C.C .GARVIN,JR . Chairman of the Board December 19, 1975 ENVIRONMENTALCONSERVATION IS AN EXXON COMMITMENT In recent years, publications of Exxon and its affiliates have reported on the corporation's continuing efforts to protect the environment. While considerable progress has been made in the area of environmental conservation, the task is by no means finished. This anthology of articles published by Exxon thus represents some snapshots of what is an ongoing effort. The anthology begins, appropriately, with a comprehensive statement by J. K. Jamieson, former chairman of Exxon, that appeared in The Lamp magazine in November 1974. The statement still reflects Exxon's views and position on this most important subject. We have chosen to close the anthology with another statement by Mr. Jamieson, published in 1972, that also remains timely. Mr. Jamieson referred to the "energy-environment equation." He expressed confidence that "practical and effective answers can be found to the equation--that the conflict between the need for more energy and the desire to preserve the quality of life will be resolved. But our success will depend upon the amount of patience, determination, intelligence, and hard work that we are willing to bring to the task." As we move ahead with the urgent business of meeting energy requirements, so, too, must we fulfill our obligation protect the natural environment. While they may be difficult to achieve, I believe the two goals are compatible. F THE AMERICAS N future to Exxon and thoEnv1ronmont Contents Introduction / 3 Singapore-Bugging the Pollution Problem / 32 In Singapore , industry and government cooperate in programs to diminish pollution problems . AN OVERVIEW Exxon and the Environment / 4 OFFSHORE OPERATIONS A progress report on the corporation's environmental conservation effort . Oil From the Deep Sea / 36 The 011 Industry and the Environment / 6 New technology has been devised to recover offshore oil from unprecedented water depths . International oil companies are working to solve the environmental problems created by their own activities. Blowout School / 40 The Environment: Whose Responsibility? / 1 O Deep in the heart of Texas drilling crews learn the latest techniques in preventing blowouts. Exxon's Canadian affiliate tells employees what it expects of them in the fight against pollution. Billion-Dollar Brushplles / 41 CONCAWE- Ten Years On / 12 The fishing is better than ever around the offshore platforms in the Gulf of Mexico . European oil companies join in a unique organization for effective pollution abatement. HIida's Hidden Haven / 46 Economics for Environmentalists / 14 The marine life in the depths below an oil production platform is rich in numbers and variety . Environmental decisions should involve cost/benefit considerations . TANKERS; SPILLS REFINERIES; TERMINALS Grounded! / 52 Bugs, Bollers and Goldflsh / 18 Action is swift and effective when oil escapes from a damaged tanker. Advanced technology and major capital investments are reducing environmental pollution at Exxon refineries. Exxon USA and Benicia: Getting It Together / 22 A modern refinery is designed and built with maximum effort to prevent damage to the surrounding water and land. A Habit of Concern I 28 Technical and human factors are balanced in operating the distribution system for oil products. New Boom Sweeps Clean / 59 Cooperatives stand ready and able to contain and clean up oil spills in coastal areas. The Cleanest Industrial Port In America / 65 Corpus Christi proves that industry, government and public can work together to achieve a clean environment. Contents To Prevent a Spill, Go Out and Look / 69 Harvesting Food and Fuel from the Gulf / 96 In-port inspectors help tanker crews to avoid spills caused by equipment failure or human error. Shrimpers and oilmen coexist with happy results in offshore waters . THE ARCTIC At sea and on land seeps have been leaking oil and gas into the environment for millions of years . Mother Nature's Oil Wells / 102 New Knowledge of the North / 70 Hundreds of scientific studies are being made of the Alaskan environment following the discovery of oil. Investigating the Environment at Valdez I 74 The aim is to prevent damage to the marine environment at the southern terminal of the trans-Alaska pipeline . Permafrost / 78 Consisting of rock, gravel , sand or silt, permafrost presents some difficult operating problems in the North . Stepping Lightly / 82 Exxon's Canadian affiliate takes great care not to mar the landscape in the Arctic . Return of the Terns / 106 Thousands of the gull-like birds nest within the confines of a gas plant. When the Last Oilman Leaves Avery Island / 108 This island in the bayous is site of oil wells, a salt mine, exotic gardens and a bird sanctuary. APC Has a Story to Tell ... / 112 A petrochemical complex in Australia controls pollution and becomes a good neighbor in the community . The Green ing of the Refuge / 116 Wildlife flourishes in an island refuge financed by oil royalties. Stop That No ise! / 120 PEOPLE The Mission Possible Man / 88 Art Joens' job is to make sure that energy is located and produced without harm to the environment. 2 A quiet offensive has been launched against insidious and harmful noises . What 's To Be Done With Old Tires? / 124 The rubber carcasses are used in artificial reefs, as highway safety barriers and as a source of new energy . THE ENVIRONMENT Energy and_the Environment: Striking A Balance I 125 Santa Barbara Alive and Well I 91 We must find ways of reconciling economic needs with the preservation of our environment. An intensive study of the Great Oil Spill shows relatively little biological damage . Publications and Films Available / 127 Introduction The articlesin thispublicationhave appearedin magazinespublished by Exxon Corporationand its affiliates over the last severalyears. They show the extent to which environmentalprotectionhas become > Tomakesurethat the corporationsoperationsand productsdo not createhazardstopublichealthandare compatiblewith communityneedsandenvironmental, socialand economicaspirations. an integralfactor in Exxon soperationsandplanning. > Towork withoutsidegroupsfor a consensuson Coveringa time span, the articlesalso indicatehow the desirableand attainablestandards. concepts of environmentalconservationhavebeen steadily changing. Some projects,describedat their inception, have since come tofruition; thefull effects of some will not be evident until they are widelyapplied;and others are still in the developmentstage. But significant progress has been achievedin cleaningup andprotecting the environment through widespreadindustrialand governmental efforts. A cleanerenvironment,with benefits to all of us, is a reasonableexpectationfor thefuture. Exxon scommitment to conservationis embodiedin four objectivesadoptedby management. They are: > Towork withgovernmenttofoster timelydevelopment of regulationsaffectingoperationsandproductquality neededto achievesuch standards. > Toadhereto all environmentalstandardsand regulationswhichmay be applicableto Exxon s business. Uf? issuethispublicationin the convictionthat a well- informedpublic willappreciatethe natureand complexityof theproblemsassociatedwith environmental conservationand hasa vitalroletoplay in making the valuejudgments that willservethe good of societyin the longrun. Exxon and thefnv1ronment About two and a half years ago, in these columns, I spoke of the "energyenvironment equation." One part of that equation involves supplying the vast amounts of energy required by an expanding world population. The other part consists of the necessity of protecting the natural environment upon which the quality-and very survival-of life on this planet depends. Recently, the energy part of the equation has attracted by far the greater public attention, and understandably so. The crude oil embargoes, shortages of petroleum products, increasing oil prices, a worsening natural gas shortage-these and other developments have dominated the news and evoked widespread concern. We do, indeed, face a serious energy problem in the United States and throughout the world. But we should not lose sight of the other part of the equation-the continuing need for conservation of our natural environment. There is clear evidence that the public has not lost sight of that imperative. A recent public opinion survey conducted for the United States Environmental Protection Agency showed that most Americans are as much or even more in favor of fighting pollution than they were a year ago, regardless of how they have so far been affected by any fuel shortage. There is general agreement, too, that reducing fuel consumption and increasing supplies are much better means of tackling the energy problem than relaxing existing environmental quality standards. Of course, Exxon continues to urge a reasonable balance between the goal of improving environment and other national objectives, including adequate energy supply. We have recommended that costs-in terms of both money and resourcesemployed-be carefully weighedwhenestablishingenvironmentalimprovementgoals. .~talementby Ex:ron~Chairman,TheLamp, Wintf r 1.97-. Like that of the public, Exxon Corporation's commitment to environmental conservation is strong-as it has be~n for many years . Evidence of our commitment is the fact that our spending for environmental purposes has been steadily increasing year by year. In 1974 Exxon is expending about $575 million compared to $350 million in 1973, and we foresee another sizable increase in 1975. Over the nine-year period of 1966-197 4 our spending for environmental protection programs will total more than $2 billion. A further indication of our commitment is manpower. Exxon now has about 300 employees working full-time, and more than 1,000 part-time, directly on environmental matters. Why have we made this large investment in money and manpower? A principal reason, of course, pertains to the requirements of legislation, the goals of which we endorse. We recognize that the natural environment has been damaged by the operations of our own industry, along with many other activities that are a part of an urban and industrialized society. We realize that cleaner operations are healthier and safer, for the public and for our employees. To these ends, we support efforts to prevent and repair environmental damage. It is, after all, a matter of self-interest. No company can ignore its social responsibilities if it wishes to endure as a viable enterprise. The financial extent of Exxon's commitment to environmental conservation is on record. But just what have we gotten for that $2 billion in anti-pollution expenditures? We have had some striking results. There is, for instance, the troublesome problem of contaminants in the water discharged from refineries. The oil content of the water effluent from Exxon's refineries around the world-never a large amount-has in the last four years been reduced by almost two-thirds. In the same period the amount of crude oif we processed grew by one-fifth. The reduction was achieved by a multifaceted effort, involving employee awareness, training, and spending on improvedfacilitiesandspecial equipment. We anticipate still further reductions over the next few years. We found that it is possible to achieve some striking results in pollution control without necessarily spending a great deal of money. At our chemical plant in Rotterdam, for example, the amount of oil effluent discharged to sewers was reduced by 95 percent over a two-year period. This was accomplished through an intensive employee awareness program, combined with relatively small expenditures on new facilities . This effort paid for itself in six months through savings in pollution taxes levied on the plant. It would be impossible to overemphasize the importance of the human element-alert and well-trained employees-in any successful corporate environmental-protection effort. I'm sure this has been a major factor in improving our tankers' oil spill frequency record. A recent analysis of our records and U.S. Coast Guard data showed that on the heavily-traveled East Coast of the United States, the performance of tankers in Exxon service was particularly good. This can be attributed to the special training of personnel on Exxon-owned tankers and to careful selection of chartered vessels . Keep in mind, any discernible amount of oil in the water is considered a "spill incident." About 70 percent of all such spills involved less than five barrels. Other significant results of our antipollution spending include: Cleaner products . At refineries in the Caribbean, for example, we have installed facilities to reduce sharply the sulfur content in heavy fuel oil be- AN OVERVIEW Efforts to protect the environment must continue while world energy problems are solved. Exxon's chairman presents a progress report and a pledge for the future. fore it is shipped to markets along the East Coast of the United States . The result has been a significant reduction in sulfur oxide emissions and cleaner air for cities that use this fuel to generate electricity, run factories and heat apartment houses, hospitals, schools and other large buildings. Most of our service stations across the nation and in Canada are now marketing unleaded gasoline, required by the exhaust-emission controls on the latest-model cars. > Sounder planning. We have analyzed the environmental impact of our major operations , and we have continued to revise and update operating manuals outlining the best control procedures to be used . The potential environmental impact of any new activity is now assessed as a normal part of our business. We cannot take the traditional view that use of the environment is "free." > New. anti-pollution devices. Exxon Company, U.S.A., our domestic affiliate, has developed an improved boom to contain oil spills in rough seas . Our United Kingdom affiliate has devised a versatile skimmer to pick up spilled oil. Not all conservation devices are complex. Exxon USA equipped its inland barges with a six-inch-high guardrail to contain small deck oil spills. > Protection against property loss. Exxon has participated in the formation of two worldwideindustryorganizations which expedite cleanup of tanker spills. Together they provide up to $30 million for each incident to reim- bursegovernmentsor othersfor the cost of cleanup and for lossescaused byoll spills.Meanwhile,ourCanadian affiliatehas been a leaderin organizing industrycooperativesto containand remedyoil spillaccidents. Betterminingpractices.As newcomersto mining,we are able to avoid many of the pitfalls of earlier mining practices. We feel that Exxon's coal and uranium mining operations are carried on with great care for the protection of the environment. Reclamation of disturbed areas is an integral part of all our mining plans. Research-a never-ending process -is another vital part of our environmental conservation effort. In fact, almost all of the products and processes mentioned above had their origin in the laboratory. For example, the desulfurization process used at our Caribbean refineries is one of the three such processes developed by our researchers. Other Exxon research projects are seeking ways to turn coal into cleaner burning liquid and gaseous fuels. Still other technologies are being developed to reduce sulfur oxide emissions from combustion of fuels before they go up the stack. And to combat oil spills, Exxon Research and Engineering Company introduced a number of lowtoxicity dispersants that have been used successfully in many parts of the world. Some of the most valuable benefits of our conservation efforts are intangible. We have learned a great deal about how our operations can affect the environment, ranging from the effects of oil spills on the marine environment to the possible effects of oil company operations on permafrost in the Arctic regions . As a result, we have broadened and strengthened our ability to respond to environmental problems. With our new experience and technology, we can plan more quickly and easily to minimize long-range problems and can respond more rapidly to pollution emergencies. AsidefromExxon'sandthe petroleumindustry'santi-pollutionefforts, whathasbeenaccomplishedmore broadlyto improveor protectthe envi- ronment on the national and international level? Genuine progress has been made by citizen efforts, private industry and public agencies, even though environmental successes have not been as widely reported as the failures. Fish are reappearing in what were some of the world's most heavily polluted rivers. The air of many major cities is measurably cleaner than it used to be. As the full impact of programs now in effect is felt, further successes will be seen. But the hard fact is that despite demonstrable progress in many aspects of environmental protection and conservation, some tough problems have yet to be solved. In the conventional oil and gas business, we will continue our efforts to reduce oil spills, odor and noise. And looking somewhat farther ahead, supplemental energy from coal, shale oil, tar sands, very heavy oil, as well as from geothermal and nuclear sources, is likely to become increasingly important. Each of these will present its own particular set of environmental problems, including such serious ones as water availability, waste disposal and land reclamation. We have made good progress in environmental conservation, but the effort must be continued. Under present circumstances it is essential that measures to improve the environment be balanced with the pressing need to maintain and expand energy supplies. Exxon Corporation will stay the route. We expect to play a continuing role in solving the world's energy problems , and we reaffirm our long-standing commitment to protect the earth's air, water and land resources. November 7, 197 4 ~ K. SON, Chairman 5 thB The energy supplying industry , and pe~roleum is certainly a major component of it, has a dual obligation to the public. That i~, i~must continue to meet the seemingly limitless energy needs of its customers from oil resources , on which nature has already imposed some severe restraints. More and more , man is imposing his own restraints on these supplies in the form of environmental regulations , which the industry also must respect. At times , this dual obligation can create a conflict. We are now seeing this vividly in the U.S. where prevailing environmental restrictions on the construction of new installations and on product quality are hampering our oil production and supply efforts. The delay in the building of the pipeline from Alaska's North Slope is one major example. To a significant extent , such developments are contributing to the energy "crisis" which is probably one of the most urgent problems which the U. S. Government, industry and the general public must dea l with today. Just this past winter in the U. S., some local regulations concerning fuel qualit y had to be relaxed in order to maintain the flow of energy. It must be evident that the rest of the world is not immune to this same problem. And one major conclusion is that we must balance , and continually reweigh , our environmental aspirations and our real need for energy. We did not wholly anticipate this conflict with energy supply as we watc~ed t~e environmental movement grow smce its inception in the early 1960s. In the U.S ., we saw the movement percolate to the surface of public opinion , and then spread rather rapidly into a general ~wake~ung that g~ew into a furore of public feeling. Pollut10n became headline copy; demonstrators marched with stark demands on their placards; and alarming speeches often exaggerated or distorted the nature of the environmental challenge. . Today, the U.S. temper is somewhat d1fferen t. Public intensity seems to have reached a plateau. However, a very high Hnrutrk.i,by Dr:Raymond W Winkler, Ex;r_@ Corporation:., /t:nvironnienfal Consf'ri,at1on (!oordirutlor.~}urop(•trnlli•vil'w, Summer 1.973. 6 mental conservation is a global challenge created by many sources , all of which ar~ not man-made. There are many cures and many responsibilities. Industry has some of them , but we must bear in mind that even if industry were to be without fault the improvement in the overall environ~ ment would be small compared to the improvement requ_ire~ to meet public expectations. Indeed , 1tm1gh t hardly be noticed. To borrow an example I recently heard, we can say that all ducks are birds, but the reverse is not true . In like manner, while all industrial pollution is pollution , all pollution is not industrial pollution. Therefore, while a healthier environment is undoubtedly the goal of all parties, that goal cannot be narrowly construed as the job of industry, still less the job of any one industry such as ours. I do not say this by way of excusing the petroleum industry. Interna tional oil companies play a definite role in the global environmental effort wherev er in the world they have operations . From the first seismic shot in our oil explora tion activity on through our producing, refining, transportation and marketing operationsevery step of the way-the oil industry comes in contact with the environment. The environment is not a new concern for the industr y. However, in the last several years, it has undoubtedly gained a much higher priorit y. Accordingly, the pace and number of industry actions have been stepped up. In order to define and make commitments for my company, for example, we have established some specific corporate environmental objectives. These are based on the desire of our top management to do whatever is reasonable and feasible , with the constraints of technology and economics , to make our products and worldwide operations environmentally sound. In our New York headquarters , my staff and I work with our affiliates in all part of the world in which our company operat~s. While all of our employees play a ro_le ~n our environmental programme, wilbIIl our worldwide organization there . .areI more than 500 people who e pnncipa concern is to deal with the compan ,,, environmental problem . We look to all our OIi lndUStr~ andthB onv1ronmont plateau , I might add. At the same time , in tackling our pollution problems we've found them to be more complex and interrelated than we first believed. As this realization has filtered through to the general public ,alongwithsuchimportantissuesas the energy supply and the economics of pollution control, idealistic demands seem to be giving way to realism. The situation here in Britain and Europe appears to be somewhat different. My own assessment is that public concern here is still rising. However, I believe that it should eventually reach a plateau but a t a lower level of intensity than we experienced in the U.S. One reason that occurs to me is a very elementary one-the fact that the problem itself has not struck Europeans as a novel dilemma . In the States the realization that pollution could dam 'age , and was d_amaging ,_the land's ecology clashed with Amencans' characteristic and persi~tent concept of their country as an unsp01led land of limitless dimensions and resources. ?n the ot_herhand , your greater population density and much longer history seem to have made ~uropeans inherently more aware of the vital need for environmental co~serva~ion. Co~sequently, when concern did begm to bmld up , it came as no great surprise here or on the Continent. Response was less emotional, and, fortunately, pragmatic assessments of the problem were in some cases made fairly early in game. As we have heard from our pre~1ous speakers, those efforts are contmumg. However, I believe it is still not fully realized here or in the States that environ- t?e AN OVERVIEW employees to implement our corporate po~cy .and to ensure that we achieve our Objectives in all our operations. Thus , we and many other companies have the necessary organization _and we are working hard to supply solutions for the detrimental effects our activities can create in the environment. Since every phase of the petroleum industry touches the environment , it is quite natural t~at our environmental problems are plentiful. We can look at them in a number of ways. For example , some r~sult from our regular operating activi!1es. Among many others , these problems mclude controlling discharges of harmful materials in the air and water effluents from our refineries ; minimizing the release of oil from tankers and other vessels· minimizing the risk of environmentai damage from our extensive pipeline network ; controlling the release of offensive odours, and minimizing the noise from our operations, particularly those located near residential areas. Beyond its own operations, the industry also must supply products that efficiently meet the environmental needs of its customers and those of the communities in which these products are used. As one example of the product quality improvement required by local regulations , the production of low-sulphur fuel oil in Japan and in the Caribbean area has required very substantial investments in refining facilities. Future European fuel quality is now being considered by the OECD and the Common Market. I would hope the experiences in Japan and the Caribbean would emphasize to these two organizations the tremendous amount of capital which would be required, as well as the cost the consuming public would have to pay , for control measures. Obviously, these efforts should be considered before legislating, so that benefits are commensurate with the added costs. Similarly, you are aware of the interest exhibited