Petroleum Products
Even small amounts of oil released into the harbor environment can lead to significant environmental problems, particularly if spills are frequent. Just a single cup of oil can create a sheen covering over an acre of calm water. This oil sheen blocks light and oxygen, while oil in the water column and sediments can harm fish and other aquatic life.
Frequent minor spills can inflict nearly as much damage as a larger oil spill due to their cumulative impact on the marine environment. Besides harming aquatic life, petroleum products can deteriorate the white foam used in floats and docks, discolor boat hulls, woodwork, and paint, and gasoline spills pose safety risks due to their flammability.
Keep Our Harbors Safe
Keeping oil, fuel, and other petroleum products out of the water is critical to keeping a clean and safe harbor. Potential sources of petroleum products in Alaskan harbors include:
Aboveground or Underground Storage Tanks (ASTs or USTs)
Vessel fueling operations
Oil changes
Spills from derelict or stricken vessels
Leaks in hoses and/or pipes that connect oil storage tanks to pumps
Oily bilgewater discharges
Download our tip sheets on Spill Proof Oil Changes, Clean Fueling and Spill Response for Boaters.
Used Oil
Disposal of used motor oil generated by harbor activity must be managed according to state and federal regulations. Additional best management practices will not only protect the marine environment and keep your harbor clean and attractive, but will also help educate customers and keep disposal costs down.
Used oil can be recycled, and is considered either on-specification or off-specification, depending on its level of contamination. The quality of the used oil (how contaminated it is) will determine the type of burner you can use. When used oil is recycled (burned) onsite, it is subject to less stringent regulatory oversight if it is managed as “Used Oil for Recycle” and burned or re-used on-site.
Pro-active outreach to customers will help keep your disposal costs down by minimizing contamination at used oil collection points. It is important to make the connection between increased waste disposal costs and the fee structure. The cleaner the wastes to be disposed of, the cheaper everything can be for the harbor enterprise and the boaters.
Used Oil Best Practices
Maintain good signage on the docks and at the used oil collection facilities.
Include information for boaters in mailings and renewals to remind them of the costs associated with contaminated used oil.
Keep all used oil containers on impermeable surfaces and under cover. Provide containment for at least 110% of the tank capacity.
Label all waste oil containers “Used Oil For Recycle”.
Spill Prevention And Response
Best practices for spill prevention and response focus on training, awareness and pro-active response. Making spill prevention a top priority, and knowledge of basic response required, will help create a safe and clean environment for everyone at your harbor.
Spill Response Best Practices
Regularly inspect hoses, fittings, and pipes for leaks. Contain and fix immediately!
Make sure all staff are aware of inspection routines to catch leaks early.
Report all spills to the National Response Center and to ADEC, and have the tools on-site to immediately secure and contain the area. Clean up spills and fix leaks immediately
Harbor staff should conduct periodic oil spill response drills to practice how to respond in the event of a spill.
Post spill response signs in highly visible locations throughout your facility. Alaska Clean Harbors has statewide spill response signs available for all harbors and water access points around the state. Contact us to get yours today!
Spill Prevention Plan
Make sure your facility has a Spill Prevention, Control and Countermeasure Plan (SPCC) and that employees are familiar with it.
An SPCC plan is required for facilities that store oil or gasoline: (1) Aboveground in any size tank(s) with a total aggregate volume over 1,320 gallons (containers of less than 55 gallons and/or permanently closed storage tanks are exempt from the total); or (2) In underground storage tanks with a total capacity greater than 42,000 gallons.
Fueling
Many harbors throughout Alaska do not operate their own fuel docks. However, fueling within the harbor basin (either at fuel docks or with jerry cans by individual boaters) can have profound impacts on harbor water quality if not done carefully. This section will cover fuel dock BMPs as well as ways to properly transfer fuel to minimize pollution risks.
Fueling Best Practices
Regularly inspect hoses, fittings, and pipes for leaks. Contain and fix immediately!
Make sure all staff are aware of inspection routines to catch leaks early. Report all spills to the National Response Center and to ADEC, and have the tools on-site to immediately secure and contain the area. Clean up spills and fix leaks immediately!
Post signs at the fuel dock that outline correct fueling procedures.
Always use absorbents when fueling.
Catch spills from overflow vents.
Encourage customers to use a fuel overflow collector device when fueling. Consider handing them out to customers to use while fueling at your dock. They can mount them temporarily while fueling, and return them while done.
Bilge Water
Vessel owners and harbor operators are all too familiar with oily bilge water. The discharge of even small amounts of oil into the water is illegal. Important to note, and to share with your customers, is that dispersing oil with soaps is also illegal. Not only that, but the fines can be much higher for actively dispersing a sheen. Always encourage the use absorbents to help keep up with small leaks and spills in the bilge.
The Problem With Soap
We know that oil and other hydrocarbons (hydraulic oil, fuels, etc) can damage fish and other marine life in very low concentrations. When you disperse oil with soap, the oil doesn’t go away! Instead, it breaks up and enters the water column and settles onto the sea floor. Dispersing oil with soaps can be more harmful than leaving it on the surface. Not only that, but the fine for dispersing oil in the water or in your bilge much higher than a fine for an accidental spill!
Bilge Water Best Practices
If your facility doesn’t provide a bilge pumping service, consider making carts designed specifically for hauling buckets with used oil and oily bilge water. Even buckets with tight fitting lids can drip down the sides from filling, and keeping several carts dedicated to waste hauling at the harbor can help raise awareness and cooperation among your customers.
Consider providing a bilge pumpout service. We all know that every vessel deals with contaminated bilge water at one time or another. Many vessels deal with it on a regular basis.
Oily bilgewater discharges should be reported to ADEC and the NRC as spills.
To legally discharge bilge water, the oil content must be below 15 parts per million.
