the biggest environmental groups reshaped their missions-supplementing inside-the-Beltway campaigning with grassroots organizing and civil disobedience action not seen in this country since the 1970s. environmental movement has undergone a tectonic shift and resurgence over the last several years, spearheaded by the failed legislative effort to cap carbon emissions in 2010.

Jettison environmental