by some govern~ents to re~uce the amount oflead in gasoline. It certamly would be necessary to reduce or remove J ad from gasoline if catalytic_devices which are intolerant of lead are mstalled tocontrolautomotiveemissions.However, E xx on & search and E ngin eerings automofrve emissions cont rol laboratory at Li nden, N ew J ersey. some reductions of lead have already been made even though the available medical evidence is not convincing that lead from auto emissions is detrimental to public health. Further reductions will be costly and they will require substantial capital investment. Unless lead removal shows some tangible beneficial effect, then , this use of capital, which might better be applied elsewhere, would seem to be the antithesis of conservation. I might add, however,that in many cases the industry can do little to control some of the environmental problems related to the use of its products. For example, a poorly maintained automotive engine or an inefficient oil burner can produce a considerable amount of undesirable emissions, regardless of the quality of the product being burned. The oil industry also must be and is concerned about environmental problems resulting from accidental discharges. Here I refer to the highly publicized oil spills from such mishaps as tanker accidents and offshore well blow-outs. While these incidents attract much attention, they have probably caused less env~ronmental damage than have our operational discharges. Nevertheless, the industry has devoted considerable effort to minimizing these accidental occurrences. We have provided facilities for tanker captains to pr~cti_se their manoeuvring and berthing skills m scale model tankers operating on an 8-acre lake in Grenoble. At another school, the Institute of Applied Scientific Research , at Delft in Holland, a captain can practise his navigational skills on a tanker simulator. This functioning mockup of a ship's bridge is designed to provide realistic simulation of tanker operations in all the major harbours and passages of the world. In my company we have established an oil well blow-out prevention school. Men who are involved in drilling for our oil are trained specifically in the techniques of preventing runaway wells and in the early detection and handling of potential well blow-out situations. Wealso have "port inspectors" at most of our major European discharge terminals. These men , who are retired tanker captains, are employed to advise ship and shore personnel how to unload tankers without fouling harbour waters. Nevertheless, since virtually all of our operations have a human element in their 7 performance we will never be totally free from the chance of accident. Therefore, we must be prepared to deal with these mishaps on thos~ rare occasions when they occur, and this has been done in many places throughout the world. We've learn0 a lot since the Torrey Canyon disaster m 196_7.And now, with oil spill clean~up equ~pment stocked at strategic locations, ~1th emergency operating plans, and with organizations established in key centres throughout the world, we certamly are prepared to ha11dle these emergencies much more efficiently. In cases where a spill does occur, we can call into action two agreements which the oil industry and the tanker owners formed on their own initiative several years ago. These agreements, known by their acronyms TOVALOP*and CRISTALt* provide funds to clean up spills and to compensate for damage. The important point here is that prom pt clean-up action can be started without waiting to determine liability and that adequate funds are available for clean-up and to compensate victims. While TOVALOPand CRISTALare relatively new developments , another environmental effort by the industry dates back to 1963. In that year , industry members formed an organization called the Oil Companies International Study Group for Conservation of Clean Air and Water in Western Europe. Understandably, the group is better known b~ its nickname -C ON CAWE. CONCAWE s work covers air, water and noise pollution, the disposal of s?lid was_tes related to the operation of 011refinenes, the st_orageand use of oil and its transportat10n by ~11 means except tanker. Since pro?lems m these areas affect all oil companies, CONCAWE, through its joint ~nviron~ental study and wide represe~tatlon, ca~ discuss conservation with national and mtern~tional bodies as the spokesman for a~ oil companies that have refinery operations in Western Europe. CONCAWE'sgoal is to coordinate and intensify the effort~ of these oil-refining companies to achieve •TOVALOP-TankerOwn~rs Volu~tary Agreement ConcerningLiabilityforOil Po~ut1on. . ,.. RISTAL-C ontractRegardingan In_tenm Supplementto TankerLiabilityforoil pollut1on. 8 rational solutions to the environmental problems they face. What the oil industry is doing can be seen in terms of the money being spent as well as the problems being attacked. I am acutely aware of the hazards and d~c~ptions that accompany the use of statistics and expenditure figures. However, I would like to cite a couple of figures to give you some idea of the magnitude of our environmental effort. I would estimate that in general the international oil industry is now devoting almost 10 percent of its annual capital expenditures to environmental conservation. I know this is the case in my company. In 1966, the first year for which we collected the data, 3 percent of our capital expenditures were for environmental purposes. By 1972,the figure had climbed to 9 percent and we expect it to continue rising. In 1972,our worldwide expenditures for environmental conservation totalled almost $300 million. Since 1966, the corporation has spent a total of $1.2 billion for this purpose. While almost two-thirds of that total was for our U.S. market , spending outside of the States is growing steadily and substantially. In recent years, the oil industry's environmental improvement efforts have resulted in many specific changes in equipment and procedures. Some longstanding concepts in the industry also have become antiquated. For example , new refineries are no longer planned so that they use enormous quantities of cooling water on a once-through basis. Instead, air cooling or recirculated water is used. At old refineries, changes are being made both to reduce the volume of water used and to clean the water more thoroughly before discharging it. We are going to considerable effort to mak~. each of our employees · extremely sensitiveand awareof the environmental impact of his individual actions-or of his inaction. We have found many instances where our trainingprogrammeshave resulted in substantial reductionsin undesirable discharges from our plant opera- tions. And the employees involved have developed a sense that they are improving the qualityof their environment. As you mightexpect,the researcheffort is of key importance to finding solutions for environmental problems the petroleum industry encounters .. For example, not only must we prevent 011from getting into the seas, we must also learn more about what happens to it when it does. In like manner, we must seek alternatives in the control of air pollution by such means as removing sulphur from the stack gases rather than from the fuel itself. There are many others. These research projects are vital because in all too many cases we are already working at the limit of our technology and must depend upon some technical breakthrough if we are to make further improvements. Thus, my company is spending more than $17 million on research projects designed to help conserve the environment. We do not expect that this task of data-gathering and technical improvement will ever really be finished. It is growing each year and will, I'm sure, continue to expand. One of the factors contri buting to the requirement for more research is the oil industry's need to explore for and produce petroleum in such hostile places as the North Slope of Alaska, the Bass Strait off Australia , and the North Sea. Since these locations present more hazards, many additional precaution s are necessary to protect the air, land and water affected by operations. The high-risk sites are becoming increasingly common in the oil industry , and the environmental research effort must grow to satisfy this need alone. I hope I have demonstrated that the petroleum industry is working to solve the environmental problems created by its activities. There is one other vital aspect of this problem which others have mentioned. However, it is so important that I feel compelled to include it, even at the risk of repetition. I'm referring to government regulation. In the past , the industry has been convinced that the less government regulation of business , the more successful the performance of the free enterprise system. On the question of en. we v1ronmental conservation , however, .d have reached another conclusion. To~V?' n adverseeffectson the competitive_posi_u~ of the environmentally consc1ent10 company, we must all play by the ame ■ AN OVERVIEW r rule~. Such uniforn_i rules can only be established and applied by the responsible regulatory agency. I would hope that those rules, or regulations, can be worked out by a mutual eff<;>rt of the government regulatory ag_enc1es and the industry representatives who are fully aware of the most efficient and least disruptive methods available to do the job. If th~ technical resources and experience of mdustry are used wisely, they can make a great contribution to the selection of realistic and effective controls and timetables. The oil industry around the world stands ready to prove technical data on pollutants and many ofus are ready to make manpower available to work with governments. In many instances, this is already being done. If government and Newer refineries,such as the one at Karls-:Uhe,II h,: . J7. oil curnpun1e, wlw.h u1 1963 fo unded 1hc ln1~.111al it,n:tl S1udy C,1pects of the problem and introduced measures toward s effective pollution abatement. It was considered that cooperation between oil companies having thcse problems in common was de sirable. .1hi s would assist in dealing with the various issues in the most effective and expeditiou s way. During the period of negotiations preceding the oflicial institution , Dr. W. J. Sweeney, President of Exxon Re.search and Engineering Company at Lind en. Ni..:wJer sey, who was a leading member?f the World Petroleum Congress Counc1L undcrtook Loget the official support ~f~he Congress for the proposed new 01110dustry Study Group. This took the form of lo:11rop:.,equcnt sessions of the World Perrokum r ongress. . ./1th this wide and high level suppo.rt of the oil mdu~m. ro. CAWE was offie1ally 1:;,tabli.,hed in October. 1963. and started 1t~ ;;or, according to agreed terms of~ef erencc:. excludmg all activities ~vh1.ch company confidenual m.;:ould di.M::IO!>e fcmnation or impai r in any way the com petitive ~ition of its members. The oojective of CONCA\\'GBP is tw~-fold. Jt CO/Ch both the collection and dissemination of scientific. technical and legal information on air. sea. water and soil pollution ~:.Ociated with the manufacture. traru.pon and use of petroleum products. co: 1c:....i,.GBPthus promotes active coopera tion bet.,1,een participating companies to M:C,Jrea fio .,;of information and to provide o,,;or' programmes and funds to de.elop better knowledge about the control of pollution. The results of this work an d the considered views of the participants are made arnilable to governments. inter national organizations. research institut es and othe r interested bodies. CfJ. .cAWE. therefore. fulfils a dual role-first in gathering technical informa in disseminating the tion. and ~ndly ac.cumulauve ~owledge thus acquire d . These two functions are a prerequisite for ensuring that pollution abatement tech oolo~ is applied without undue delays and ~tng the m~t efficient techno logy. By carr~ mg o.ut this ,vo rk, CONCA WE also ma~ a .ailabl~ to . the responsible authonttes the basic . .setentific and techni ca 1 d atat h eyreqmrero makedecisions h.i h both benefit the environme nt and w c . ll : sound. are economtca The gm.eming body of CONCAWE . . IS a Counci1., on w h 1ch each part' . . Compan; (six~ 1963, and )973: represenung_about 75 percent oft: .e refinmg capacity m Western Eu represented . .It defines t.he p . rope) IS . . o 1icy and. assisted m day-to-day opera tions b. Is retariat located in The H Y_a Secague . Dunn . first yea~ of operatio n the wo k g lts CA'NE :v~ concentrat ed r of CON. on a number of issues,, hich Jt that tim' "er' Cl)nsidert\J as most prc::s:inr Th~St' Cl)\ 'f j lh ,Hfl\t).. . pheric dispersion 0L,t;1c _g..1s '~. rerlnen liquid effluents. the d1sp rsw1h1i ~)ilms\1il after spillage or_kabg.e. the s:1k ,)r r,1o tion of pipelines 111Euwpe. :rnd the th'tghbourhood noi .e pro hi m :lft)Und lotl r eries. For each of the:e 1srnes a \\,)r in~ Group was e. ta~ lished. _E\.\.(1n.s .~ffi.h;i 1 provided a ha 1.rma 1~ l\\ ot rh m. 1up,1nJ namely the p1pel111e \\orJ...mg l1rl." the noise Working Group. The Working Groups are r sptons1t>le for conducting their srudi : ;h 't rdin!! 1\1.1 programme appro\'ed b~ the ,,un .i.H11.I for producin g a fin~l rerl:rt lo?ead1 f h:i~e of their work . B, d1ssemma1mg: t.l1c,,,ir: produced by both the \\ork i1~~ Gwups and the Secret ariat staff. O'.\C .\\\ E became known to man\' natit)n:il and imernational bodies and~ as time ,\.em b_'.,Hl increasing numb er of requests hr inl;..'f. mation on oil industrv em irnnm nul problems were d irected.to CO),; .\\\ E.Th most important international groups ,lf. proaching co CA\\ 'E are the ..~ . E(\ 1 o nomic Commissi on for Europe in cne, ;1. the Council of Europe in Strasb,)u rg. lhl 1n 1 1..1perJllt.. Organization for Economic C<.. on Developmen t in Paris. and nwr<:'r '. cently the Commis sion of the Eurt..,p<:'.111 Economic Comm un.it\'. Major contrib utions were :oliciteJ fr,,m co CAWE b y the UN"ECE \\ hen. in 1u0?. they organized a six-da\ seminar f 1 r f''' ernment experts on polluti<..1 11 sur. face and ground water b\' oil and 1ilpMiucts. co CAWE was asked to Fres 'HI .1 review of the "adv anced techniques .Hill m~thods used for the protectit..111a;,11n~1. failures of stora 0(Je tanks and mean:-'11 .. transport for crude oil and oil pwdu(l:The Chairman of the Working l1rt1ur ,in Oil Pipeline s at the time. an t \.\.t,n .ni1r" ployee, played the leadi ng role in pt't'f'. mg this paper with the as ta nee ofrq'r '. sentatives of two other CONCA.WErnernt>.r companies. When the OECD initiated ch .ir 1 Fuel Oil Sulphur stud v in I %9. the: ~isk,'C? CAWE to produce co t fo2ures Oil tud oil desulphurization. \.\'h en.~in tilt:. OE<:=Ddecided to publi h a ne\ , 1sst1' ,,, therr periodic report on oil. the) ;ts ,,I CONCAWE to write the ection on th' ,'ti" nn- C: ho: the ,,r i 1..-n. Th e Automotive Emissions Laborato,.y at Exxon's research centcr in England. vironmentalimplica tions of oil. Among the vario us international organizations working in the environmental field,the EEC Com mission is most important for two basic reasons. Firstly , they have defined a comprehensive environmentalaction programme which has been approvedby the Council ofMinisters; and secondly,their proposals, after approval by the Council of Ministers, are becoming Community legislation within the membercountries. It is also the Commissionthat prepares the working documents for developing and processing this new legislation through the various steps, i.e. ~ational Experts Groups, the Commissioners,and the Council of Ministers. These working documents take into acco~nt,on the one hand, the current legislative situation or intentions of the member governments; and on the other han~. the various data provided by the studies the Commission has initiated and obtained from outside agencies. On different occasions they have approached C_ONCAWE to get expert advice on environmental problems of current interest, sucha~lead levels in gasoline and sulphur levelsm fuel oil. It is of great importance for the ~ii industry to provide the re9uested information on each important issue to ensure that among the various studies the Commission is soliciting and considering there should be one which representsthe views of the oil industry. ro;he ~owing public and official concern environmental problems which has been . notJcedsince the years 1969-1970 has resulted for CONCAWE in a growing number of enquiries. To cope with the increased demand , CONCAWE had to revise its initial organization consisting essentially of the five Working Groups mentioned earlier. They were substituted by five Advisory Groups covering the following aspects: air, water, noise , pipelines, and labelli ng. These embrace a much wider segment of the environmental scene that is of concern to the oil industry. All participating companies are invited to nomin ate one representative to each of the Advisory Groups. These representatives are experts in the respective fields, and are capable of formulating the views of their companies in the relevant fields. The actual work on specific problems within each of the five specialized fields is carried out by Special Task Forces wh~ch can be established or disbanded accordmg to the needs. These Task Forces are working under the supervision of a small Management Group elected amongst the Advisory Group members . . There are at present ninete~n S~ecial Task Forces in operation_ i~vol~mg nmetynine experts from part1c1pating companies, of which seventeen a_reExxo~ employees. While actualtechmcal worki carried out by company experts , CONCAWE provides the secretarial wor~ and en ures liaison with the various outside groups . In this revised organiza~ion the ~ouncilo:~: tains its policy-definm g function . H ever, it was felt that the more elabo:ate an~ diversified operations would require mor . lect guidance than previously. . For this purpose it wa decided tot: . , .1 Member an Execull\t: among C ounc1 Committee of nine members for dealing with current problems and for managing the improved organization within the framework of the general policy. This new set-up provides greater flexibility of operation and a broader coverage of expertise which will hopefully suffice to cope with the various issues which arise. It has proved to be effective in dealing with the ga oline / lead and fuel / sulphur questions raised by the EEC during the past two years. The technical data CONCAWE was able to provide on these two major issues greatly contributed to the balanced approach taken so far by the Commission. Regarding the future, there is no doubt that government and international organizations will pursue their studies and actions towards environmental protection. Some of the is ues will reflect specific and local concern of a mall number of countrie . Others will reflect more widelyspread concerns. uch as automotive emi ion or wa te oil disposal. These are part of the EEC environmental action programme. The latter, however. goes much further. and includes uch i sues as nitrogen oxide . refinery effluents. refinery siting, and the storage and transportation of potential pollutants. The plan of the EEC to propose a European Institute for the Protection of the Em ironment is an indication that Community activitie in this field" ill continue to grow. \ ith upport fro_mits member compa nies. o A\\ E 1stn a good po 1tion to carry on the dialogue with official , and to further contnbute toward a sound understanding of environmental i ue . o 13 It used to be that all we did with the environment was to live in it. We were aware ?fthe envir~nment only ifwe were enjoy mg a vacation on the beach or in the mountains. Now, within a period of only a few years , we ?nd ourselves preoccupied with the environment. We are reminded that we live in a spaceship , that everything is connected with everything else ; we make environmental preservation and improvement _a nat~on~l policy and we pass sweepmg legislation to accomplish it. Some say we are going to extremes ; others insist we must do still more. But whichever point of view you espouse , there are five basic considerations regarding the economics of environmentalism which should be borne in mind by anyone seeking workable solutions to environmental problems. Ignore these economic realities and regardless of what you hope to accom plish , yo u'll find you are creating new difficulties rather than solving existing ones . Private corporations should not be expected to make social policy. Some env ironment al groups argue that an electrica l utility , for example , required to limit the sulfur content of its fuel to one percent , should get in the spirit of things and voluntarily use fuel with no more than 0.5 percent sulfur. The argument runs thusly: If we have an air pollution problem and the authorities have imposed a one percent limit as a means of alleviating it, the use of 0.5 percent should help t~ings even more; and the utility has a public responsibility to do everything it can.. . . Note what this does: It puts the utlht~ m the position ofusing its judgment to decide what is good for society. It costs mor~ to use fuel with 0.5 percent sulfur than w1~hone percent. So the utility imposes this co~t burden on its customers - not because it has to but because it thinks it should._ . The proper mechanism for .decid!ng what is good for society and for imp?smg whatever cost burden this may entail is our governmental system with its elected offi/ly llru, ·, (' . N, t.~chrrt, l◄Jxxon lTSA, Second (J1wrt, r J.97.'I. 14 ouonomms for onv1ronmonta11sts cial . They are put in office for that purpo e, and if the public disagrees with their judgment they suffer the consequences. The responsibility of the electric utility is to obey the laws and regulations adopted to carry out public policy- not to set that policy on its own. This does not mean a private corporation should abrogate its public responsibilities , or that it should concentrate on interpreting or twisting the laws and regulations in a single-minded pursuit of the interests of its stockholders. Obviously, there are many areas in which a corporation can and must use its discretion. It should obey the spirit as well as the letterof the laws and regulations by doing all it can to assuage public fears through its actions. Environmental decisions should involve a cost/benefit comparison. Under the National Environmental Policy Act, this is already being done for major governmental actions which affect the environment. But it should also be applie d to all actions taken to protect the environment. Federal , state, and local regulation s should all stand the cost/benefit test. National legislation , also, should at some stage in its legislative history include cost/ benefit considerations. One of the great successes in the application of the National Environmental Policy Act- in the sense that the intent of the act was fully realized - was the recent lease sale on federal lands of the Outer Continental Shelf in the Gulf of Mexico. The original announcement of this sale last spring was challenged under NEPA. The result was that the sale was withdrawn while an environmental statement was prepared. The grounds on whi~h the environmental groups brought smt was that the procedure called for by NEPAhad not been followed, although the intent of at least some of those bringing suit was to permanently forestall the leasing. B_ut when the environmental statement was issued the Interior Department was given the go-ahead and the environmenta lists decided not to litigate further. NEPA'spurpose had been fulfi1led with what was, in effect, a demonstration that the benefits exceeded the costs, since those who had argued to the c?n~rar~ conceded. . Actions of sumlar import , such as the imposition ofa 0.3 p~rcent sulfur level on fuels in New York City and other places, have been taken in the comp lete absence of any demonstration that the benefits of going from 0.5 percent to 0.3 percent exceeded the costs involved. It may well be that the benefits do exceed the costs, but on the basis of published information, no one knows. So the consumers ofN ew York City pay additional millions of dollars yearly for their oil and for the electricity generated from it with no knowledge of whether the extra margin of reduction in ambient sulfur levels is worth it. We should apply an economic calculus to environmental decisions just as we apply some kind of cost/benefit comparison to all other decisions. Internalization of costs should be universal in making cost/benefit comparisons for environmental decisions. What is internalization? It is economic jargon for taking into account external costs. And what are external costs? They are costs which are not recognized, or do not appear in the economic system. When you drive your car and thereby contribute to the smog, you are imposing · a cost on your fellow citizens. It is not a cost, however, that appears in your car expenses. Or, as another example , an industry polluting a stream imposes a cost which appears down stream in the charges for municipal water treatment included in the consumer's bill. The indu stry, however, does not bear this cost. It simply uses the tream as a free way to get rid ofwa tes. But when you pay more for your car because it has antipollution equipment on it and more for your gasoline bec ause it i low-lead, and when the industry is required to treat the water itself o that there is a clean discharge , the e cost . which were previously external to the y tern, have been internalized. Here's another example. Environmen- AN OVERVIEW tal intervenors in nuclear licensing proceeding s contend that in making the cost/ benefit comparison , you should include the environmental costs associated with all phases of the nuclear cycle, beginning with uranium mining and carrying through to waste disposal. With this approach , the cost of operating a nuclear plant includes the health effects of radon on uranium miners , the environmental impact of the stack-gas emissions and thermal discharge from the central station s which supply power to the uranium enrichment plants , the risk of accident in the transport of nuclear fuel and wastes, and so forth. No problems , so far. But this is fair only if the same approach is taken with respect to the alternative fuels. To be fair, you should also consider an appropriate part of the fatalities in coal mining , the strip mining effects, the risk of oil spills in drilling and tanker operations, the air pollution from refineries , and so on, when comparing the costs of power generated by nuclear fuels to that of power generated by fossil fuels. Do not bypass the market mechanism when that mechanism is capable of achieving the desired results. ?)IUfl)Uk>J,Z <)lutweighthe c ts, the argument has been settled, under the environmentalist's own rules. The same will shortly be true for all power plants. The mistake in trying to discourage consumption of electricity through price manipulation is that it results in the misallocation of resources. Consider the various uses of electricity in which it is in competition (actual or potential) with the fuels. We can heat our houses with electricity, or we can do it with oil, gas, or coal. We can heat our water and cook with electricity, or we can do the same with oil, gas, or coal.Now, if electricity is artificially made more expensive it will not mea~ tha~ the demand for electrical energy will disappear ; demand will merely be transferred to the fossil fuels. More economic resou_rcesw~l be devoted to making them available m the quantity necessary to sa_tisfy_the demand. But this is a misallocat10n, sm~e the only reason the ad?