22 July 1999 TO ALL MEMBERS Dear Sirs OIL POLLUTION : UNITED STATES NEW LEGISLATION IN CALIFORNIA FOR DRY CARGO SHIPS ARRANGEMENTS WITH SPILL MANAGEMENT FIRMS/RESPONSE ORGANISATIONS In August 1998, following a significant number of oil spill incidents in US West Coast waters involving non-tank vessels over the last few years, California passed Senate Bill 1644 which supplemented the state’s oil spill prevention and response programme by requiring non-tank vessels entering the state’s marine waters to have evidence of financial responsibility up to $300m and oil spill contingency plans approved by the relevant state agency. Under the implementing regulations which are scheduled to take effect from 1 September 1999 a non-tank vessel will be prohibited from entering the state’s marine waters unless the owner or operator has an oil spill contingency plan approved by the administrator of the state’s Office of Spill Prevention and Response (OSPR) and a certificate of financial responsibility (COFR) issued by the administrator on production of satisfactory evidence of financial responsibility up to $300m; a P&I Club certificate of entry will be accepted as satisfactory evidence. COFRs Owners will have to obtain COFRs from the California OSPR before submitting oil spill contingency plans to the OSPR for approval. COFR application forms may be requested from the OSPR (tel: 001 916 324 0003, fax: 001 916 323 4727). The OSPR will fax the forms to applicants once the final COFR regulation is published later this month. Members should fax the completed application form to the OSPR with the Club certificate of entry for the ship concerned and also wire transfer to the OSPR payment of $100 per ship. The OSPR will mail the COFR to the owner in due course. Oil Spill Contingency Plans Oil spill contingency plans may be prepared for an individual vessel, or on a fleet basis for several vessels which transit substantially the same route, or on a state-wide basis if prepared by a non-profit maritime association or non-profit corporation. The Bill was sponsored by a non-profit maritime trade association based in San Francisco, the Pacific Maritime Shipping Association (PMSA); and it provides for PMSA to develop a ‘state-wide’ fleet plan available for all owners or operators to join on a fleet basis. The Bill is modelled on similar programmes already in place in the states of Washington and Oregon. P.T.O. - 2 Earlier this year PMSA invited bids from various spill response and spill management services organisations throughout the USA; and in due course, chose O’Brien=s Oil Pollution Service Inc. (OOPS) and its sister company, ERST/O’Brien=s, as its spill management team. PMSA’s charge for enrolment into this programme is expected to be $175 per vessel visit to California. This fee will entitle enrolled vessels to the following: 1.A state-wide spill contingency plan which can be cited by the vessel owner/operator, who will provide PMSA with vessel specific information. 2.Spill management team services of ERST/O’Brien. 3.Access to spill response organisations - Clean Bay Co-op (San Francisco area); Clean Seas Co-op (Santa Barbara area); Clean Coastal Waters Co-op (Long Beach - San Diego area); and Foss Environmental (San Diego, Long Beach and Alameda areas). 4.Participation in drills and exercises required by the state and monitoring and making changes to response arrangements as required by regulation or statute. In January 1999, shortly after the California l