~tion~l e~onomic r~sources are being u tihzed m this man2er is because of the price change. Under. normal" circumstances fewer ec~nomic resources would have been required to satisfy society's needs. Recognize that there are no absolutes. The environmentalist who says he wan~ no further expansion in energy use an never mind the consequences is not engaged in_ration~! argument but is giving vent to his emotions. The same can be said for the position that there should be no more offshore drilling for oil and gas, as well as for the proposition that nuclear plants should be built only if it can be guaranteed that there is no accident risk. It would be pleasant if all of these things could occur, but we must live in the real world, not the world of fantasy. The great majority of the public is not interested in cutting off growth in energy use if it means going back to bicycles and doing without air conditioning. We don 't live, and never have lived, in a world of zero risk ; we attempt , insofar as we can, to reduce those risks over which we have any control to a reasonable minimum. In no way do these economic considerations frustrate the realization of economic goals. We should lessen the pollution we are causing and, to the extent present energy consumption levels are the re ult of inefficiency and waste, we should reduce energy use. It is only when we apply illogical standards and unrealistic value judgments, and only when we sub titute emotion for reason, that we most eriou ly jeopardize the cause of environmental conservation. ■ 17 bUUS, Not long ago , conservation coordinators from Exxon affiliates all over the world gathered in New York to discuss various environmental problems , report on the antipollution measures they have ~aken in their own areas , and to exchange ideas and technical information on the additional corrective measures that are still needed. M. M. Brisco, Exxon's president , addressed the group and put the environmental picture clearly into focus: " It is an inescapable fact that our business touches the physical environment at every single step - from initial exploration through production , transportation , refining , and marketing - and further , to include the use of our products by our customers. We can take no comfort from the fact that other industries , government , and individual citizens are also polluting. Our own record must improve. No affiliate is exempt from this responsibility." What are Exxon's affiliates doing to meet this responsibility? Following is a progress report on some of the conservation projects that have been put into effect at affiliates' refineries. Take, first, water conservation activities. There is a project for the "changing of the water:' as they call it at the Baton Rouge refinery of Exxon Company, U.S.A. The purpose is to reduce the amount of river water needed for cooling by means of a closed recirculating system. As recently as 1970, the Baton Rouge refinery discharged 190 million gallons of effluent a day, consisting mostly of Mississippi River water that was used on a "o nce-through " basis for cooling at process units. Now the discharge rate is down to 20 million gallons a day. That reduction of90 percent has been achieved by piping water, which formerly would have been sent back to the river, to ten tall new structures distributed around the sprawling refinery. Some of these cooling towers recirculate as much as four times the volume of water that is eventually discharged into the Mississippi. Cooled by air at the atmospheric temperature, the water enters a tower at 130 degrees Fahrenheit and leave it at 80 to 87 degrees. Moreover, /111Hic/uJI'(/ H11ftr1:'l'lw I..amp, Sp1-ing 19 72. 18 bOIIBrs, and ping units , but some dissolved organic compounds remain. So the waste water is then pumped into the lagoons where whirling blades stir in the oxygen necessary for the survival of the microorganisms. The hungry bugs go to work, gobbling up the organic chemicals - and sometimes each other when very hungry - and converting the pollutant material into harmless carbon dioxide and plain water. The effluent drains into a settling tank where the microorganisms sink to the bottom . Clean and clear water is returned to Arthur Kill, the channel that separates New Jersey from Staten Island. This water-purifying process , known as biological oxidation , is now used at many of the refineries being operated by Exxon affiliates. At Exxon's refinery at Baytown , thirty miles east of Houston , goldfish in an aquarium play an important monitoring role. The water passing through the gills of the darting fish has previously gone through processing units. It is a random sample of the 20 million gallons of water that are used and treated at the refinery and returned to the Houston Ship Channel every day.Another 800 million gallons, used for cooling and steam generation , are recycled. At latest report, Baytown's goldfish are healthy and eating regularly, which would indicate that the water-treatment system is working well. No less than ninety-four full-time employees at Baytown make sure that it does. Their job has been helped along by twenty-eight oil-water separators at processing units. The separators send oil right back to the unit involved or to another one. If oil wastes by chance slip through several preseparators at the end of the refinery's sewer systems, they are almost certain to be removed by a master separator. And if that fails to do the trick, biological oxidation takes over. Bacteria have a full fifteen days to feast on and digest minute particles of oil while waste water passes through three different lagoons. Only then does Baytown's effluent go into the Ship Channel- and to the aquarium for monitoring. Contaminated effluents from indu trial plants and cities are a major problem along the course of Europe's Rhine River ODldflSh the amount of oil contained in the water effluent has been reduced by 95 percent. This has been accomplished by making several changes. One was to clean up 325 waste-water streams that flow from and between various units within the 900-acre expanse of the refinery. Engineers and technicians painstakingly tracked down sources of pollutants in each stream and then devised methods ofremoving them. But the problem still wasn't completely solved, and several processes are presently being tested as a secondary treatment step to further reduce emission of contaminants. Robert Denbo , the senior staff engineer in charge of pollution-control planning at the refinery , explains why the Baton Rouge system is so effective: "Abatement combined with source control is the key to solving the problem of returning clean water to the river." But that is not the entire story. "Management;' according to Mr. Denbo , "has reacted to pollution problems much as concerned citizens do. Their concern, in turn, has spread to all our people at operating units. Just about everybody in this refinery is working on these projects in one way or another." There are billions of pampered bugs at Exxon's Bayway refinery in Northeastern New Jersey. The "bugs" are actually countless varieties of microorganisms, including microbes or bacteria. They live in two lagoons , each about the size of a football field, where they flourish on a diet of crude oil and organic materials. In refining about 200,000 barrels of crude oil a day, Bayway uses 15 million gallons of process water. Most of the pollutants are removed from the water by separators, skimmers, and stream strip- 111111 l:.x~·on affiliates world~,·,, Hueare makin .,1 · reduce environm I . g coorumatedefforts lo uua pol!utwn I . REFINERIES; TERMINALS "> teclznologr and lar e . . at I 1e1rrefineries. A di'alzced 'f5' capl!a/ tnvestments ar b .· . . e nngmg so!,dprogress. fJu,n/ ('(Jolin{Jlow rs rirf' fhr hmrt of //1(' rivpr waterr ,placement pn~jrn't cos and dcn~cd m thods of n mori11gthem. mp c c Y soh•cd,but cffo1·tsco11ti11 w. ir~n~ and it tributaries. The problem would be clo er to olution if there were more water treatment facilitie like tho e in use at the refinery operated in Karlsruhe, West Germany. by Exxon' West German affiliate. Liquid wa te from the refinery operation are collected and treated in four separate y tern . Solid and oil are removed b mechanical kimmers, edimentation, nd biological oxidation. Water returned to the Rhine contain only one partofoilin million part of water. Similar techniqu are being u ed at the affiliate's refin ric at Ingol tadt and ologne. 20 More than a quarter of a century ago, The Juicy Scoopy, a converted lifeboat, played a major role in pollution control at the Sarnia, Ontario, refinery of Imperial Oil Limited, Exxon's Canadian affiliate. Alex McRae, an Imperial chemi t, wa wont to cruise the adjoining St. lair River in the boat, collecting am pie of river water. He used the water to make tea, which magnifies the bad ta te of unde irable chemicals, such a phenol . Mr. McRae's unorthodox te t and early work on pollution control helped Imperial clean up refinery wa te water in anada. lll11.~tmlio11sby .Vicholas Pasciano eludes a $1 4-m ·uwhich burn; 1 10n, two-story boiler oxide and most of the carbon monemitted froama:\~ part of th~ particulates boiler ha b ig coker umt. So far, the . s een able to reduce carbon monoxide emissions by 98 5 particulates by 67 percen~. ~:r~;n~:r:d these pollutants , the boiler produces a~ enormous amount of heat which . . phoned ff 1s s1. o and used as energy in making vanous products. . Evaporation from tanks can be a pollution J?roblem at refineries - particular! older mstallations - and here too Bill. y has acted. Five tons of hydrdcarbons ~!~ once evaporated into the atmosphere each day ~re captured in storage tanks with floatmg roofs . The roofs literally float on top of products in the tanks , eliminating ~apor spa~e and , consequently, evaporation. Floatmg roofs have been installed at ~he storage facilities of all Exxon refineries m rece_nt years. The installation of a dust col~e_c~101:1 system at storage and loading fac~ht_1es1sexpected to cut coke particulate em1ss10ns by another 27 percent at the Billings refinery. In:iperial led the way in Canada in in stallmg smokeless flare tips on stac ks at its refineries. T h e flares are ma d e smok eless by means of stea m j ets th at m ix air with esc~~ ing gas so th a t it burn s compl etely. In add1t10n, these stacks are monitored continua lly fro m a control room by televi sion cameras to m ake sur e that the flare s are workin g p ro p erly. Wh en Exx on 's new refinery at Benicia , Ca lifo rn ia, went on- stre am in 1969, it incorp o ra ted ju st about every type of conserva ti o n device and measure then k n own . Some $ 10 million was inve sted in pecia l equipment to control air and water qua lit y. Th e refiner y wa s carefull y deign ed a an ex erci se in total environment p la nnin g. That even included painting the fac ili tie in a oft green and yellow-gold to b lend w ith th e surrounding land cape. Prese rva tio n of the natural environme nt wa , a l o a major design feature when ~xxo n's refinery a t Fawley on the south · ,ast f Eng la nd wa s pl a nned. A broad hc lt of tr ees and . hrub s wa planted ar un Technological antipollution knowledge gained in the process cannot necessarily be applied to other refineries at other locations. > Eventually, at some point in time, increasing costs of pollution control must be passed on to the consumer. Dr. George E. Mitchell, air and water coordinator at Benicia, elaborates on the second point. "Each refinery must con. duct its own program. Each must meet the technological demands not only of its location , but of the specific product it manufactures. This also applies to equipment required to reduce pollution?' An Exxon USA employee for 30 years and holder of a doctorate in chemical engineer _ing , Dr. M!t~hell notes that fighting pollution at Bemc1a runs up an operating bill of more than $5,000 every day.And he concludes: "This sort of spending is not openended and it is not without some effecton the marketplace. Eventually it must show up in the price of products?' Running parallel to the demand forenvironmental vigilance by refineries like Benicia is the demand for the products they manufacture. In a nationwide survey of the industry in 1972, for instance, the Wa,[l Street Journal noted that while American domestic refinery capacity increased 3 percent in 1971, this met only two-thirds of the rising demand for these products. The Journal cited a number of reasons for the gap, including the imposition of increasingly tough environmental controls; at least partly due to this reason. the Journal noted, no new refinery has been built on the East Coast since I959. and nine existing ones shut down in the same period of time. Faced with these parallel demands, REFINERIES; TERMINALS Benicia refinery employees nevertheless find time to contribute to t~e community. And much of the extracurncular activity concerns the environment. Exxon USA, for instance, helped to form the San Francisco Bay Area Environ~e?tal Information Clearinghouse, an exc1tmg new concept in drawing together ecologists? educators, and labor, government and mdustry leaders to solve mutual problems. Frank Chadwick is currently vice president of EiC. Exxon USA also contributes toward the agency's $51,000 annual budget. The company is also a member of Clean Bay,Inc., formed in 1971 to provide a contingency plan for cleaning up marine oil spills should they occur. With impetus provided by the collision of two tankers in San Francisco Bay in 1971, six competitive oil companies, including Exxon USA, agreed to support the nonprofit agency financially and also to provide manpower. Today, the partnership of Exxon USA and Benicia is working well. Although during the early days of operation, upsets or breakdowns caused smoke and noise and were a source of irritation to some people in the community, these incidents have diminished in number. Local authorities feel Benicia townspeople have accepted the refinery as a sincere industrial neighbor. Mayor Lemos cites the fact t~at Benicians enjoy a higher standard of ~ving than they did a few years ago. While tthherefinery helped fill the job gap left by closmg,i · ·tstaxcontributionto th e arsenal's • 1 e city and schools of Benicia and to Sobano County, and its addition to the tax _ase:also made possible a gradual reduction m Benicia's tax rate f "Benicia enjoys many spinoff benefits . rom th e refinery, too;' Lemos adds. "For mstance, o~r water supply was about a ce~tury behmd the times. The refinery req urres about three million gallons of water ?day. So, we got together and talked about 1t.The result: a new water pipeline we can both use?' P?l~ution? Hear Nancy Mahoney, a Berucian many years, now in charge of the refinery's central files. "Like a lot of people;' she says, "I was concerned about the refinery. However, the benefits to our community in keeping property taxes down, providing employment and participating in activities of the community more than compensate for the minimal problems caused by the refinery. I should know-my home and property run right up to the refinery site?' William B. King and Steve Swenson, now Exxon USA employees, are both Benicia newcomers. King, an office assistant at the refinery's marketing terminal, lived many years in Contra Costa County, across Carquinez Strait, working for various oil companies. "The refinery at Benicia was a lucky break for me:' he say . "It meant a good job, a move to Beniciaand cleaner air:' Swenson, a chemist in the refinery laboratory, migrated even further, from Anaheim in Southern California's Orange County. "I was tern pted by an offer to work for Exxon USA;' he says, "but I hesitated to make the move. For one thing, I'm an outdoorsman, an active member of the Sierra Club, and I was deeply involved in Southern California. Then, in Benicia, I happily discovered how much closer this town is to wilderness areas than are most in Southern California:' Perhaps the most convincing endorsement, though, comes from Garnard Ray, operator of one of Benicia's many antique shops, and a resident long before Exxon USA's arrival. "I was dead set against a refinery in my town;' says Ray. "I looked across the Strait where the other refineries are located and asked myself, 'Who needs another?' But I don't feel that way anymore. Whenever problems occur, we get together and look for solutions. Exxon USA has become a mighty fine neighbor:' ■ ·'' ArsenalWharf, where the weapons of war were onceshipped, has today beenconverted to peacefuland constructive purposes. ...., ... . tq A major refinery,a longpipeline or a huge marine tankerfull of oil are obviousas potential risks to the natural environment and, because they are obvious,they tend to concentratepublic attention on themselves. The safety of these major items ofplant depends on a combinationof technical expertise in design,constn,ctionand maintenance, and of the continuingcare The oil which the tankers bring , and the refineries turn into useful products has to be distributed and sold before it is of any use. The system in which the products are handled is diffused right across the country and reaches out to its furthest corners. And the oil products which pass through these commercial veins and arteries can be potentially ju t as damaging to nature as the crude oil which comes to our ports. The cumulative effect of small unnoticed losses through defects in the distribution system could in the aggregate be just as damaging as the rare catastrophic accident to a tanker - more so , perhaps, as such losses would not attract the massive attention which a sudden disaster would. The company has long recognized the need for the most careful control right down the line of our distribution systemcontrol which is only partly a technical job and which for its success depends mainly on human care-that habit of concern which forms the title of this article. We also know as a company that the situation is not a static one. The degree and kind of precaution we have to take changes in time as tech°:ic~l possibilities improve and our own ms1ghts and public concern and involvement reveal more points we have to watc~. Also not to be forgotten is that practices which were formerly acceptable ~ecome inadequate as the scale of oil-inustry operations increases ;,ollowing the flow of products from the re mery sh_ow~ho~ we work now, and how the orgamzatton is equipped to identif new needs and change to meet them. Y Very large cu_stomers for Exxon rodu~ts-for fuel oil for instance, are s~rved direct from the refinery by coasta l ta nker, . Fhm,_,, '.wrl, ~-~y1>11/Jlimti()/t, RJ"J'mt°!,affiliatr I 111 / «I h rnydmn, Swmnn• J.97:2. 111 f/11 28 of thosewho operatethem. Less in thepublic eye,but no less vitalto the successof the oil industryin supplyingthefuels and raw materialson whichour economydepends,is the distributionsystem which handlesoil products.In this articlewe look at the ways in whichExxon keepsthat systemsafe in operation,and at how the technicaland humanfactors are balancedin operation. ahabit Of oonoorn by pipeline or by rail tank car. For the generality of sales , however, the first destination of the product is a bulk plant or terminal. These are assemblages of storage tanks and loading and unloading facilitie which take in bulk-loads of fuels and lubricants and deliver them by road and rail vehicle in manageable quantities and in suitable packages to the enormous range of Exxon 's customers. At one time there were hundreds of such plants , much smaller on average than the existing one , and each serving an area defined by the working radius of a horse-drawn wagon. This total number has been reduced steadily with theadventofmotortransport until now Exxon operates only thirty- ix such plants to serve the whole of Britain supplemented by smaller depots operated by Authorized Distributors. This reduction in the numberof plants is itself a benefit to the environment-though it carries with it the disadvantage that as the plant become larger they become more noticeable. The design of the plant has become more sophisticated though and adva~ced precautions can be incorporated into fewer, more efficient, plants. . The problem of siting such install_a110~ is that a bulk plant has to go where 11ui_t. Exxon's customers. Many, of cour e_.are in areas already highly developed indu · trially but in serving farmer a nd _other • • , particular people in rural commumt1e problems arise, becau e of the need to n7u 1·(ub11fl ' . l products (l>0.llm11 1-iyhl)by 111ums of ,pri_~;, co . arlirnlat, d loading boom.,.T/11·'~1/ 111:,:i';;,,1, 1::~ il· 1ei 111cl inn Nlil lu s1, 11 1m flu ta11l.t 1 011 < The L RP oil khnmer.in u at at . . exe~y;i,s for n rgencies,in Cay :o 8 not affi t /1·0111t/11. 11 th m. Tc enable u to decid . .. fi r treatment a urvey f eon pnonties fluent from Exxon ~ actual water efand te ts and research an ts_is underway find out what needs d ~rem progress to · omg. A new c pany engmeering standard fo . omtors was recently introduced rdmtercepat our Abingdon R · an research directed at finding betteesrearch Cfentre is . ways o reach · a more strmgent standard O f 1 . mg hould that be c eanlmess . necessary. The problem encountered m treating the sur face waters · E m xxon plants are not due to oil I Dete · a one. . rgents us~d m washing down road vehicles·f can spoil the action of ·1 . h 01 -mtercept ors 1 t ey .are allowed to ge t m . to th e system and this can even result m· th ere Iease f il · o o m the interceptor outflow. Special types of cl~aner have to be used, or segrega t_ed dramage for the washing water which then~ with the agreement of the loc~l authonty can go into the foul-water drams. ~ similar problem can arise in com_me~cial car-washes, and Exxon is in vestigatu~g the use of closed water-circuit w~shers m a pilot scheme. It sho uld be said, however, that the effluent from our plants is probably cleaner than that which flows into the sewers from a rain-washed street as a result of crank-case drippings and loss from ordinary vehicles. During transport in road or rail vehicles, the greatest ecological risk is, again, to water. If a rail car is derailed or a road tanker suffers an accident, the contents may be spil led - though good tank design can ensure that the spillage is limited. The Re sea rch Centre at Abingdon , Berkshire has designed a clean-up kit , incorporating oil-containing booms , a newly developed oil-ski mmer pump , emergency storage for recovered oil and absorbents to clean-up the traces . The kit can be carried in an estate car, and each part is hand portable to an inaccessible spill. Strategically disposed throughout the distribution network, a nd backed up by training in their u e ..the e kits will enable Exxon to tackle it own problem and to help other bodies r local authorities who have to handle oil- pill emergencies. Via the Institute of P tr I um, xxon has co-operated with th D partment of the Environment in f?rmulating a pla~ by which an organizational network will be set up with River Authorities and other parties to ensure the prompt reporting and efficient mobilization ofreserves to deal with spilt oil. Major spillages are, fortunately , relatively rare , but there is a constant risk of minor oil losses when oil product s are delivered to a customer 's storage tank -if the tank is too full or the wrong tank selected, oil can be lost and may do damage. In this situation Exxon personnel must depend on instructions given by customers and the responsibility is divided. Only the greatest care in handling can protect against such losses and to ensure this care , Exxon has employed an ambitious safety incentive scheme called 'Safety and Me: or SAM for short, covering the mishaps which can occur on the distribution side of the business, and including spillages. The effectiveness can be seen in a 45 percent reduction in accidental spillages since 1969. We offer advice on storage and handling of oil to_our cust~mers, and are co-operating with other oil companies to produce code of practice ~hich will ensure greater afety at mstallations out ide our direct control. In tracking the flow of oil through the E~xon n~twork it is obviou how many different Jobs and people are involved in the safe handling of our products. Market~g Depa~tment has made generally available a little booklet which explain the companies' intentions in general and ~anuals of safe practices, training exercises for emergencies and incentive schemes are devised to bring home to each man and woman what they can do. And, in parallel with this activity proceed the constant examination of our pre ent way and the search for solutions to our problems which will enable Exxon to further improve its performance in minimizing the damage to nature caused by the handling of oil products. ■ 31 . Singaporeans-like many people-de tre t_he be st of two possible worlds: eco nomic development and a clean environ ment. But , unlike many other areas Sin_gapore stands a good chance of ach1evmg this balanced goal. The large amount of industry drawn to the small country brings economic growth. But it also brings pollution. Government and individuals working on environmental conservation in Singapore have an advantage , according to Mark Walker, Exxon ' s Singapore environmental coordinator. "They have a clean slate to begin with. Almost clean , that is. Air and water pollution to date in Singapore have been minimal." Much has been accomplished to minimize pollution in Singapore and to keep it from growing. More important , however , is the fact that a plan to implement preventative measures, rather than curative solut ions, has been developed. Environmental optimism prevails in Sin ga pore , according to Mr. Walker, and underl ies the hard work that is in progress. With und erstan d ing among industry, the governme nt a nt ipollution unit an d th e Mini stry for the Environm ent, Singa p or e should ach ieve it s goa l of econ om ic de velopment a nd a cle an en vironment. Exxon 's Sing apore a ffiliate has been concerned with en vironment al con servation for several years. Four months before startup of the company' s refiner y on Pulau Ayer Chawan , a team of environmental expert s began a nine-month study of the air and water around the island. Dr. K. K . Chin , dean of the engineering facult y a t Singapore' s Nanyang University, headed the study team which also included Dr . L. M . Gan , head of the chemistry dep a rtment at the university , and Dr. ~ -~ :Ong , head of the rubber and plastics d1v1s1on at Singapore Polytechnic. The stud y team compared the data obta ined before and after the refinery started up . lt .co ncluded that Exxon refinery operati ons had very little impact on environm ental quality. "Th e problem we face now," Mr. Walker , Pn, 111liii~ionflily JJIIIJ/imlion. lt' .u o11~ Hu · l t 11 sl1, ·1111fj1/111t /J1i·J. l.0p/11/fiwm tling fi hand within an ho~r. had a_boatload. It wa the fir t tentat1 e tep mto a phenomenon v hich revolutionized fi_bing in the Gulf. and boo ted ports_fi hmg into an industry of greater economic value and size than its commercial counterpart. " It wa n't much of a platform ;' recall that skipper. Captain Charles Seba tian , of Grand Isle, Louisiana. "It was really a test tructure to determine the ability of the substr ata to support weight. Ju st a large steel pipe sunk into the ocean floor with a small platform on top." But fish seemed attracted to it. Later, in 1947, Exxon Company, U.S.A. built its multimillion-dollar "Grand Isle N' platform eight miles off the coast of Grand Isle. It was big, the first structure in the Gulf large enough to support a complete oil drilling rig and quarters for crewmen to run it. Even before it was completed in 40 feet of water, it had attracted warms offish, which in turn , attracted Sebastian and many other charter boat skippers. They found that fishing around the 42 in the water off the Loui iana coa t, ha e in talled ome 2,000 platform and tructures to produce oil, ga , and ulfur. nd anglers from throughout the nation are delighted , with good reason. "Eac h of the e platform is like a bru hpile in a lake;' Captain Seba tian ays, "except that they 're made of steel. As soon as the underwater column are in place they begin accumulating barnacles , mo s, and other marine growths. These attract small fish. The big fish which feed on the little fish aren't far behind:' Of course Louisiana's offshore water have long supported a prolific game fishery, and did so well before the advent of offshore oil drilling. But the pre ence of structures has eliminated much of the OFFSHORE OPERATIONS ~'ishilly 1111i·iys (lift). for 1·1cls1wpp11: 1'.~f1111 for /11shuul. by the nu mb ers of tubsful. Parties of four to 12 angler s often catch hundreds of red snapper , blu efish , dolphin , seatrout , Spani sh mackerel , king mackerel , croaker and pompano . Pompano! Louisiana offshore anglers seldom caught this epicurean delight in the years before the platforms were built. Now, catches of a hundred or more per boat are common during winter months. And a man catching pompano right and left hasn't time to wonder about the biological reasons for their being there. Some charter skippers , such as Captain Loui Ramm , fish the rigs extensively. Much in demand and heavily booked, aptain Ramm operates his big , comfortable craft , Early Bird, out of Empire. He says he can't remember when his customers have failed to catch fish around the rigs. In his fa t aluminum Sea Hawk, Captain Sebastian scouts the Gulf for billfish, am~crjack, and wahoo, but he also fishes the n g\ especially when the action is slow in other waters. Not only charter bo a t fishermen work the platforms. The owner s of private craft by the hundreds funnel into the Gulf from such jumpoff point s as Shell Beach , Hopedale, Venice , Cocodrie , Leeville , Golden Meadow , Cypremort Point , and Grand Cheniere. Some pref er to stay in the quiet inner bays where platforms may be found in as little as ten feet of water. Others, possessing larger craft with greater range, may travel as far as 60 miles offshore to fish around rigs standing on a bottom that's 200 feet down. Prudent fishermen, though , resist the temptation to venture too far into the Gulf, despite the comforting presence of man-made structures. Experienced boaters know these offer little security when a sudden squall lashes calm waters into churning seas. Before the advent of platforms, offshore fishing came to a standstill during the winter months.Now, anglers have learned that the period from November through March can be the most productive of all. Choosing a calm, cold day after the passage of a "norther," a wintertim e fi herm ~n can take as many as 21 different species of game fish, and his catch may easily run into three figures. Night fishing , too , is now po sible around some platforms where natural ga flares b~rn. ~he natural ga i produced along with 011, but at some location in amounts too small to be worth the co t of bringing it to market. Rather than have the g_asrel~ased into the air, where an explosion might result , the appropriate state or federal authority instructs that it be di posed of by controlled burning. The flame attracts fish in great numbers and re ult can be spectacular. Whether the cause is man-made , or i the result of seasonal weather pattern , or is a natural cycle in the biological hi tory of various fish specie , it is a tati tical fact that the size, composition, and abundance of catches in the Gulffishery are undergoing changes. Last winter the king mackerel run was the best and the longe tin hi tor . But for pompano, it wa a dud . 43 11/111/ish (I>,fowl pro1·id1111n1lwi11ftrspc!rl for ri11Jis/111·111111. Ht dfish. or c/11111111 I lmss (1·1uM l an a111r11111 ~/ 1•a1·ii lit.~tak,11 11ct1r the 1'1//S. hed ule for var- great catche of king weighing from 25 to 50 pound throughout the winter. Not until April 23 did they suddenly vani h. If you'd like to fi h the rigs in your own boat , you'll find most oil companies cooperative. They a k only that you ob erve two rule : Don't interfere with the workboats and crewboat which ply between the platforms and hore bases; and don't climb or it on the platforms. Or, if you prefer, contact one of the charter boats at Grand Isle or Empire. Daily rates vary from about $150 to $300 , depending on the boat, the number of fishermen it can carry, and the distance you expect to go offshore. Holiday and weekend rates are slightly higher than weekday rates. Most charter boats are certified by the Coast Guard for six fishermen, but Seba tian may take 15 and Ramm is authorized for 20. Your individual share of the cost hould work out to around $25 or $30. Some charter boats furni h rods and reels at no charge. Other rent equipment at $2.50 to $3 an outfit. You'll probably enjoy fishing with your own gear, especially if you are a light tackle buff. The same freshwater tackle you use for b_as will work just fine , but take the precaution of loading your reel with 20-pound-te t monofilament line. f You'll find Grand Isle at the south endo Louisiana Highway 1. It's an eight-mi!e· long barrier island connected to the matni land by a bridge. It ha adequat_erooted and restaurant facilities. There 1s a 0 strip for light aircraft near the bridge on kear· the mainland, but you'll have to ma Ieif rangements for transportation to th~1 ft airer~ You come in by air · Larger private H a1r· can be accommodated at the ourn8 00 port , 70 mile from Grand I le. where can rent a car. or· Empire i 60 miles outh of ~~ toO· lean via Louisiana Highwa 23. · rant has adequate ov might and re maY accommodation , but your be t d dri" be to rent a car in N w Orl an an down there. b~t OFFSHORE OPERATION Jl i mbr excunio, > . "/ . I . . . 1 lo th( depth,· b 'low an o1 p10cu rwn platform \·itum, I . le 111TheSama Barbara Channel. oFFsHoRE 0PERAT10Ns l Hilda is a large. gre lad wh e c ncrete and reel leg' tand firml on the bott m f the Pacifi Ocean. Her home is about tw mile out to ea in the Santa Barbara Channel . in l 06 feet of water. Here, Hilda ,. ork a an oil production platform. producing oil and gas from the Summerland field for E on Company, U.S. . and tandard Oil Company of California. She' been on the job for 15 years, and has ne er misseda day' work. Of course, Hilda doesn't get around much. She never goe visiting. But as photographer Bob Evans and I discovered, she ne er lac for company. Hilda's protective bulk and her tructural underpinnings house an unseen world of marine life as rich in numbers and variety as any tropical reef. Descending in scuba gear into Hilda's water we found ourselves completely taken with the sea creatures living there in happy harmony with their environment. In spite of her remoteness,Hilda is hostess to a bewildering variety of house guests. Among her constant companions were barnacles, which clustered in dense colonies along her underwater surfaces . We watched one perform a fan dance. A red, feather -like feelerwould twist out of the small opening at the top of its tiny, volcano-shaped shell. It would wave its fan, combing the water for food. At the base of the feeler was an orange, eye-like orifice into which it would tuck diatoms snagged by its tentacles. It was a livelyact, and I was amazed at how different this animal seeme d from the motionless barnacles I had so often seen in tidepools. In company with the barnacles , mussels clusteredin vigorous colonies on Hilda 's legs. Every beachcom ber has seen mussels , but few have seen them in action as we did. As Bob was preparing to photograph the familiar black mollusk, a member of the colony released a stream of milk fluid that spread quickly among the other shellfis~. It was the first step in mussel reproduction. These animals release sperm and eggs directly into the water where the two unite. The fertilized egg settles to the bo~tom, or ub trate, where it begins the busmess of growing a shell. We were actually witnessing By ll i lkmJ Hau ser;Illu stra tions by Bob 1~1'"n-~, l~xxon UHA, Fburth Quart er 1974. mu els, callop , and hydrozoans. Rock.fl h were right behind the perche in numbers, but the tayed do er to the ub trate. Spiny, frog-like culpin at motionle s on the outgrowth of hells and oft corals. When we came too near, they darted for cover. Huge ea ba and calico ba cruised lazily around R es tin an one of Hilda's cro ·s-members:Il ill.ar~Hcmseru•c~tches su:arm.~offish attmcti ~lto this arlifi. gf 113 ,~ ,i autlwr Hauser peers into the inner icorkmgs of a tran~pcm:nl comb ;dly. cial ree . 1ewu;, here , beneath an oil production pla~form, was a hidden haven for pl_ants _andanimals. In all my years of d1vmg m Southern California waters, I had never seen such a concentration of fishes . There were thousands! The sea perches were the most numerous - white sea pe~ch, black sea perch, rubberlip sea perch, pile perchf~il~e~e there. They swam in and out ? . as stanchions and cross-members, rubbling on Hildas sheltering legs, eyeing us carefull , but they were not too worried about our presence . Here , a juvenile cabezon hid against a starfish as we swam by. There , a huge treefish remained motionless in the angle of two crossmembers, :zippingaway a we approached . And there were more - many species that we couldn't even identif . We found that the most life wasin the 30 to 40-foot depth . Within thi range the 47 anemones sponges and Soft seemed to concentrate. and thesc ?h outnumbered onl} by the bamdt?les Most of the ?sh grand bath; Ant from the platform. schools of nzaelterel suam in coordinated imparting a sense of terri?c activity motionless structure. Altogether. Hilda was one bum?. communit} On exer} surface lifebhw We could not put our hands antuhmm& or stanchiorLs \xithout Liv mg. breathing thing. The huge 00:? oentrauorts ot? club anemones wounded? These animals had grovm and spread? almost ever} Ll'lCh ot?surface not occu bi the mollusks. The} bedeeked Hilda ini riotous rainbon of reds. orangcx pinks and magentas. Here and there. big coloniesd white anemones protruded from pilingar their elongated columns. punctuating the underseascape. The fact that Hilda uasinth: oil business didn't seem to bother the animals in the least. Indeed. \vithout Hilda the}~ wouldn't have been there at all. It has been observed that any foreignollj?iI placed in the sea will attract marine lifeand that ?sh and invertebrates immedialtl,? colonize anything that offers shelter or! surface to Cling to. Divers have known lb" open ocean bottoms are veritable sub?I deserts devoid of?sh. But the presence on?? object?a sunken ship. a wreck?1 airplane?immodintelv attracts life. Subsa plant life begins to grow immediately and! foreign objects. and the little organisms It? require protection or a solid surface 011 to attach themselves quickly colonize thesl?a' The_v are followed by larger cram feed upon the existing life. Final? 1h: predatory pelagic ?shes come around upon the smaller animals In recent decades. this stimulated a ii of arti?cial rec . In 1958. a bilolljoygist with the Canton: Department of Fish and Game building reefs in the Paci?c 0093"- yan'ety of bulky objects: mom Wj Junked automobiles, quarry concrete ??sh apartments.? He found the objects attracted ?sh and [96? bustling reef communities. In ad Floridians builta meromorjunbdafw 5000 old rubber tires thatwu'c urroundedby stra a barnaclewaves its~t~7kea;emones, i , eelers. cean floor five miles off the Northeast Florida hare. The reef still provides good fi hing, even thou~h metallic objects have long since detenora ted. In 1961 , the Tidewater Artificial Reef Development Associationsank a load of car bodies in 15 feet ofwaterin Chesapeake Bay.Where before the areahad been almost devoid oflife, it was soon swarmingwith flounder , sea bass , blennies , hogfish,sheepshead, chubs, and other species. Offshore oil platforms function as artificial reefs, as fishermen well know. In the Gulf of Mexico, commercial fishermen and charterboat operators visit the numerous platforms as the best guarantee of a catch. Skeptics have decried artificial reef building as nothing but a license to dump trashin the ocean. But the fact remains that fishneed a haven in order to thrive , and that whole new communities of fish and invertebratesspring up whenever the proper shelterisprovided. Platform Hilda is a good example. Little life could be found in her open ocean environment before she was set in position in 1959.Yetin her first month a Department of Fish and Game study found that hydrozoans had already begun to grow. In the second month , schools of sardines, mackerel and bonito had moved in. Simultaneously kelp scallops, barnacles , and mussels began scrambling for space on the pilings.Not long after, nudibranchs were depositing their egg masses by the thousands and establishing their dense , phosphorescent colonies. Where do they come from? How dosessile creatures - those that attach themsel~espermanently to some surface-find their way to Hilda? As Shane Anderson of Western Marine Lab in Santa Barbara points out, "The rig is in deep water an? pretty far from any established commumties of marine life. It is unlikely that any organism crawled across the bottom and up the piling:' Anderson speculates t~at most, perhaps all, sessile organisms arnve as larval form , drifting in upper water layers of ocean currents amid plankton. ~nee contacting the piling surfaces'. the larvae e tabli h themselves and begm to grow into their mature forms. It is not a matt r f simply moving a viable marine P<>pulationfr m ne pot t another. Lar- OFFSHORE OPERATION ..-1m1tssd rrh-asls a cl?ud of sff d in fl u, fir.~/ 1 of mollusk rrp roductwn. (.rraa /ul, Jlou•r,r.fik1f/1 ;wclibrcmchs by tht thousands (em ffr} hat' colonizrcl the p ili11gs of Plitlfonn flild(t . 1/ kaltidoscopic cowrs (at boltorn) sea ur hin.~, m1ts.wls, and club anrnw11 es clu!)fr r o,1 a pip,_ val forms ~rifting in the ocean will die eventually 1f they cannot attach them. selves to a olid substrate where they can grow. For the~, ~ilda's presence, along with her cousms m the channel, Hope, Heidi , and Hazel, means life itself. The recent demise of Harry, another Santa Barbara cousin removed by his owner from the channel when his wells couldno longer pay the rent, left homeles countless organisms. As I continued to explore Hilda's watery haven , Bob was focusing on some strawberry anemones which bloomed in vibrant red patches everywhere on the pilings. About 10 feet away five giant ocean sunfish (mola mola s) were hanging suspended in liquid space , their big eye watching every move I made . These pelagic fish are disc-shaped, looking as if they had been born without tails. "Mola" means millwheel, and the fish was obviously named for its resem blance to a circular millstone. Mola molas are frequently seen by boaters in the Santa Barbara Channel as they sun themselves on the surface. But often all a boater can see of the mola mola is the sudden splashit makes when it dives for safety. It isn't often that a human gets a chance to see one of these fish underw ater. They are shy and flee at the slightest hint of danger. I waved frantically at Bob, and whenI had his attention , I turned and began swimming toward the strange fishes.They didn 't move. I held my breath so that the noisy bubbles from the regulator woul_d not scare them and was soon in thelf midst. I extended my hand to one, and was totally surprised when it moved towafd me. I stroked its side, which it seemedto enjoy. For a full minute , we played a saging game. For me , it was man and w animal establishing communication on a fundamental level. b The mola molas drifted off and Bo and I turned back to the platform true· 11 ture. We saw a giant jellyfish, gracefu h but ineffectively propelling itself th_rouft the water by contracting and rela ing 10 huge bell. Suspended in the water cl~ eoh ' the jellyfi h wa a comb jell , a eemtn~n fragile blob so tran parent that . 0 ~dce .1 1 ee it inner organ working awa 10 mtd At/, eft P rc/4 rockfisJ throng ben at/ H·,,J.~ and oilier vari.etieli fi ather-d.1tstr l, huu s protective ·tructim. A . uonn (b /.owl sp 1· d . anu cl a colony 0 -r ·t . . 1 • ea s ifs pl umes 'J s , au·ben·y ancmon(s. poked_aroun~ at t_his s~range creature a b it , inve t1gated its mtenor machinery, an d turned to find Bob. He was homing in on something and I swam in closer to see what it was. Before u~ wa s the largest gathering of nudibranchs either one of us had ever seen. These tin y, flower -like animals are well known to California diver for their graceful , undulating movements. The y come in many colors of such intensity th~t they seem to glow in the dark. The nu~1branchs we were looking at had white bodie , their gills trimmed in iride c_ent blue and gold. They were bright , beautiful subjects for Bob's camera. As we boarded our boat and headed back to Santa Barbara, Bob and I reflected on the thing s we had seen and the excitement we had felt beneath platform Hilda. Welooked behind us at this solid, steel lady who hummed with activity - machines churnin g above the water, fish scurrying about below. I thought about the mola mola that had bee me my friend, and of Hilda hcr~clf . lndeed , she was a living example of a harmoniou partner hip between indu stry and nature . ■ OFFSHORE OPERATIONS 8w1rnl1rca.midusfrom the Kobe~ hold as the dry-dockld ship is made readyfor repairs. E.rposrd is tlu 32-footgash in the bottom. N b TANK R PILL ohoch 1·'> 1t ti· II'11e11 · · even.I~ the Kohc touched ottom. at Mont L ows, . Que.. but she suffered a Kash 7 /eet long in on , 1·1 ]._ ·tjzlled . • <: ~ 1er 01 wnks . If ere i\ what happenedc~fierwards . A small cargo h' h atthejettyatMo~tC' t_ e Mon~caL., was 11 a.m. Oct oms , Que.,Just before tanke . 30 ' 1970, when an Exxon b ~, the ~obe hove in sight. It wa a ~utiful Fnday, visibility was good and w en Ca~t. S. de Felice of the Kobe ~~unded his deep whistle, small boy on icycles d~rted along the main treet of Mont Loms to see 'le grand bateau.' area. Sh hit bottom , ripping a 32-fi t ga hfromtwoto 12inche wideinh rhull along the bottom ofNo. 1 tank , ne fthe 15 compartments in the hip . But moothwa thegroundingthatn b dy n board heard or felt a thing. On hand to witne the docking and un loading of the Kobe wa apt. John A. Hunt.Rei oneoflmperial' ixpollution uroundod~ The Kobe isn't very big as tankers go21 ,000 ton s, loaded with 133,335 barrels of bunker fuel for G aspe Copper Mines, Ltd. For several hour s it h ad b een anchored out in the Gulf of St. Lawre n ce waiting for the high tide that would allow it to clear th e bottom of the dredged channel. Now the pilot had come aboard to h elp with the landing. When he left the jett y it was empty , waiting for the Kobe, and th e .. Monica L. was tied up at another quay. In the interval , the smaller ship had moved to the main jetty , right where the tanker was scheduled to tie up. The Monica L. was loading lumber from a stake-bodied truck , and three more loaded trucks were park~d along the jetty , blocking the 300-ton ship from the view of the tan~er. . Neither Capt. de Felice_ nor the pilot could see the Monica L. un~il the Kobe was only 150 yards away fr~m 1ht._H e blew s~veral blasts on the Kobes w ist 1e, warnmg theMonicaL. toleavethedockandgetout of the way. He swung the wheel hard ~othe . ht letting go the anchor on that side ~t rhig ' tun·e His action averted a colht e same • sion but it also took the Kob~ out of the dredged ship ' channel and mto a shoal By F<'rgi-1,s Cronin , Jll11, s_ t ralions by J ~hn Marrion, Imrwrial Oil R('v 1cw, Numb <'r3, 1.972. control inspectors - five retired tanker captains and one chief engineer - hired back by the company to be present whenever product is being unloaded or loaded into charter ships. They make ure that anti-pollution measures are observed and sta rt emergency action if necessary. Ca pt. H un t embodies Im p erial's belief th a t pr eventio n of acci d en ts is a more prom ising way of avoid ing oil pollution th an clea n -up afterwa rd s. T h e company's attitude is th at spill s result from errors of pro cedur e or deficiencies in equipment , and th erefor e th ey can b e pr even ted. Thi beliefha s been tr anslated int o a numb er of policie s and pr actices, among th em a navigation polic y str essin g th at speed and economy com e second to safety, and requiring ship s' officers to work from voyage plan s prep ared and docum ented in advance - rather like th e flight pl an filed for aircraft. Ma sters and chief m ates of very large tanker s in the Exxo n fleet al o receive training in the handlin g of th eir ve sels by operatin g carefull y- caled mod el as big as 40 feet lon g on a lake at Gre noble, France , and in a simul ator at Delft, Holland , that duplicate the kind of tr aining pilot of aircraft receive. The navigator of tanker s today are taking another leaf from the bo ok of aircraf t 53 Deck pumps fmptied the damagrdla Ir ti, top to let wat rfiow in lhro1tgh lrotri sealingth JwlP. experience. Aircraft cannot yet be made strong enough to withstand crashes and still get up in the air; consequently, aircraft are equipped with devices to avoid accidents. The lumbering tanker is in a somewhat similar position; its size and inertia make it slow to respond-a 250,000 ton tanker has 140 times the momentum of a Boeing 707-and despite its steel hull it is no match for the unimaginable power of rocks and sea. Here, too, the sensible course seems to be to a void collisions and a number of guidance systems are under consideration. Some of them plot the courses of other ships in crowded channels, others attempt to spy out underwater obstacles; all show promise , although some of the more sophisticated devices suffer from a kind of electronic sea-sickness. The vibration and salty humidity of life at sea makes them unreliable, at least so far. Yet work on a reliable system goes steadily forward, for methods that will prevent accidents are of much greater u:gas\ value than cleaning up after a spill. But while improved procedures can duce the incide~~e _of ac~idents virtuau;~ ~ zero, the possibility still exists and the damage to the Kobe was an example. Cap~. Hunt had seen the near-collision but neither he nor anyone else knewthat the Kobe's hull had been holed, in partbecause water flowed up through the hole and prevented the oil from escaping. The Kobe bega~ discharging the cargo at l:40p.m.,pumpmgouthertanksoneby Oil confined by the floating boom is skimm ed and loaded into a vacuum truck for removal. one.Itwa s notuntilabout6p.m. thatNo. l tank was reached. As the pumps began to work there , they agitated the contents at the bottom of the compartment and oil and water began escaping from the gash. At the same time a sample showed there was water in the tank and unloading was shut down immediately. And several things began to happen all at once. The Kobe's captain put in a call to her ~wners' representative , Exxon Internatio~al in New York; Capt. Hunt called Impenal's marine management in Toronto; the depar tment of transport was alerted; plane were prepared at New York and Toronto to peed experts to the scene; a gang of Mont Loui men was organized ~nd work wa tarted on a wooden plank 00 m t try t c ntain the oil and prevent its spread along the shores. A diver was summoned from Rimouski ; a flexible boom - 1,100 feet of 43-inch deep , tough plastic-coated nylon fabric , so constructed that it could float vertically , partly in , partly out of the water - was ordered from Montreal; a rush call was made for a vacuum truck to suck up the oil. By 8 a.m. Saturday the boom , the vacuum truck , oil-dispersing compounds and two pumps were on their way to the. scene and at least IOpeople were convergmg on the Gaspe by plane, car and tr~ck fro~ Toronto, Montreal , Quebec , R1mousk1, Gaspe and New York. Robert Fern, Imperial's assista~t coordinator of environmental protection, was one of those called from Im perial 's head office in Toronto. He arrived with several others by air about 5:30 p.m. on Saturday. From ~he plane he could see the plank boom m place , stretching from the bow of the Kobe to a rocky point a short distance away,and holding most of the oil in a small area in front of the ship. But the tide and the ~ave~ had bent the boom in places , and a famt slick of oil was escaping the boom and drifting towards the east shore of the harbor. The flexible boom was already being installed , a job that took most of the night , illuminated by floodlights and a ge.nerator loaned by Gaspe Copper Mmes , Ltd. It took 11 men until 3:30 a.m. before Fern could record in his carefully kept log: "Ship completely encircled. " About 6 a.m. dawn broke. Fern examined the area and found that about half a mile of the shingled shoreline had been lightly 55 ' - ---- ----- The nywn boom goes into p lac . It floats uptig h l in the wa ter, confining any sw f ace oil contaminated with oil. Six tractor-trailer loads of peat moss were ordered from a plant near Rimouski. Sunday afternoon Bernard Brouillet of Imperial ' public affairs department in Montreal called on the mayor of Mont Loui s, Jean Louis Lapointe, a well as the pari sh prie t, Father Richard , and condu cted them on a tour of the tanker and what wa being done about it. The mayor was quoted the next day in the area' newspaper Le Voy ageur de la Gaspesie a saying: ..Th e company has done its civic dut y by makin g available in Mont Loui all possible mea sures which will clean the ) (, pollution from the town 's beaches: ' Representatives of the ministry of transport and the department of public works inspected the operation and , satisfied , left it in Imperial ' s hands. In fact when the clean-up wa finished , people in Mont Loui aid the shore never looked better the crew picked up all the tra h and litter a they went along. Forthenextfewdaysa teamofmen that numbered 30 at its peak , mo t of them hired in Mont Loui , worked at preading and collecting the peat mo , tending the floating boom and other chore . The Kobe, which normally would have gone . l h d to wait within 24 hour s of her arn va , a f Ill four da ys while the oil was remo _e ~ roro . the damaged ta nk. It was not unt~. P·for Wedne sd ay th at she ailed, hea ing dry dock and proper rep air · davbefore Before Fern left on ov · ~;-a th hore the Kob e- he recorded : Sou ocb··· clean except for min or pot 0; :e ,,1nd_ 0 gulls in area are cle~n ... ?~b\ teffll~I (and) faint heen ofo 1lpa 10c tie of01I Kobe .. ." cleanup of mall pat\hedirei• ent on for an other week Ufi der rdina· tion ofL J Orr en ironmental t ;1t£J~1 . · ' • 1 ntre ,tor flmperial' refin er ·in !00 1~1 ;l• It a e tim ated th at fr 01 Canyon in March, 1967, off the outhwe t coa t of England. he wa carrying 119 000ton of Per ian Gulf crude oil, and the con equentfoulingofEnglish beache arned the orld of the growing danger of pollution from accident involving tanker · growing if only becau e every ear more oil · moving to meet energy needs of the world. Ship are bigger, too, but all of the ne upertanker carry equipment that make them afer to operate. The chance of a supertanker having an accident are extremely n_iall. In 1969 Imperial created a pec1al enironmen tal protection department; f th Torre among its responsibilities is the coordinationofanti-pollution efforts that date back to the 1930s.The department faced its fir t major test four months later when the illfated Arrow was wrecked in ova Scotia's Chedabucto Bay in February, 1970. It wa lmperial's fir t experience with a major spill at sea. "WhatwelearnedfromtheArro"'~" ay Harvey Clare, Imperial' coordinator of environmental protection, "i that no mat~er how much effort you put into prevention-and we do our be t to avoid accident -you mu t be prepared in ca e you hould have a pill. You've got to be able to 57 With th oil con.fined by the boom, the Kob turns to sluicing dou•n its anchor clwins. respond fast and effectively. To do that you need a good organization ." It was this organization that helped with the Kobe. "It 's very much like fire prevention ;' says Clare . "You have to act fast , you have to have the equipment at hand to fight the problem , and you have to have people handy who know how." By the time of the Kobe affair, the company had already organized its facilities across Canada into eight regions with an oil spill committee in each. The organization was deliberately decentralized so that authority and know -how would be closer to any emergency. The Mont Louis episode was directed by Jack Carbert , the Quebec region distribution manager for Imperial's transportation department , and he was one of the first Imperial people on the scene. Research may solve the problems of the increasing contamination of the world's waters, and Imperial has become heavily involved in research on an industry basis. Although the Kobe spill was not considered a major one , its cost in effort and money to prevent contamination of the environment emphasizes how troublesome spill s are, and how hard to cope with. But re searc h is going on in many areas to find more efficient equipment and techniques of handling any spills in the future. One study supported by Imperial is being carried out on lobsters in St. Andrews , N.B., by scientists from the University of Guelph who are studying the long-range effects of oil on marine life. Imperial has also co-operated with the department of Indian affairs and northern development, the University of Ottawa , and several university scientists in a number of projects attempting to learn the probable effect of an oil spill in the Arctic. Some tudies have come up with various apparent ways for handling oil spills, but there have always been drawbacks. A number of researchers have developed strai n of bacteria that gobble up some fraction of pilled oil in laboratory experiment s. But there i concern about po!,Sihlc side effect from the bacteria . ..., he practical value of the e new bacteria 58 is as yet an unknown quantity," says Fern. Another imaginative technique tried at the scene of the Arrow sinking was scattering millions of tiny porous glass beads over the slick. The "Sea Beads" became coated with oil , which was then set afire. The beads made it possible to burn off some oil that was so mixed with water it could not otherwise be ignited. The use of dispersing agents that will not be harmful to fish is a field of intense interest. " Slick-lickers" that suck oil off water have been used in quiet waters. The "sand sink" method of handlin spilled oil has been proposed. It involve~ treating sand with a chemical that makes oil cling to the individual grains. The sand is sprayed on a slick and sinks to the bottom , taking the oil with it. The obvious disadvantage is the fact that the oil-sand mixture might smother bottom-livin g forms oflif e. There is no pat solutio n for oil spills, says Imperial's Harvey Clare. Each occasion requires different kinds of solutions, depending on the size of the spill, the circumstances that caused it (grounding, storm, collision , etc.), proximity to shore, water temperature , size of waves and strength of wind. "The sad truth;' adds Bob Fern, "is that we haven't yet found a simple or easyway to handle oil spills. As with the Kobe, it's still a matter of using booms, skimmers, suction devices and peat moss or other absorbent material, a laborious, time-consuming and costly technique which makes us more than ever concerned with prevention , as well as cure." Consequently, one of the decisions made in the wake of the Kobe spill wasto provide each region in Canada with s~Ifcontained emergency vans equipped with the basic equipment likely to be nee~ed_ to clean up a spill. The equipment will include not only hard-to-get items like r~bber suits, walkie-talkies and a loud-hailer, but everyday items like shovels, ru~ber boots , flashlights , rope ,jackknives , pliers, wire and pitchforks covered with screen· ing for picking up oil-soaked peat mos~The equipment will be packaged so t~at~I can be shipped quickly by air. A b~s1ckit of this composition contains eqU1p~en~ worth about $3 000 but with spec1ahze · spill equipment ' 'like emergency right011 1 ing , booms, skimmers and pumps, the cos can reach $30,000. ·n "The whole idea behind the con~tc.t ""15 the ,a gency package;' Fern explains. vat2 that a spill may take place on a Sund~~~nd a.m. when no hardware tore can be bat· open. We mu t avoid a ca e oflo ing a tle for want of a hor e hoe nail.'' • nownoom WhenRee e Norton heard of the great . blowoutof 1969, he couldn't believe it atfir t•He drove 80 miles from his office in In \ewood to Santa Barbara, parked on Pt!zadel Mar, and walked down to the beach.Then , he believed ... What a mess, Norton thought. Chocolate-coloredcrude oil ~overed ~h~ waters of the picturesque manna, stammg everything it touched: pleasure craft , breakwater, sandy shore. Emerg~ncy crews scatteredstraw to absorb the 011.Scores of newsmenreported gruesome details to a worldwideaudience. The dismal scene struck Norton to his 011 ByDon Df'dera.Humble Way, Thi rd Quarter; 1972. SWOBOSCIBan . . . . ... .. .. ... .. . .. .. ... .. . • ~- . t I . . . ~ . ~. • t TANKERS; SPILL newnoom SWBB~SOIBan ByDonDrdcm. li umb le Way,Third Quarter; 1972. spillage into Los Angeles ' Ballena Creek , Norton took the lead , knocked heads together, and insisted that every spill, however minor , in every tiny tributary , be identified and corrected . Now this, at Santa Barbara. "I remember saying to myself at the time, 'It shouldn 't happen , and ifby some freak circumstance it happens , there should be some way to contain it and pick it up before it comes ashore , and God forbid , if it threatens a coast, we should have better defense weapons than straw and pitchforks : " Today, Reese Norton's office is in Santa Barbara , in the Marine Center Building overlooking the smallcraft harbor , the Spanish-style town and the creamy strand s that make Santa Barbara "The Riviera of the West:' Imm ula te loop s and cabin cruisers b ate er lip , andpipers pursue morl alon g th e whi spering surf , commercial fi he rm en unlo ad their channel catches upo n the mollu sk-encrusted wharf , volley ball addicts joust on sandy shoreside court , bikini beauties laze at Los Banos d el Mar , and tourists from Iowa cast for corbin a in the combers where Cabrillo la nded in 1542. " Santa Barbara's environment is back to normal ;' Norton says. "My job , plain and simple , is to help keep it that way.' Norton is executive vice president of Clean Seas , Inc. , an independent , nonprofit firm founded and supported by 15 major oil companies , Exxon Company , U. S.A. among them , operating along the south central coast of California. The exclu sive role of Clean Seas is to provide a capability for quickly containing and cleaning up oil spills , regardless of source , along 250 miles of coast from Point Dume on the south to Cape San Martin on the north . In Clean Seas ' region of responsibility are 16 oil platforms or islands , and 12 tanker terminals , as well as considerable transient tanker ship traffic. Two years after formation , Clean Sea s com prises a reaction force of proven brainpower and formidable equipment. In Clean Seas' arsenal is a boom that can capture and hold oil in the open sea , in strong currents , high winds and heavy seas. In effect, Clean Seas is maturing as the oil-spill equivalent of a fire department , with Norton as the fulltime chief. "Clean Seas is the expert specialist in its field;' Norton says. "We can quickly bring together all the skills , manpower and equipment available anywhere in our area. This amounts to a massive capability- far greater than any single company could muster in a time of trouble ?' Before the dark days of winter 1969, Norton believes , the oil ind us try was lulled by its own record - in nearly 70 years of drilling in California waters , there had not been an offshore oil well blowout of any consequence. To that time , 500 exploratory holes had been drilled from fixed or floating structures , 443 offshore oil wells had been completed , and over 1.3 billion barrels of oil produced - without significant oil spillage or water pollution. "What problems existed were in the shipping centers ;' Norton explains. "The spills that occurred in loading and off1o ad in g petroleum from ships were cleaned up by third-part y contractors. " Norton points out that in places San Diego , San Francisco , and ~~ch as g_eles, various contra _ctors ~eveloped~ns1derable know-how m dealmg with . n. spills in sheltered waters. minor "But after San ta Barbara ;' Nortonsa "our pledge was to combat spills offishys . hec hannelwideopent~ ore ifneed b e, outmt the eleme~ts - and that was a wholenew ballgame. To brainstorm an~wers , Norton re. crui_teds?me _of_the bnghtest minds ofthe Cahforma 011 mdustry. Organized into task force teams , they have developedthe means for: > Maintaining a detailed and currentin. ventory of every piece of cleanup and con. tainment available. This includes gearof the oil industry, independent contractors and government agencies. ' > Encouraging development and production of new and more effectiveequipment and methods, where technologyappears to lag behind potential threats. > Determining the need for and availability of manpower which can be called upon in emergencies. > Maintaining a command post on the Santa Barbara jetty which is completel y i \dth the m - t m dern f radio , uirr ,c..itwn and ban ftelephone . 011 flln\ I • \h) umporta~t. I\. epi~gan up-to-date J 'l) 01prehen i\e c ntmgenc plan for JO ll \\ ,th pill r blowout , large or would contain oil wh able curre nt or ere _there was noticemade boom o:~:ef action. "_People have think of" everythmg you can alumi n~m a~~on says: logs and chains , ~ ptll:; drum But canvas , plywood and oil ,01all. . • l d They ;ould~;~i~h h~dbone shortcoming. ··\\•can'twait1orana arm,an thenall Where th e JO we wanted done. . . udden tart crambling for help" ol .1 ' tilt allow~re w~s current , the boom would \iorton a . ~e want lean Se~ p~ewh' mg oil to flow underneath ; and red for an important eventuality, men there were waves, oil would splash p:uding the taging and deployment of ~ver _the boom and escape. And battered uipment, wildlife re cue, procurement / wmd ~nd waves of moderate severity a upplie , feeding and hou ing of oom might disintegrate. ' 0 vorker , tran portation need , a nd ae rial It fell to a task_ force of engineers of eillance of a pill. ' ame it and we've Exx~n USA, and its affiliate , Exxon Prooot it in our contingency plan;' orton duction ~e earch Company , to create an \ . He ob erve that lea n Sea can be oceangoing boom of unprecedented trength and effectiveness. And this they called into action by anyo ne that need proceeded to do. help- a member company, a nonmember The goal of the task force were ambicompany,or a governme nt agenc . tiou : the wanted a boom that would surlean Sea 'budget i hared b member vi e 20-foot waves, two-knot currents , and companie in proportion to their off hore 60-knot winds. These values were drawn activitie . Mo t of the mone goe for from studies that showed that the Santa equipment or upplie , and to perfect Barbara Channel , 99 percent of the time , more effective way of com batting pill . had wave ofl2 feetorless currents ofone In impr ving their ab ilit to ombat knot or le , and winds of 40 knots or less. pill , orton encounter d a trouble ome Another goal wa a y tern that could be prob! m earl in the organization life: loaded onto truck for rapid highwa y the lack fa reall g d b om whi h tran portation , could be as embled readii b un killed worker , and could be ef \r TANKERS; SPILLS launched swiftly from either ship or hore . Working to these specifications , the task force devised what they called the Bottom Tension (B-T)Boom. Essentially , the B-TBoom is a semi-submerged barrier formed by a tough , flexible laminated belting eight feet wide , similar to those used ashore for conveyor systems carrying gravel or ore. This is su pended from polyethylene buoyanc y units four feet in diameter and 13 feet long. The units are joined by a lattice of stout polypropylene rope , and at the bottom of this net , the wrist-thick steel tow cable is attached. It all fastens together with common nuts and bolts. Says Jerry Cunningham , one of the Exxon engineers , "The weight of the heavy tow line at the bottom of the curtain keeps it under tension and upright: ' Thus , the name : Bottom Tension Boom. In tests, untrained workmen assembled the boom from the deck of a workboat in six hours. On the beach , they did it in less than five hours , and launched it through four-to-six-foot surf with breakers rising occasionally to eight feet. Towed to natural oil seeps in the Santa Barbara Channel, the B-TBoom prototype urr unded and held slicks in waves six to ight feet high, with a 1¼-kno t current and 20 knot winds. Later , the boom was recovered without damage through the surf. Reese orton and Clean Seas were convinced. The first 500 feet of B-T Boom went to Clean Seas , and an order was placed for 500 feet more. Moreover, the San Francisco counterpart of Clean Seas , Clean Bay, Inc., wants 1,000 feet, too. Nor is the B-T Boom the only weapon in Clean Seas' arsenal. A lightweight, highvolume skimmer system sucks up the oil caught by the B-T Boom. Additionally, Clean Seas has perfected an Oil Recovery System consisting of a skimmer boat and towed booms. The system can clear a swath 200 feet wide through waves as high as three or four feet. On call by Clean Seas for use in calm waters are a score of kimmers and four miles oflight booms. "And we have on standby," orton says, "all of the smaller equipment that eventually cleaned up Santa Barbara in 1969:' Looking for increased oil activity in the channel, Norton believes he should have at least 3,000 feet of B-T Boom ready for deployment in the area. Norton is first to agree with critics who say that Clean Seas is like a fire department that has never fought a fire. Thus far, Clean Seas has not been called out to sweep up a spill. Norton, of course, hopes the emergency never arises. "But that doesn't mean we are unproven;' he insists. "Our training programs have been extensive, and our capabilities have increased tremendously over what was on hand three years ago;' Qualified approval of the progress of Clean Seas and similar organizations comes from officials most interested in protecting California's sea coast. In a speech in May, 1972, at Santa Barbara , Dr. Vincent E. McKelvey, director of the U.S. Geological Survey, called Clean Seas a commendable example in a nationwide network of organizations whose sole purpose is containment and elimination of oil spills. Santa Barbara Harbormaster Don Sathre was on duty during the 1969 spill. Says Sathre , "Clean Seas is certainly a step in the right direction. Of course , there hasn't been a crisis since Clean Seas was founded, and it remains to be seen how Clean Seas can perform in an actual emergency.'' But the harbormaster , who has known frustration, says he feels a lot better know- ing that one phone call will b • ~lean Seas a~d all its resources. !~g 0ut m almost daily contact with Clea been personnel ;' he says, "an d the oil in~ Sea picked the best man possible to he~ 1f) the program. I have unlimited faith~ up integrity of Reese Norton?' lll the Captain WH. Putman ,of theCalifo . Department of Fish and Game , long~,a crusaded for strict environmental ar:. guards. In a recent speech in San Die he said, "T he state wholehearted~o approves of the objectives of the oil dustry's cooperatives and nonprofit cor porations formed to combat oil spill." Elbert Wilkinson of Los Angele , off. shore operations engineer with the Cali fornia Division of Oil and Gas , offer thee evaluations of Clean Seas: "As the state regulatory agency,we'v been in close touch with Clean Seasfrom the outset. It's remarkable enough to have 15 highly competitive companies agreeon anything. Yet that's what has come about. and a lot of progress has been made. "It seems logical and proper to me that the industry should provide this capability for containment and cleanup. Here, ready "f i; pm?, a . a f, a, TANKERS; SPILLS the was first discovered by Spanish explorer Alonzo Alvarez de Pineda in 1519. Resort hotels look down on palm-shaded beaches and marinas filled with pleasure craft. Miles of stately dwellings line Ocean Drive , termed by one travel writer as "America's loveliest residential drive;' Across a causeway is Padre Island , a mile-wide sliver of beaches and sand dunes stretching virtually untrammeled for 110 miles along the South Texas coast. Within it is the 80-mile-long Padre Island National Seashore , which hosts more than a million visitors a year. They come to swim, surf, fish , sunbathe, birdwatch , shellhunt, and sightsee, and in the process, help to make tourism Corpus Christi's second largest industry. Last year, tourists pumped $161 million into Corpus Christi's economy. Occasionally a Padre Island beachcomber will find a golden Spanish doubloon surfacing from the wrecks of 16th century treasure ships. And if he looks sharp, for they are hard to see, he may see evidence of a modern treasure-the control valves of gas wells producing from beneath the dunes. James M. McLaughlin, Padre Island National Seashore superintendent, observes that a number of recreation areas wi_thinthe National Park System support mmeral activities. This is in concert with the National Park Service's commitment to conservation. "We have working agreements with nine oil companies and four oil and gas transmission com parries, and have had excellent cooperation from all of them. The 43 gas wells opera ting within the National Seashore testify to the fact that their mission is not in conflict with ours. You simply can't see the wells unle s you search for them ;' McLaughlin says. On the northern shore of Corpus Christi Bay sprawls the fishing village of Aransas Pass, home of one of the world's large t shrimping fleets , and the town of Port Aransas, a sportsman's haven. Between the two communities a vi itor may ee a number of major oil storage and shipping terminal installation . One of the large ti operated by Exxon Pipeline Compan . Cleanest lndustr1a1 oort In amerma Ami Make sure that ships' personnel understand what precautions are necessary to prevent pollution , and ensure that these precautions are taken. > Double-check to see that normal pollution prevention measures - such as the sealing of sea valves-have been carried out. (Such standard measures are the joint responsibility of both ship and terminal.) > Remain with the vessel throughout its stay in port. > Watch for details which may expedite turnaround, while keeping in mind that rapid turnaround is secondary in importance to pollution control. > Let shore management know of any specific instances of pollution which may have been averted by the presence of an inspector. In effect, this represents "nearCaptain E. Thomas,an assi,stantmaster;on miss" reporting, which is recognized by boarda tank,er at Fawley with an eye toward most industries as a useful means of propollution prevention. moting healthy operational change. (The inspectors must also, of course, report in detail any actual spill that does occur.) lection is critical. The person who boards a There are other details an inspector vessel in the role of inspector must be experienced in tanker operati?~s and fai:nil- must attend to-including checks he must iar with both ship and receivmg te~i:nmal make on the vessels' operational capacity, and other checks using printed checklists procedures. He mus~ have the ability to for pollution control and safety. The polcommunicate well with officers and men lution checklist is a document based on and with the employing affili~te, and have records of actual spills and their cau es. the ability to deal tactfully with people of The safety list covers the industry' tanall nationalities. Lastly, he must ha~e dard regulations for vessels in port. status-the kind of peer status one capt~m Experience with many vessels under the has with another, for exam pl~, or one chi~f in-port inspection programmes in Europe engineer with another. O?v1ously, annmand the United States has resulted in a tant masters and chief ~ngmeers ~ho wer_e sharper awareness of design and operatti merl with the manne opera!mg affihing characteristics which might contribute or Y t ral "first" to consider when ates are a na u to oil spills. These factor are given careful selecting inspector-consultants. . consideration by Exxon International E uall important are the d_et_a~l~ of the . q f . b His respons1b1bties are when selecting ship for charter. ■ mspector s JO • 69 The wrist deftly turns. The slender fiber glass rod whips forward. The eightpound-test monafilament draws a glittering lure past an undercut gravel bank. . Glints of silver sky reflect from the spinning spoon. It is midnight in midsummer , 300 miles north of the Arctic Circle. A strike! The rod wrenches nearly double as a 27-inch Arctic char battles the hook. The drag brake sings as the burly salmonoid runs , sounds and dance across an eddy on its tail - all to no avail. The angler is expert , and soon the fish is quivering on the tundra. Quickly the fisherman weigh his catch , measures it, notes its sex, take a ample of scales for determining age, and logs the data in a book of graph . And then this young son of Scotland doe a mo t unScotsmanlike thing: He gently releases his trophy unharmed in the stream. Sixty times in six hours the routine is repeated by Dr. Peter McCart , fish ecologist from the University of Saskatchewan's Regina campus. Only as the night's work nears completion does Dr. McCart keep one fish to bake for breakfast at his wilderness camp. Later, returned to civilization, Pete McCart will confess of his research techniques: " Much as I try to explain to my sportsmen friends that my angling is all in the interest of science, they give me that knowing look. 'Nic e work; they say, 'if you can get it!"' But the annual fishing expeditions by Dr. McCart to Alaskas northland are indeed of scientific stature. The discovery of oil in the American Arctic has evoked proper concern for the continent's last frontier. As a consequence , no less than 400 scientific inquiries into the Alaskan environment were initiated, or given new emphasis, by oil activity. Some of t~ese studies are complete ; some are contmuing. While Dr. McCart surveys the North Slope fishery: > Deep in a ditch on a rugged Brooks Range pass, a graduate student of archeBy D,m I><'<.Um1 ., I lumbl<•Way, N{('mul ()1utrlf'r 1.971. 70 companies. A substa ntial contribut money and men is Alyeska Pipeline Sorof .h erv ice Company, w h 1c proposes to build · 800-mile pipeline to transport N an th Slope oil southward to the ice-freepootr ·1 . r of Valdez. Seven 01 companies, ExxonCo pany , U.S.A. , among them, are memb: of Alyeska. "No en?ineeri1_1g project in our hi. tory - publi~ or pr~vate-:-has had the de. gree of pub he consideration the pipelinei receiving:' says Alyeska President Edward L. Patton. "Our share in this concerni demonstrated in the ecological studie we're supporting:' Everything about Alaska-the pipeline included-is difficult to place in per pective to the state's great size. Outsider (Alaskan term for all non-Alaskans)ofthe lower 48 states have had no countryinthe 20th century to compar e to Alaska in remoteness and scale. Alaskans often complain that the rest of the nationis near-sighted in middle-age. Alaskanresentment is revealed in an Anchoragesaloon sign: "Texans beware! We may cut Alaskain two, and make Texas No. Three?' The geography is available. Superim · posed on a map of the lower 48 state• Alaska extends from California to the Carolinas . Alaska has four time zones.An Alaskan glacier, one of dozens , couldbury Holland. One game preserve is largerthan Hungary. In Alaska are 10,000riversand streams and three million noteworth~ lakes. Of Alaskas 586,000 square miles, Alyeska's pipeline right-of-way would total just eight square miles. If Alaskawere thought to be a 20-foot-square rug cover· ing 57,600 square inches , the right-of-w a~ would amount to one square inch. • All that said Alaskas north countrycd ' d an vulnerable as well as vast. Aroun d beyond the storied Yukon River.laod ~n0 li~e_are especially sensitive. Con v1g1lance focuses on the nor th · il re· plants in severe climate and pOO! /reta· c_over slowly when injured. Wit chain~ hvely few types of creatures. ~oo _dlo t.tn may be broken if just one specie I th' certain ice-rich permafro t area · now knowledge OfthB north ology brushes mud from a stone tool left by one of Americas earliest inhabitants. > Shivering in his fur parka, an English ecologist peers through his binocular s from a camouflaged blind, mapping nests ofhawks. > At the Eskimo village of Barrow , northernmost town of the United States , a technician from a U.S. Army cold weather lab wires a computer to heat sensors buried in test plots of tundra. > Alongside a new road to the Yukon agronomists inspect bulldozer scar; healed ove~ with lush carpets of grass , sown by native Alaskan workers. > A team of biologists at the natural tar seep of Cape Simpson finds evidence that certain strains of bacteria are capable of digesting crude oil. > From a Huey helicopter crabbing a~ross th~ North Slope, a retired senior vice president of Ducks Unlimited estimates 20,00~ caribou in a single herd. . I~vo~ved m the inquiries are all sorts of mst1tut10ns- fish and game departm t US and Canadian universities , the un~n s, . 1que N ava l Arctic Research Laboratory, state and federa! land offices, agricultural research stat10ns, and ecology staffs of oil erv:!~ ?Innis urn Hnumg ?my mm} [its u'lm ms! (m . I lasku 3' Nm Nlnju? m- am In 7 · Ala kds Arctic is a dangerous place for preconceptions." earth itself might collapse ifabused. "There's much we don't know about permafrost;' says Max Brewer , for eight years the director of the Naval Arctic Research Laboratory. "But on the other hand, we know a great deal about how to handle this material:' Brewer explains that permafrost is simply ground that ha been frozen for two years or more. It may be low in moisture such as the rocky terrain of the Brooks Range or in welldrained areas. Or it may be high in moisture and contain much ice. Permafrost is usually insulated with a mat of something organic, such as tundra, which keeps it from melting during the Arctic's short summer. "We've been developing permafrost engineering for many years;' Brewer says. "It wasn't just discovered yesterday.' Still, he adds, wryly, "Alaska's Arctic is a dangerous place for preconceptions:' Initi ally, pipeline engineers thought most of the line could be safely buried; that the permafrost was relatively free of moisture along most of the route; that a line filled with warm oil largely could be put out of sight. But to be sure , they took more than 3,000 test borings , seldom more than a quarter of a mile apart. These field studies indicated where the line could safely be buried and where it should be elevated to avoid melting permafrost. "The only way we could find this out was to poke holes in the ground and analyze the cores ;' says Dr. Richard B. Schwe~dinger , liaison biologist to Alyeska engineers. "To check on the accuracy of these cores , we even drilled holes 30 inches in diameter and lowered men on cables to visually inspect the perm~fr?st:' . Dr. Schwendinger specializes m restoring vegetation. He points out_that ground cover prevents erosion of soil an~whe_re, and is especially important where 1ce-nch permafrost occurs. "Where construction disrupts ground cover. the obvious solution is rapid replacdment of the cover;' Schwendinger says. "Fortunately we can draw on 40 yea~s of Alaskan farmingexperience ,andArctic 72 Fertilizer and grass seeds produce ground cover for protection of topsoil and permafrost. know-how from Canada , Scandinavia , and even the Soviet Union:' On dozens of plots scattered throughout Alaska germination experiments have shown which varieties of plants might serve as temporary covers. At the same time Alyeska, individual oil companies, and government agencies have pushed studies of native plant propagation as the ideal long-term answer to disruption. A dramatic example of revegetation can be seen along the new supply road from Livengood ghost town to the Tukon. In 1970, grasses sown by Alyeska crews along the roadway sprouted and held the soil. Mulches of fiber, straw, or excelsior provided insulation for permafrost. Fertilizer broadcast with the seeds brought about fast , dense growth. Most successful were oats of Canadian origin. In 1971, Schwendinger expects an even better performance from spring rye grass, which flourished in experimental plots last year. The presence of a warm pipeline com- plicates Schwendinger's ground cover problem somewhat. To observe it firsthand, a 600-foot-long, full-sized pipeline was buried in the permafrost at the University of Alaska's campus. Heated to 140 degrees, it simulates an operating pipeline. In spite of winter air, temperatures as low as minus-70 degrees, the ground immediately above the pipeline remains about 100 degrees. Here, the search is for plant species that can tolerate such a span of temperatures and survive dryness. The problem area right above the pipeline is very narrow, an d alternatives to growing plants could be used. "Where revegetation is impossible;' Schwendinger says, "we have organic mulches, or ifneed be, we could go to concrete grout:' Before the recent stampe de in research, few people knew much about the workings of the tundra-that marvelous mat of plantlife that in the su mmer insulates the Arctic flatland s from deep thaw. With backing by the National Science Foundation and the petroleum industry, th_e United States joined the International ~1ological Program with a comprehensive Tundra Biome Project. The ambitious goal: to learn what makes the tundra eco· system work. Principal investigators are Dr. Jerry Brown of the Army 's Cold Regions Research Laboratory at Hanover , New Hampshire , and Dr. George C. West, oft_he University of Alaska. Of their many investigations , one had to do with t~e ~ffect on tundra of crude oil. Their prelimtnary findings indicate that North Slope crude oil spilled on test plots of tundra did _not produce severe damage to the vegetatwn. They found that oil will decompo e nat~; rally in Arctic soils and that generally,t .1 ' . . l . t Ol wetter the soil, the more 1t w1l reSI and damage. Regrowth of native edge b'ch 1 · m · Plots w. Algrasses prevented eros10n 1 were deliberately treated with crude~i tion thou~h certainly not a r~comme~ adoe for 011spills, the Tundra B10~e 5t~ would 11 suggest that an accidental 011 P notneces arily blight tundra forever. .• J,areeve1Jreasonto believe 1 ourextensiveecological THE ARCTIC resea rchactivitieswill result in atong-termimprovementin man'srelationshipto the Alaskan environment." Progress has been made, too, in finding plantsto ~est?re scarred tundra. _Ecologists ofAtlanticRichfield succeeded m growing severaltypes of Canadian grasses in vehicle tracks left by unwitting early-day explorers.And foresters of the Alaska Division of Lands announced results of field testsof vehicles. They report that tundra cansupport travel without damage in the summer- but only by vehicles with wide, flattracks with shallow lugs. Where little was known of Arctic vegetation, even less was known about wildlife. Outdoorstudy, and lots ofit, has produced an extensive body of knowledge useful to environmentalists. Of all the Arctic's creatures, the caribou has become a symbolic victim to many Americansoutside of Alaska. The people of ~laska , outnumbered two-to-one by canbou, assume a more practical attitude toward the noble reindeer of the north. Natives hunt caribou with no limit the year around to feed sled dogs. To_count the herds , Alyeska enlisted the English ecologist , Bryan Sage. He found tha! the migration trails of the 440 ,000 canbou were not as static as once supposed.Sage reports that only six percent of t~e animals normally would cross the nght-of-way of the proposed pipeline ~nrou~et? lambing grounds. Few animals se D1etnch Pass , where the right-of-way traversesthe Brooks Range , as a migration route.And through Dietrich Pass, the pipe can_beburied, Alyeska engineers say. d Smee caribou can migrate 40 miles a ay, and willingly cross roadways and glravelramps such as those proposed for es evated pipe · , Sage concludes, "I cannot tan above-ground section of this length em~anything other than a minor and 1 c°c~lmconvenience?' Sage points out that 1 n:~~r°u for ~enturies have prevailed over a . al _barriers far more formidable than pipeline ice-choked rivers mile-high rnount · , and ambushes by wolves. ' . am B101 . Dr. Pcogists ~uch as Okanagan College's Ala!lk•tcr_l:ll1ott studied the behavior of an fnuna as well. They found the Bwl,ogists are searching for plant species capabl,eof tol,eratinga wide span of temperatures. lambing grounds of Dall Sheep in Atigun Canyon to be in hig~ alpine vallers, well away from the pipeline. I_nchecking the populations of moose, gnzzly bear, gray wolf, and Arctic fox, they found that ~he numbers of moose increased followm~ completion of an oil field on the Ke~a1 Peninsula, and that moose were extendmg their range into the North Slope. Skip Braden, Alyeska E1~.vironmentalist, comments that bears m1g~t become a blem wherever garbage is dumped. P.~~e camp in Alaska that doesn't enforce strict garbage rules is going to have bears ,, he says. Procedures developed as gues ts, h dl. th at Yellowstone Park for an mg e . outlaw bear could be used. 1 occas10na d 1· d kers can be trappe "a 1vean "Trou bl e-ma d a from a camp, Bra d en transporte aw Y d Alyeska expect suggests. But Exxon an . "b k eir crews routmely ac no trou bl e. Th . k ti ·tary haul"allgarbagetofalf_b_a~ s orsam . h ·ty's fac11It1es. disposal at t ~ ci f y Alaska is a last For some birds o pre retreat. Bird lovers have asked if commotion of construction could drive off peregrines, falcons , eagles , and hawks from the craggy breeding nests which they use year after year. To find out, Environmentalist Sage and experts with the U.S. Bureau of Sportfish and Wildlife traveled the length of the pipeline right-of-way and counted the birds of prey. Bird populations were low (two to three pairs per square mile) and the nearest nesting site was half-amile from the right-of-way. Preserving fisheries came under the scrutiny of Dr. McCart , the scientific angler. "We're well along in knowing which streams crossing the pipeline route are productive , and what types of fish they contain;' he reports. "Northern fish become sensitive to disturbance during spawning season;' he says. "To protect fish populations , construction near streams should be timed to occur before or after spawning season. Also construction methods might be employed which don't stir up silt in the waters;' he advises. In addition to the present and the future, the distant past has become part of current investigations. Financed by Alyeska grants, Dr. John Cook, anthropologist of the University of Alaska, and a 15man team , reconnoitered the entire route for the pipeline. He found nearly 200 sites worthy of investigation for their evidence of early man in Alaska. His probing produced a flint spear point similar to points found in the Lower 48 , confirming the antiquity of man in Alaska. Another di covery produced evidence documenting the introduction of early historic good to E kimo cultures. His team accompli bed "four years of work in one" Dr. Cook say , thanks to helicopter transportation furnished by Alyeska. It is the kind of cooperation and a si tance that lends credibility to a statement of Alyeska President Patton, who ay , "I believe that our extensive ecological research activities will re ult in a long-term improvement in man' relation hip to the Alaskan environment." ■ 7 1nvcst1oat1no meenvironment atValdez r mi n in r 'l in . 11 l it, Bill hi l acti" t pr i i n-mad , th r ughl t t d, hi,._hly ffi tiv in trum nt tandard in la k., ,n n 0 raph : •·. .. ri k, round, tapered, of trai htnin a h, e ·a t~i 1.067 m t r long. ma. imum of 6 . ,nillimeter in diam te,~ t mp d with an oval Trademark, 'Loui ,,m lu r.' winging hi big l ague ba eball bat, hi L huffi up and down the lipper , h ving de k of the Re earch Ve el ona. He flail awa at thecru t of frozen pra ' linging t rail . jack taff, winche , wir rope and uper tructure. With every mite. hard of ice fly away on a wintry wind. nd theAcona, relieved of her burden. make her way toward another tation in the Valdez Arm of Prince William Sound. Bill Shiel tow his bat in the pilot hou e. and bring into play yet another apparatu familiar to northern latitude , a no coop. Hampered by bulky clothing, Shiels clears slush from a solar meter, from eawater incubators, from coil of pla tic tubing leading to a laboratory aft. If "exploration is the sport of the cienti t" (Auguste Piccard) , the men of the Acona are participating sportsmen in a championship academic expedition. Their contest i unique in oceanograph y: to pur ue history's fir t comprehensive , long-term study of a pri tine fjord. ''To my knowledge " says team leader Dr. D. W.Hood, "nowhere in the world ha advanced oceanography been employed in this detail for so long a time in the thorough investigation of a fjord estuary before man became a significant influence." Dr. Hood explains that Valdez Arm , unlike most other fjord , i very nearly a virgin body of water. With men and equipment which he says are the very best , he ha been examining the physical, biological and chemical composition of the fjord for over a year. "We're establi hing baseline for the future;' Dr. Hood says. And he add "We wish omebody could have done thi ' fly /)(>11 J(l'J.•>. 74 1 01dfm, Il11rnhl< \\11~ ; /l'i1·st()uarlrr mvosuoatmo tho onv1ronmont atValdBl The problem i vexatious, immediate and increa ing. To solve it, Bill Shiels activates a preci ion-made, thoroughly tested, highly effective instrument standard in Alaskan oceanography: ': .. Stick, round, tapered, of straightgrain ash, exactly l.067meters long, maximum of 69.5 millimeters in diameter, stamped with an oval trademark, "Louisville Slugger." Swinging his big league baseball bat, Shiels shuffles up and down the slippery, heaving decks of the Research Vessel A cona. He flails away at the crusts of frozen spray clinging to rails, jackstaff, winches, wire ropes and uperstructure. With every smite, shards of ice fly away on a wintry wind. And the A cona, relieved of her burden, makes her way toward another station in the Valdez Arm of Prince William Sound. Bill Shiels stows his bat in the pilot house, and brings into play yet another apparatus familiar to northern latitudes, a snow scoop. Hampered by bulky clothing, Shiels clears slush from a solar meter, from seawater incubators, from coils of plastic tubing leading to a laboratory aft. If "exploration is the sport of the scientist" (Auguste Piccard), the men of the Acona are participatin g sportsmen in a championship academic expedition. Their contest i unique in oceanography: to pursue history 's first comprehensive, long-term tudy of a pristine fjord. "To my knowledge ;' says team leader Dr. D. W.Hood , "nowhere in the world has advanced oceanography been employed in thi detail for so long a time in the thorough investigation of a fjord e tuary before man became a ignificant influence." Dr. Hood explains that Valdez Arm , unlike most other fjord , is very nearly a virgin body of water. With men and equipment which he says are the very best , he has been examining the physical , biological and chemical composition of the fjord for over a year. "We're establi hing ba eline for the future," Dr. Hood says. And he add , "We wi h somebody could have done thi lly /)mt /)ufrm ; 11unthh• \\ hy; fi'it sl Q1wrt11· )7:.!. / 1 74 liav. 2.033223- alf for the Axr'.? 1; .. [ansloran ??lth/g 3 frag: ,Valder 31,- am; .. as the 'Jiutlei: aboard Ull if)! (hast. Along 1/513: .. Valdez 1'3 blends? 2.,tf C12 ., anmges a which pre-erit' mar .. formingand 21am.- 7" . . esidel'aulitieu Ofpriceless value. tlil? beautild ljar'r .73; {full-born from sea le.el tr; zrio'i. :2 ,Seret above the lit/rd. In the nan", Iy wooded valley?. rinera 3pm.; alls from melting glaClCl'?. exec-35g nfl'om South eritral Alaska's might) hugach Mountains. Against so grand a scale. the marks of . - are faint. Whalers anchored here in 1800?s. and at the turn of the centur}. ndsol'sourdoughs climbed a short- through the mountains surrounding Vlldez to the gold fields. Their trail be- ?me the Richardson Highwa). but a llOped-for railroad went another route, So Valdez remained a cozy tourist town of 600 peaceful residents until its future date DrMurIr I?m-liq. on ?It 5111/] of ?u - . . baht/1w, Mari/II Fix/H N: rru-r, 1111mm A lamb!? ?ham-t] Nu Ammu1.4.5. -- . 7:tide . -. -. .. r" - --..-: . View, .., . . . - o-vrenerrz?. of FIJI): bombs. The hose 55:35.13 11?: quivered like a trim. an: buildings of Valdez 22:14:32.1; ()fthe quake?: amen-2. :t Valdez. more than an} 2 here est. Thus. Valdez gained a re; -2212: vulnerability But later. f?hf'?lig most intense stud} of a natura: C?a?eie.? 1? r. earth.? the exPerts said otner?a 5e. Ti: 5. Army Corps of Engineer: teat: mended a new on ?in an area not subject to T: dent of a future earthquake: This, miles west of Old \aldez. Stat-IN)? their town anes; On bedraiLacmal? the new m1) Alyeska Plpe in: Companv prepares to place: 2 4.. . docks and oil loading we Yet even ifvaldcz W858 logiagp? he, line. would such a faa it, pr - the PIP: ?lad 00rd? the ?st to sander. saen mg .direc- 75 I atthe irman of the Author ofsomc Worm: Institute Warm: University ofAlaska. pail . ?v?i gr ,r - - A..- - . (-1- - -- .. . . l bol·e,the captain of R IY Cripple Cl'eek, Pete :.Juplu rd. awaits the outcome of a d1·ifts111 ·t·cy. Belou:fit ·, -ton SrialOil R<'view, , umlH r1, 1.97.'i. 78 But the reverse is true when the permafrost thaws. If ground ice forms a large proportion of the soil volume, it turns to water creating a slurry. "When ice reverts to water the ground loses its stability;' explains Dr. Clark. "In the thawed state it may have little or none of its former strength left:' Significantly , a well-drained soil like sand or gravel is not normally subject to the same hazards as a fine , silty soil. In well-drained soils and in soils with a low ice content thawing does not result in lost Perrnafrost breaks from the shore fiv e mil es west of Imp erials artificial drilling isl,and. volume. As an example Dr. Clark tellsof the Canol Road , built during the Second World War from Norman Wells over 620 miles of permafrost to Whitehorse. After almost 30 years the road, abandoned at war's end , is still intact. While permafrost can present some unusual problems, its origin is simple. If ground material, such as rock and soil, remain frozen for at least one complete year, they qualify as permafrost even if the condition is not sustained longer. Dr. Rog~r Brown, of the National Research Council of Canada, explains that the frozen condition will penetrate deeper each year as long as the same climatic conditions prevail. The resulting thickening is a slow process and scientists studying the permafrost on Cornwallis Island in the Northwest Territories calculate it penetrated toa depth of 1,300 feet at Resolute ove_ra period of 10,000 years. Does this growmg ever stop? "Yes, it does;' says Dr. Brown. "Somewhere far below the earth's surface. heat from the planet's core will eventually balance the cold:' f 0 In Canada the greatest thickne ' . • here permafrost is in the Arctic regt0n wl 0 the summers are brief and the wint~r and severe In this land the freezing rth · of ea spread to every stone and clump ath with the single exception of tho e ben\he bodies of water that don'~ freeze ~~mabottom. It i known as contmuou fh"·ard frost, a condition that extend n tipof almost2,000mile from thenort er f/ t It ran he rock , gravel,sand or ~ilt a d 11 · n \ no trouble, rr->al!y, \O Irmo a 11 " tayYfrozen. ,I In 111111, ,·r,,,ol /,oil' //11JH, mofm.'1 1 11,I/ 11 1/'illl/ /()t/ 11/ (It/ ,1 ,.,.,u /JIJJr!uu . ,,,,,I (11 . ('////.~,I''"' Elle mere J land in the high Arctic to the .outhern edgc fHudson Bay. [n the We t, the southern edge of thi zone cro scs the Mackenzie River in the vicinity of Arctic Red River. rom there it begins a shallow arc to the southeast past the north shore of Great Bear Lake into Manitoba and around the tip of Hudson Bayto the mouth of James Bay. Farther east it cro ses northern Quebec and southern Baffin I land. outh of this area of total cove r the permafrost become /tu"' frlf /,tJ(J/. 1n9 lu rl(lm lft.n 1'1 ·1•((/ffol • 10 THE ARCTIC I z !/JttUJI of JJU·rruifro. ~l. ' ' t(,t f'.l't'l'UJ h,1~ l,u rt lmmul off. patchy and. according to Dr. Brown. is no more than 20 feet deep. The patches are large and wide pread at the northern edge of thi "di continuou zone"; the., get maller and thinner until the wne fade out at variou points in ide the provinces. Overlying Canada' permafrost is a thin blanket of earth that reacts to the change of the easons. Because it freeze and thaw annually, cientists call this cap of earth the active la er. ccording to Dr. Brown: "It's not actuall 'a part of the per- l Cl can uwke up a llecamp arrirc · at ,d Tw1WI uk basr camp uritha l0in /hr• 111//0 0 1'111111/1 11/f 11f( 'o(I( Oil l 'oi 11/. many. They are found the world over, some on land , some , like the seep at Coal Oil Point , in the floor of the sea. Since time immemorial , men have collected the seepings of the se oil spring s, using the liquid to caulk boats , preserve wood , heal wounds , cure disease , start fires, em balm bodies , and cement stones. Biblical scholars suggest that Noah used natural tar from oil seeps to caulk the seams of his ark. "Greek fire:' the ultimate weapon of the Bronze Age, was actually petroleum skimmed from Middle Eastern waters. American Indians called the stuff "atouronton :' and valued it as an all-purpose physic. Explorers have been noting the presence of oil seeps for centuries , and often , their observations have led to the discovery of important oil reserves. John Muir, a 19th century naturalist and writer, described many oil and gas seeps in the Gulf of Mexico in his classic work, "Geology of the Tampico Region:' Later, geologists probing for oil in the Gulf consulted Muir 's charts as a tarting point in their exploration. In the 1890's, a French geologist and archaeologist named de Morgan wrote of seep s in the oil-rich Middle East. Mapsof Iran , are dotted with place names containing the words naft or naftun, meaning oil, and from which the word naphtha is derived. His work resulted in the firstoil well drilled in the Middle East at a place called Maidan-Naftan. On the western coast of Trinidad at the Gulf of Paria , there is a lake completely covered with asphalt. Local residents call it Pitch Lake. Not far away, at La Brea Point , a submarine spring 200 yards offshore yields brown oil and gas bubbles. Oil seeps were noted in Alaska as early as 1896. A noted outdoorsman, hiking in the foothills near Katalla, reported smelling "a petrolif erous odor, somewhat like kerosine:' He saw oil and tar floating on a river. At the source , he found that "the entire area was covered with oil and a black asphalt residue:' D1:lVilliam Sweet rxam incs tar from a naluml sff p in tlu Ou!/ of JI( .rico. TH obviou clue to the existence of 0 b; oil deposits , oil seeps have led to nheadr • coveryof most of the world's major t e l . . Oil C oilfield . Oil seepm? mto . , reek led Samuel Drake topdnll Amen .ca s first oil 1vama. weII at Titusville, . ennsy . Yet despite their importance to petroleum'geology, surprisi_ngly little is known aboutoil seeps. Studies suggest that the youngersedimentary rocks are more likely tobe the source of seeps. Also , formation s whichhave been uplifted or disturbed by the more recent of the earth's formative upheavals, appear to be involved. Some seepsoccurwhen deposits of oil have been broken open by movements within the earth.Others occur where erosion has exposedbeds of oil-bearing rock. Although geologists know what causes them, they don 't know how many there maybe in the world , nor how much petroleumthey may leak into the environment. or is much known about what effect , if any,submarine oil seeps might have on marine life. Little is known about what p ,rn,,, I ,I)/ I '" 111111, 1,J lttt ( 'oh i11sJH tis m, oil sf , J> 11 1111 "'' It 11luJ11 / r1111ilij'l'IJ//1 81111/a HorlHtm . happen to ·1 h through o1 t at escapes from the earth what ch naturalchannel ,whereitgoe ,or due to ange may be wrought in the oil expo ure to the element Exxon ompa A . · . narrow th· . " ny, .... is helping to E IS m1ormat1on gap. d ~on helped to underwrite the cost of a eta1led tudy of the oal i1Point eep . An~ currently, Exxon and I other compame , together with the ational ea Grant Program of the ational Oceanic ~~d Atmo spheric Admini tration, are JOmtly funding a major eep tudy in the Gulfof Mexico. "Everybody complain about tar and oil in the water and on the beache of the · Gulf; ' says Dr. Willi am Sweet, a geologist at Texas A&M University's Department of Oceanograph y, which is conducting the study. "Almost automatically , the blame is placed on the offshore drilling rigs and tanker s in the Gulf: ' They may contribute. but Dr. Sweet points out that there is much historical evidence of oil pollution that predate s man' drilling. ''This led u to in- NVIRO M T ve tigate, and to try t put everything in • per pective:' he say . Inv olving a staff of eight ge l gist , ge physicis , bi logists, and chemi t , the study is now in it seco nd year. Dr . weet, a an A&M research associate, i. co rdinating the pr ~ect. ne conclusion: natural tar eep are a ource of pollution in parts of the ulf. "Ma ny complaint of tar on exas beaches originate at Padre Island ," Dr. weet ays. "But we've learned in our preliminary work that 90 to 95 percent of tanker hipping is concentrated too far north of this area to be a major source of pollution?' Dr. Sweet observes al o that lump of tar found floating in the northwe t portion of the Gulf were not refined products, but of natural origin. "We've traced reports of Padre I land beach tar as far back as the early 1500' , long before drilling;' he ay . He de cribe a colorful old hermit who lived in the area during the 19th century. "He made hi living by rowing from the mainland to Padre land coll ting tar fr m th b a h .nd returning to 11it a aulkin 1ound for boat " Dr . w t a . In addition to locating p in th ulf, ?r. Sweet' group i tr ing t an v er qu tons about them. 'We'd lik t kn if hey are 'seasonal: or if th 1 ak Lously throughout the ar" h )ther questions involve th h mi al om position of seep oil and it eff t nth oarine environment. Santa Barbaras oil seep hi h al 1redate drilling, were once valu d a th ource of a useful commodity. Seep tarwa ollected from beaches in the I 90 oelted, and shipped as far as San Franisco and New Orleans for use a tre t ,aving. Earlier, Californias Chumash Inlians used it to caulk canoes glue arrowLeads to shafts, and mend broken pot . From old records, Dr. Donald Weaver: .ssociate professor of geology at the Uni·ersity of California at Santa Barbara earned that Santa Barbarans once adverised their oil seeps as a health attraction. thin that 1 ~ th a~, day after day:, r. Wi av r p int ut. . me day , you •an a tr mend u hck ut there. On th rday iti n't a bvi u . It's ubjectto wind , tide and a J t f fact r :' Jam M . le, age 1 gi t working for x n in L Angele during 1969,agree . Im t every day during the umrner m nth aft r the anta Barbara blowout le examined the al Oil Point eep~ fr m the air. "They were always there in variou hape and ize ;' he recall . According to Dr. Weaver, the Santa Barbara eep are ten of thou and of year old. A re pected environmental geologist and tratigrapher, Dr. Weaver ha studied anta Barbara for 15 years. He ays that the oil eeping from Coal Oil Point comes from a brittle and much-fractured rock formation called the Monterey shale. It lie near the surface of the ocean floor at oal Oil Point and readily leaks oil into the ea there and from the cliffs at the water's edge where it i expo ed. Further out in the channel, Dr. Weaver tate , the formation Oil .,N1Yinylo I/,.(• .mrf,//' · 1/11 , ·111/11,.,1, '" 111,( . , . ,!,,•~ (l<' / O 11•as 11s0n+. keeptheir foctdry on the poiJban ~ hil their cc,u11in~ dn n by the thlJu and t, • ,in ""t dgHIfol' oil dl'illi11!J/11m ht r111111 h 11ml wal<1ji111'l .ll 11sl,/'rl(l/lts · j1111ul, -lil,, s111n11111di11y.-1011 ,· t ~ 11du ,., 011 t/11 islm11 / ji11'111s 'mtut.~f,wfi11111d 'llthwwos<1111 ·1. , j1mul1 flWY(t 11sf1 (1(1/l't /W'( ' SJ)(' - and cm111llias. ('plw,d y111111li111•1 · ry lslm,d; /11 '". d,, 1· /i1r111•s1 'ngoil"'' II. chcwhcrc in the mar h, n a hoat tour" the bayou,canal~.and mar\h with Raymond Bonin. J get a close look at dcn-,c\tand~ of exotic veg tation thriving on the poil banks, Acrording to fi rc5tcr,, indigo. g,ant barnboo. and chinabcrrieci"e~aped from plantations., and c&tab1 ish cd themselve~in the~ iJd, "'yingup to a wmowalready flourishing on a new earthen dam shutting off an abandoned canaJ. Bonin beckons me ro the top of the bank. "You see the muddywatersin the bayou outside the dam?" he ~ s. " an't catch nothing but catfish in the bayou. and it tastes like a handful of mud pie. But the clean water inside the pond no · is going ro be full of bass and perch, and good to eaL too , on a heap of rice with a hake of Taba co over it?' Bonin identifies in Cajun French the plants growing on the poil banks: Monglier for myrtle. chene vert for live oa camphier for camphor. and roseau for tall marsh cane. He remembe rs when the poil banks stood naked and ugly beside newl~ dredged canal . "And look how pretty now,'' he says. "Sometime I see an otter playing on the bank here where he never used to come when I was a boy. Sometim a deer. Birds come by the hundreds and I didn't even know how you call them in French or English , they are so new here."" So, the poil banks and finger canals. once dreaded by con ervationis . ha ·e worked a change in the dynamic marsh habitat which appear to be as beneficia l to wildlife as any change during the 12.000 years of its environmental history. \'hen the last oilman leaves Avery Island, the marsh will return to it original fre h and brackish ecosystem-but with the addition of a chain of fish pond and a thriving upland habitatcrisscro ing then_iarshina network of abandonded po1I ban· grown up to dense tand of game-ri h grasses and ha~dwood . Change m?~be inevitable, but 1fyou plan properl). H c n be a change for the better. • 111 J!PChasastorytotell ~·Ofitsplantanatheneighbors aswelt. 9/elationsoncegratea Y-ilpollutionabated. )Voweveryone getsalongswell. 112 THE ENVIRO wrroR• oTE:The limerick was written by ,heeditor. Theother limericks in this article r.Y!re1•:innersof the APC environmental promorion contest. Whenthe Altona Petroc hemical Com- pany (APQ opened in ovember 1961 its closest neighbor was more than 400 yards away. Mostof the residential section of Altona,acommunitylocated 10miles west of Melbourne Australia , was a half mile w.t} The towers, furnaces , compressors andpipeline of APCwere surrounded by openfield , a swamp, Kororoit Creek Roadand Maidstone Street. WithinIOyears, the picture had altered ~derably. APC's plant had developed mtothefulcrum of a group of companies ~cd Altona Petrochemical Complex ~ more than a US $260 million (Ausualian200 million) investment. liedstocks from the local oil refinery 111d ~ Strait natural gas are piped to There, they are cracked into :-1amc, butadiene, propylene and carblack feedstock and distributed to 10 companies in the Altona PetroComplex including Monsanto Ltd.,Dow Chemical, Australian Rubbe~Union Carbide (Aust.), U t.), 8. F. Goodrich, BASF A111tralian Carbon Black and hemicals(Aust.) Ltd. Their downstreamfor use in connging from home insulabackingto pharmaceuti- !:!lant. communit e panded too. B 1971 the population in the area had doubled to 30,0~ people. To accommodate the populauon, local zoning laws changed o that houses began to line street that did not even exist when the APC plant " as built. Today, houses are within two hundred ya rds of the plant and chool children at new schools play occer with a ie of APC's steam cracking tower . " When the APC plant was new, our priorities were making a qualit product , making a profit and pro idingchallenging and interesting work for employees;' explained Joe Waugh , AP~'s ~nvironmental coordinator. "A combmat10n of growth and increased awareness of the need for environmental conservation and pollu tion control have had a tremendous effect on how we operate and think_at APC.Today we are very conscious o~our lill pact on the community;' ' Waugh said. . When APC was built i~ was eqmpped ith a number of pollut10n control dew_ an incident on ovember 9, r;~er !~~ght home the fact that existing .' nt was no longer enough to equ1pme . . community image. maintain a positive ill Occurred · a caustwo sp s • Ont h at d aY . . d ·th one of sul0111c1de wt ill tic soda sp c . g effluent water . 'd The ensu 111 . h phunc aet . . odor at the weu oft e released a sulph1hd~h was detected in the Ape separator. w ic local commumty. f om plaints that daY[' "We got a lot o c h we realized it "That's w en d said Waug h . centrate even har er was time for us to ~~bors we cared about t" On showing our ne1g ·ronmen. . them and the envt fficient for mdustry What bad been su ENT and the publi in the 1960' wa n 1 nger good enough for an ne. particularl th PC plant.' e decided that ear that ignificant irnpro ements had to be made in environmental protection:' \! augh aid. ' e launched a major anti-pollution campaign and began to think more ab ut our role as part of the Altona comm unit . ' Toda , after an e penditure of more than 100,000 man-hour and S 2.0 million (Au t. $1.53 million), the PC plant and the people of Altona hare an open relation hip of mutual re pect. But it wa not eas to achie e. "In addition to the need to re pond t environmental awarene , we al o faced a problem of unawarene , ' aid Ja Dalgetty APC's general manager. ' In 1971 a communit stud re ealed that le than 50 percent of the people in south Altona knew where the PCplant was located in the chemical complex or what the company actually made. Man people in the area would relate any noi e odoror moke from the complex with u becau e of the close association with ltona Petrochemical Company. Wee en hare the same initials " Dalgett y pointed out. ' Ve had to educate the public and be willing to accept responsibility for problem that might not be ours:' In the last three year , APCha undertaken a number of projects to help adult and children in the communit understand what happens at a petro hemical plant. Two attractiv~ brochure ha e been produced to do the JOb. One brochure e plains the steamcracking proce e , , hat they produce , where the product go an? what familiar item are made from chemi- 113 Neil St ewart (IR,ft)and J oe Waugh were instrumental in making A P C's environmental/ community relations program work. cal raw materials. The other brochure testifies to APC's commitment to keeping Altona clean. It also details the monitoring equipment installed at APC, such as TV screen controls and anti-smoke flares and the plant's regular surveillance procedures. This second brochure also introduces Joe Waugh, the plant's environmental coordinator, and assures the community that Neil Stewart, then chairman of the plant's environmental control committee, and the committee members are at work to prevent damage to nature. (Stewart has since been named project manager of the facilities planning group.) Another aspect of the education program occurs annually when more than 250 students from six local high schools tour the plant. These visits make an unfamiliar industrial process something understandable and interesting. One other APC program aimed at communicating with the local neighborhood is the plant's annual l 14 fire protection session held in October. "We have our safety coordinator , Ron Courtot , lecture on fire prevention and show the students all our various pieces of fire fighting equipment;' explained Stan Noble , public affairs coordinator who arranges the program. "Fire prevention is of great concern in this community because The environm ent prot ection authority Gives air and wat er priority. So, to keep th em both pur e Don't drain to the sewer Compounds of great notoriety. we can have heavy bush fires between the months October to January. Our fire prevention programs are highly valued. We show our defense against fires and let the community know that we care. Some adults, press people and local council representatives usually come to the demonstration, too;' Noble said. Joe Waugh re m inisced about the early days of APC's com mun ity relations. "Now that I look back on our first attempts to smooth over the communit y' s reaction to that incident in '71, I consider our work a shoestring effort. It took us two or three months to coor din a.te a good program. Initially, everyone trie d hard to keep odors, noise and smoke fro m leaving the plant, but sometimes we weren 't successful:' Waugh was appoint ed to his post of environmental coo rd inator in February 1970 . Prior to this, a groupoffive men were cho sen to be the plant's environmental control comm ittee . Neil Stewart headed the group 's organ ized attack to meet the plant's own en vironmental standards and to initiate a con tinuing program to monitor plant environmental performance , promote the education and awareness of employees and improve communications with external authorities. Regularly, an operator from the APC shift on duty visits seven community checkpoints. He checks the air quality, meters the noise level in number of decibels registering at these locations and looks for smoke or fumes. If a complaint from the community is received either directly or via the Altona City Council's 24hour answering service, the superintendent immediately checks the details o!the complaint and takes remedial action if required. Most of these complaints are found not to have originated at APC. In addition to all the equipment ~hecks, shift pollution reports, and inspect10nsof Kororoit Creek APC has installed new plant facilities to' overcome potential pollution problems. Included are sand filte~s . · 1caustic to extract copper deposits, specia th neutralization facilities, enclosure of . e t r stnp· atmospheric vents on the sour wa e addiper and naphtha rerun tower and an THE ENVIRONM NT from our direction-even if the odor were not from something we make-we would accept the responsibility. It may sound as if it were a little unfair to our employees, but it was the only way we could maintain credibility within the Altona community:' ow that the objective has been achieved and the 100-day mark is met, the A limerick on anti-pollution Is certainly not the solution. But it will ring a bell When detecting a smell, Thus making a real contribution. difficulty of the goal has made everyone at proud of the accomplishment. "Everyone felt a lot of personal satisfaction in this achievement;' said Jay Dalgetty. "The challenge will be to conti~ue this level of employee awareness and stnve for further improvement:' . Time and money have been invested at APC doubly the APC plant to combat pollution but hours and dollars also are being spent outside the plant. "We have invested in community projects and programs that are important to the town. Wedid it to help and to show that we consider ourselves a real part of this community and that we want to see it do well;' said Stan Noble. APC has awarded scholarships, given special equipment to schools and assisted in fund-raising programs for the local community. "It's important to get involved with the people who live in your community, not just in a defensive action plan . Now that we have become involved, we've discovered that involvement is the really necessary part of our program to make friends with Altona;' said oble. Joe Waugh claims his job as environmental coordinator won't be a ucce until he has nothing to do. It looks like APC plant employees are trying hard to make him successfully unemployed. ■ 115 Oil royalties helped to finance establishment of a resident flock of brown pelicans (leftJ at Grand Terre in Louisiana. B iologists report an alligator population exp losion at Marsh Island R efuge, where E xxon USA weUsflow Betwe en the Louisiana wildlife refuges of Salvador and Pointe au Chien, the coastal marsh southwest of New Orleans changes from freshwater to brackish. In place of puddleducks , white pelicans swirl up from salty ponds in flocks so dense as to blot out half the horizon. My pilot, Al Ensminger , skillfully lays the light plane's floats almost on the sodden marsh to skim over two of the state's newest coastal refuges. As director of refuges for the Louisiana Wild Life and Fisheries Commission, Ensminger is checking on the health of the grasses of the marsh and the wildlife the grasses support. He shouts the hi story of the two refuges above the engine's blast. "We bought these 55,000 acres in October , 1968 , from Exxon USA," he explains. "Paid only $21 an acre. Practically a giveway. These two tracts have become n, U11 I'll /(1([/inu , <111111 ·/1 I" / ,1)71. 11<, l~ XXOII l SA , /rirsl thB the most heavily used of any refuge in the system , by wildlife and by sportsmen:' Diml y visible through a cloud of flying water birds , a tank farm squ ats in the marsh. "What about oil operations;' I ask. "Are they still producing oil here?" "Oh, Exxon kept the mineral rights:' Ensminger says. "T here are about 50 oil wells and two gas wells producing now, and more coming? ' I ask about migratory birds . "Don 't oil operations endanger them? " "No;' Ensminger replies . "Oil operations cause us very little trouble? ' In fact, far from damaging wildlife , multiple u e of refuges under the skilled supervi ion of game management experts protect resident wildlife, Ensminger reports. "Take the furbearers;' he says, mentioning otter, nutria , muskrat, mink , and raccoon. "The old-fashioned notion wa to leave them strictly alone in a virgin wilderness. If we did that here, they'd de tro the marsh and themselve ?' oroonmo OfthB rBfUOB Upper Mississippi, R iver Wildlif e and Fish R efuge helters migratory birds, such as these Canada geese.Royalt ies from 600 D elta Wildlif e R ef uge wells, below, may help to f eed wildlife in Tennessee or develop nesting ponds in Xorth Dakota. Ensminger guides the plane over a vast mud flat lying outsi de the two refuges. It is gnawed over, and nearly naked of grasses. Muskrat lodges , one to every 500 square feet, dot the bare ground. "This section was not trapped , and the population exploded;' Ensminger says. "The rats have become overcrowded . They 've eaten everything in sight, and they 'll die by the hundreds before long." Ensminger prescribes a sizable controlled harvest of furbearers by licensed trappers as the best way to keep a refuge healthy. Louisiana tops all states in value of its harvest , almost all of it made in or near refuges , and much of it within sight of oil operations. Fur alone accounted for $10 million in income to Louisiana trappers during the 1972 season. At the wildlife commi sion camp on Marsh Island Refuge we swap alligator stories . Ensminger and the refuge supervisor, H. H. Lourd, of ew Iberia , agree that Mar h I land and the R ckefeller 117 Controll,ed harvest of timber (l,eft) is one of mu ltipl~ use activitie permitted I n the winter, refuge managers burn off dead vegetation (top right) which would, mother next summer' growth. S ew gra s rzses on the Rockef eller R efuge in Louis iana (lower right) after dead vegetation has been burned aicay. Refuge carr y the heaviest concentrations of wild alligators of any area in North America , including the Everglades. Refuge biologists estimate one alligator to every two acres , or more than 22,000 on Marsh Island Refuge alone . "If you ride at night ;' one of the Cajun workmen says , "you subject to have the 'gators jump in the boat with you:' In 1972 Louisiana gave Alabama, Arkansas, and Mississippi 400 alligators to stock their depleted marshes and bay~us. "We could give away 3,000 more without missing them;' Ensminger says. "The whole lot could come from Marsh Island without thinning the stock:' Oil royalties paid for the comeback of the alligator from near extinction, according to Ensminger. "The nine Exxon wells on Marsh Island bring about $600,000 in royalties yearlY:' he explains. "After we pay current bills, we put half into a trust fund for research and maintenance. The other half goes into a 118 general wildlife funds. A big slice of the oil royalties bought 120,000 acres of upland forest to expand the refuge system: ' Since the late 1950's, according to Ensminger , oil royalties collected for production on the Rockefeller Refuge just west of Marsh Island have exceeded $41 million , with $11 million going to protect and encourage the resident and migratory wildlife and the rest going to the state's education and health budget. Ensminger's views on oil and gas production on the refuges over which he had jurisdiction coincide with those of Dr. Clarence Cottam, director of the private Welder Wildlife Refuge in South Texas, who points out that wells on his place keep the budget green. A naturalist at Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, a winter home of the whooping crane, says that trails cut through the brush to reach wellheads become game trails, encouraging wildlife to scatter rather than to bunch up in diseasevulnerable concentrations. In Washington , D . C., Jim Lankford heads the Bra nch of Resource Management for the Bure au of Sports Fisheries & Wildlife. The bureau administers the 300plus units of the National Wildlife Refuge System. Lankford adds to the evidence in favor of multiple use . Of the proceeds from the sale of timber, grazing rights , and minerals , particularly oil and gas, the bureau sends funds (in lieu of taxes) to counties where federal refuge have taken lands off the tax rolls. The remainder maintains existing refuges. develops additional habitat , and aid in enforcement of migratory game bird laws. "Royalties from the 600-plus well on the Delta Wildlife Refuge at the mouth of the Mississippi River may well be u ed to plant waterfowl food crops in Tenne ee or to develop nesting ponds in orth Dakota;' Lankford explains. He add th~t these welcome sums reduce the bureau annual funding requirement each year. providing welcome relief to taxpa er · "But we make every effort to u e natural re ource within the under tanding that refuge were created for betterment of wildlife for the u e and enjoyment of the American people," Lankford a ert . "Every use of a natural re ource mu t pa the test of how it can enhance the environment for the benefit of wildlife?' Citing controlled harvest of timber a one of the multiple use activitie permitted on refuges, Lankford explain how logging can improve game habitat. "Deer, turkey, and migratory bird do better on stands of timber thinner than the usual virgin forest;' he says. "So we ometimes open up the canopy to encourage underbrush for browse and cover?' Lankford adds that on bottomlands , the refuges sometimes harvest varieties of trees that do not produce mast to make room for the oaks and pecan s that furnish the mast essential for deer and turkey reproduction. At the Federal Upper Mississippi River Wildlife and Fish R efuge, the manager , Donald Gray, explains that the 284-milelong wetland stretching along both bank s from Lake Pepin , Minnesota , to Rock Island , Illino is, exists only because of industry's energy needs , which require that oil products be transported up the river by barge. The bird-sheltering swamp and marsh came into existence only after the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers built 13 dams and locks for navigation by towboats and barges through what became the refuge area. Now , use by migrating birds constitutes an important secondary value of the magnificent wetlands. Where 10,000 wood ducks now hatch annually , where the egret has come back from near extinction, the bottomland used to support almo t no waterfowl. n minger wants to hold a deer census on the way back to New O deans , owe take off at dawn. In the faint morning light, bru h fire in the refuge glow brightly. Refugemanagers and trappers set fire to hurn ff accumulated vegetable debris whi h would othcrwi e smother next R efuge managers say game habitat can beimproved by selectivethinning of timber and the opening of trails.A reddish egret chick(below)callsthe Aransas National WildlifeRefuge home. summer's growth. The fires are contained in an area by a network of bayous and canals. The flames crawl along the ground, and just ahead of them several bevies of whitetail deer amble along. The deer pause often to feed, appearing unconcerned. When the flames press them , they escape easily by crossing a bayou. Flocks of birds rise beneath the aircraft. Wenote mallards , teal, bald pate , ibis, four kinds of herons , lesser scaup, three kinds of hawks, killdeer, sandpipers, coots, and gulls. As the air warms, alligators crawl onto bayou banks to sun themselves. Nutria dive for underwater roots. The marsh teems with life. Offshore in Vermilion Bay, a cluster of platforms marks the Lake Sand field. Ensminger studies the installations carefully before speaking. "What a bad break ," he murmurs. "They found gas a mile-and-a-half out in the bay instead of in the refuge. The wildlife could have used the money.' ■ Progress has spawned thousmul\·of rambunctious 110is'S that are insidious, lwrmjid. and pervasiv~. Disturbed by tlze mounting decibel\·, citizens, legislators,and companies like 1~ -r ·on have launc/zeda quiet offensive. A highway patrolman in Connecticut checks an instrument on his dashboard and then aims a television camera at a passing truck whose broken muffler is howling. AN ew York City bank advertises for a deaf girl to work in its cacophonous check-tabulating room. A man standing beside a large yellow machine on a Los Angeles construction site suddenly jumps three inches and claps his hands to his head as the compressor roars into life. All three scenes are part of the same play. It is titled Noise: An American Story. While the script lacks the impact of tragedy, the story is no laughing matter. Noise is a threat to body and mind, and over the last fifteen years it has grown 800 percent in U.S. cities. Urban noise now doubles every decade. The opening ~peaker at th_e 1969 symposium of the National Cou~cil on Noise Abatement summed up the situation. America , he said , is the noisiest country on earth. . . Noise is insidious , and that 1sone of its chief dangers. People who _are consta~tly bathed in noise do not hear 1t, or they thmk they do not. But their bodies do , and they suffer the fraying effects of constant sound abrasion. Even moderate noises cause blood vessels to contract. The skin pales . Mu scles tense. Adrenalin pours into the bloodstream. All this happens whether a person is awake or sleeping. The reaction cannot be controlled - except, of course, by reducing the noise. Phy ician say that noise contributes to 'rh1•I u1111, ifamrncr t .970. 120 ulcers, heart disease, psycho e , and neuroses. People who work amid loud noises can also have their hearing permanently impaired. In June, 1968, the U.S. Surgeon General noted that as many as sixteen million Americans may be suffering ear damage from on-the-job noise. Such warnings are being heard - despite all the noise. Citizens' groups have sprung up all over the country-Citizens for a Quiete r City, the Society for the Suppression ofU nnecessary Noise , the League for Less Noise, the National Council on Noise Abatement, the Committee for a Quiet City, and others. Private industrial companies, such as Exxon Corporation, are accelerating their war on noise through intensified research into noise control and redoubled efforts to reduce the noise level at their plants. At least a dozen federal agencies are involved in the noise question. Five studies have been undertaken , and the government is backing an extensive investigation by a special committee of the Federal Council for Science and Technology. Noise is not a new problem. In ancient Rome, citizens complained about the incessant cracking of drivers' whips, and Julius Caesar was bothered enough by the rattle of chariots to ban them after dark . Yet some people deliberately seek out noise - for instance , the thousands of "rock" enthusiasts who jam into discotheques to dance to thunderous music. This audio overexposure has its consequences. One man, driving his teen-age daughter home from a discotheque , was di concerted t find that he hadn't heard a word he aid all the way h me. Recently , a di cotheque became the laboratory of an audi 1 gi t studying noi e. Hi te t h w that loud mu ic m re than likely cau es permanent damage to the hearing of 16 percent f the people who go to di cotheque frequently and stay for as long as two hour . The audi logist ugge ted that dancer might takea tip from musician , who trea ure their hearing. "They wear earplug to cut the volume:• he aid. "They know too much of that 'good ound' can be dangerou :' The din of our citie i phy ically fatiguing. New York ity i the worstexample. Beside the clamor of taxicab , bu e , subways, train , truck , jet , air conditioner s, and irens, New Yorker are subjected to the ound of80,000 street repair and 10,000 demolition and con truction job s an nu ally. While there may be le s noise in other cities, there i still enoughto cause constant irritation. The dawn patrol of garbage trucks startles citizen in Denver , Miami , or Washington, D.C. Before noi se can be reduced, it ha to be mea sured . A scientist rates a sound' en· ergy in decibel s, an acou tic yard tic~ adopted from the telephone indu try an nam~ after Alexander Gra~am Be!l. le Ratmg noise however, 1 no imp matter. There a~e many decibel cal~' weighted according to the pitch oft sound being mea sured. The mo !commf: weighting system i the "A" decibel ca ' · leave written dbA. On thi cale, ru t~ingfom·: regi ter twenty dbA ; conver att0n, , hea y ity traffi , ninety ; aj--t airlin •r feeto erhead , 105. Injury to th .. ar b-'gin , at ound l vel above ight db . H _ ever, a man d e n t feel pain until th <.I • cibel reading e c ed 120. The location of a n i e an be ignin cant. An explo ion in a den ~ r t is quickly ab orbed by tr e , l av , , and matted ground. But a fire ra k r in an l vator can be deafening. Thu , ea h n i , must be evaluated in th pla wh re it i, heard. And each noi e-cutting ffi rt mu t be tailored to it environment. n elementary school demand more qui t than a bakery. Therefore, sound-ab rbing carpeting would be a likely h Cr classrooms , les so for a bakery. The anti-noise effort ha ome i torie to report. For example, the old-fa hioned pile driver is being replaced by a new machine. Instead of beating piles into the ground, the new machine vibrate the shafts-sinking them as much a one foot per second - with two 500-hor epower diesel engines. It still makes noise but a lot less than the old way, and the ground shocks are all but gone. The air compresso r has been anothe r noise pest. Ho wever, following the lead of Britain and Sweden , a m ajor U.S. man ufacturer recen tly announced a "socially acceptable" compres sor. Now sold in considerable number s, it is about six decibels- or 99 percent - quieter than a conventional unit the same size. It was used in the construction of the fifty-four-story building that will become Exxon 's New [York headquarters next year. The new compressor costs 25 percent more than the old noisy compressors , one of many indications that reducing noise can be expensive. Jackhammers also have been muffled with deadened steel bits that cut down the rat-a-tat impact noise. As a major manufacturer , Exxon tries to make its operations as quiet as possible. At a new refinery in Benicia , California , the i:ompany went further , seeking to be less visible as well as qµieter. Choosing the refinery's location was the first step. Exxon ompany, U.S.A., Exxon's U.S. op:rati~g 1ffiliate, tucked it away in the Cahforma H NVI NM Ll I?Imfugmplu u' by David .1 Hi: THE ENVIRONMENT hills thirty-five miles northeast of San Francisco. Then it was painted to blend with the gold and green of the land. And native plantings were added. To help quiet the new refinery, Exxon Research and Engineering Company, Exxon's technical affiliate , prescribed $700,000 in noise-control equipment. And efforts are still continuing to reduce unexpected noises that turned up when the refinery began operating. New refineries abroad are also built to be quiet neighbors.Different methods are used to quiet furnaces , which are potentially noisy facilities. At Ingolstadt , West Germany , Exxon engineers designed a muffled passageway, instead of a natural , open draft, to feed air to the plant's furnace. Because the passage is muffled, the roar of combustion is greatly diminished. For new plants at Port Jerome, France , the engineers recommended "forced-draft burners" that deaden the noise blast from the furnace. But furnaces aren't the only facilities that require muffling. At both the Ingol stadt and Port Jerome refineries, blowers, compressors, and large electric motor s were muted by insulation. At Fawley, England, Exxon's refinery was built in a quiet, ruralare a,so control of neighborhood noise has always been an important activity, which in the last five years has cost about $1 million. The refinery's environmental engineer works closely with acoustic experts from Southampton University to measure and control noise that might disturb people living nearby. The standard Exxon specification drawn up to control in-plant noise has recently been accepted as a model by the oil industry in Britain. At existing refineries in the United States and overseas, Exxon engineers are conducting studies and planning control devices. Many noise problems require custom-designed mufflers. Sometimes the structure of a furnace must be changed. Exxon soundproofs its employees as well as the public. Measuring the noise a man is exposed to is the first step. To deter~ine a refinery's noise profile, Exxon engmeers use a noise analyzer that translates sou?-d into an ink line of high and low so~1cpe_aks.~his is important in detecting bnef , h1gh-p1tched noi es which can be h~rmful. After identifying a noi e, the eng1~e~r se~rch for its origin and a way to eliminate 1t. When a noi y area is identi fied, employees in the area are fitted with earplugs and earmuffs , or work chedules are staggered to reduce their exposure until the noise level can be reduced. In the nation, noise-cutting inventions are being tried. New York City has taken a step toward lessening the racket made by its4 ,000 garbage trucks. Over the next two years the city is buying 1,100 "quiet" garbage trucks , which will cost taxpayers $100 more for each truck. People who live around airports will be glad to learn that the new Boeing 747 superjet , now flying coast-to-coast and transatlantic routes with passenger loads of more than 350 people , is a step forward in aviation noise reduction. The plane's engines are insulated, making the jets considerably quieter than smaller airliners. As John Shaffer, head of the Federal AviationAdministration ,says: "You'lllike the sound of the 747. It's a very soft roar." There is also reason to expect that the FAA may soon require the airlines to modify their conventional jets to halve the noise at takeoff and landing . The supersonic jets-the SSTs-which will be flying before the end of this decade , have a built-in noise problem. Because they fly at speeds up to 1,800 miles per hour , they break the sound barrier , creating window-rattling sonic booms. If technology does not come up wit~ an answer by flight time , the gla11:orousJets may be confined to transoceamc routes. The country has begun to decide how much noise it will tolerate . Last May, Congress added a series of new noise-regulating provisions to the old Walsh-Healey Public Contracts Act of 1938. These provisions limit industrial noise levels in the 70 000 plants that have contracts with the fe, Number 3, 1.974. 124 whars Goodyear has been a leading advocate ofartificial reefs and is actively involvedin major pilot projects in Florida , Australia, Greece , Jamaica , Japan and New Zealand . The U.S. Interior Department e timates that well overone billion tires can be disposed of in artificial reefs on the U.S. East Coast alone. Another use that shows promise is the reuse of worn tires as highway crash barriers at such danger areas as bridge piers and abutments. In tests conducted by the Federal Highway Administration, an auto was driven into an unprotected pole at 56 miles per hour, demolishing the vehicle.A car driven against a similar pole, protected by the Goodyear-developed tire crash barrier , received $175 worth of damage. It is estimated that there are half a million highway points in the United States that should have crash barriers. The highway use of old tires is not limited to safety barriers. In a new process, they are being reworked to make road building materials. By stripping out and devulcanizing the rubber, processors achieve a compound that mixes with regular paving asphalt. Though slightly more expensive, the mixture makes a more durable surface, is easier to apply and spreads more quickly. In hot weather, it reduces seepage of the asphalt at the edges and to the surface. This seepage is a skidding hazard, particularly when the road is wet. New York State used the material to seal joints and cracks in the Dewey Thruway, and maintenance men found that the joints have to be resealed half as often. Arizona has rubberized asphalt on streets and airport aprons. Wisconsin is also testing the mix, as is the U.S. Bureau of Public Roads. Playground , patios and swimming pools also still see a good share of old tires m new forms. Imaginative playground directors are designing mountains, jungles and giant swings using little more than old tires. The casings are chopp~ up and bonded with a rubber-based bmder. Paint is added and the result is a colorful, creative surface. Some companies are considering storing old tires in abandoned quarrie or shelters , filling them with water to reduce the hazard offire and keeping them for the day they might be needed as a ource of fuel or raw material. ■ tobBdOnB With Old tires? of energy locked in their carcasses. Pound for pound, they have 50 percent more Btu value than coal. The furnace is designed to consume 3,000 casings daily, more than one million a year. It will produce enough energy to heat 250 homes for a year but will be used by Goodyear to produce steam for new tire production. Smokeless and odorless, the furnace meets rigid air pollution standards. Old tires also are finding many uses simply as cast-off tires. Hundreds of thousands of them are used to create artificial reefs as a haven for game fish and other aquatic life. After a few months on the ocean floor, tires become coated with such organisms as algae, barnacles , mussels and coral. Attracted by these organisms , fish begin to inhabit the area. Scientists at one location counted 88 different species offish before the tire haven was 2 years old. THE ENVIRONMENT onorov and thoonv1ronmont: sw1~nu abalance A formidable problem confronts not only the oil industry today but society as a whole. Some have referred to it simply as the "energy dilemma." I prefer to think of it as a delicately balanced equation-the energy-environment equation. One part of the equation is the problem of supplying the vast amounts of energy required to provide rising standards of living to rapidly expanding populations all over the world. The other part of the equation is the necessity of preserving the natural environment upon which the quality-and survival-of life on this planet must ultimately depend. I, for one, am confident that practical and effective answers can be found to the equation-that the conflict between the need for more energy and the desire to preserve the quality of life will be resolved. But our success will depend upon the amount of patience, determination, intelligence, and hard work that we are willing to bring to the task. Ill-considered and emotional responses aren't going to help at all. To be brought into proper balance, both sides of the energyenvironment equation must be carefully weighed and properly understood. The first part of the equation has to do with the growing demand for energy all over the world. Let's take the United States as an example. For several years, U. S. energy consumption has been rising about 5 per cent annually-faster than our gross national product and more than four times as fast as the U. S. population . Between now and 1985 our demand for all forms of energy is expected to nearly double. Such a fantastic growth in energy demand reflects the fact that Americans are calling for goods and services in increasing variety and quantity. Our country's automobile population has grown twice as fast as its human population over the past ten years. Eighty million cars are on our highways. By 1985 this figure is expected to increase to more than 120 million. Consumption of electricity is also increasing sharply and by the end of this decade is expected to double.The end uses to which these Htatannit by KrJ1m'N<:lwirman,Th<•L,amp, H1m11,g 1972. volu~es _of power are being put are becoming increasingly sophisticated: 0 r example, fully 16 per cent of the total 1~cr~ase in electric power consumption in the United States last year was for th e operation of air conditioners! Other countries are on the move as well. In the past five years alone the world's population has increased by 300 million to almost 4 billion. By the end of the century, world population is expected to reach more than 6 billion. Per capita income and consumption are also rising sharply, and worldwide energy use is expected to treble or even quadruple by the end of the century. You might well ask where all this power is going to come from-or if all the world's demands for energy can possibly be met. Let's look at this question more closely, again paying particular attention to the United States. Looking forward, here's what our company sees for the basic energy sources now available or likely to become available in the years immediately ahead: > Hydroelectric energy growth is sharply limited by the availability of acceptable dam sites. Although additional capacity will continue to be developed, hydroelectric's share of total U.S. energy requirements is expected to slip from 4 per cent today to only 2 per cent in 1985. > Nuclear energy today supplies less than 1 per cent of total U.S. demand. By 1985 we estimate that its share will increase to about 11 per cent. We share the administration's view that the fastbreeder reactor may yet prove to be "the best hope ... for meeting the nation 's growing demand for economical, clean energy," but our optimism is tempered with caution. The first demonstration fastbreeder plant is not expected to be completed until 1980, and technical and environmental difficulties must be overcome if this target date is to be met. These same problems, together with construction delays, have already caused the supply of power from nuclear plants to fall well behind the levels forecast. The shortfall between the Atomic Energy Commission's 1967 forecast of 1970 ! capacity and that actually achieved was equivalent to the power generated by 14 million tons of coal per year, or 140,000 barrels per day of heavy fuel oil -and this is precisely how the slack has had to be taken up: by fossil fuels. Coal has contributed an important share of the nation's energy in the past and will continue to do so in the future. After slow growth in the next four or five years, we expect to see consumption double between now and 1985, raising coal's share of the energy market from its current level of 18 per cent to approximately 20 per cent. Demand for coal will develop in response to time lags in nuclear power plant construction, limited natural gas supply, and the national security consideration of overdependency on imported oil. This projected growth is, however, contingent on the development of technology that will permit the use of coal within the framework of the prevailing air conservation regulations. Synthetic fuels-including oil and gas from coal, and oil from shale-will, we predict, be available for commercial use by the end of this decade; but by 1985 it is doubtful that they will supply more than 2 per cent of this nation's energy requirements. And even this development will depend upon the perfection of economic processes and upon national policies encouraging the development and utilization of synthetic fuels. Which brings us to natural gas and petroleum. Natural gas is the United States' second largest source of energy. Unfortunately, prices have been controlled by the U.S. government at an artificially low level. This has accelerated demand but has not provided adequate incentives to explore intensively enough to find the additional supplies required. As a result, reserves of natural gas are dwindling , and not even substantial new volumes from Alaska and Canada are expected to reverse this trend. Thus, natural gas's share of total U.S. energy supply is expected to decline from about 33 per cent today to about 21 per cent in 1985. 125 .. Th ov rail obje tii 'nwst be to provide an adequate supply of n rg at a reasonable balance between cost, dependability, and protection of the environment" Petroleum consumption we predict, will just about double by 1985-from 15 million to 28 million barrels a dayalthough its share of the energy supply will remain at about the present level of 45 per cent. Because domestic oil production is expected to decline in absolute terms it will become increasingly necessary f~r the United States to balance its energy supply with imported petroleum. By 1985 our forecast indicates that imports will supply more than 60 per cent of U.S. demand. This prospect should, I think, provide a strong incentive for the United States to step up leasing for exploration along the continental shelf and to move more rapidly in establishing environmental regulations that will provide appropriate safeguards to permit sound development in frontier areas such as Alaska. Certainly we need to add to our reserves, and the sooner we get on with the job the better. Dependence on imported oil can be lessened only by a significant change in the policies of the federal government toward the domestic oil and gas industries and by an acceleration in the development of alternate sources of energy. To meet the long-range energy needs of the United States, we can no longer afford to develop our country's individual energy resources in isolation, one from another, any more than we can attempt to resolve our energy problems in isolation from the rest of the world. It is essential that total energy supply and demand be recognized as a single problem and one that must, inevitably, be faced by the United States together with other countries. To protect the energy consumer in the United States-which is all of us-our energy policies must encourage the maintenance of healthy energy-producing industries. The policies must provide maximum encouragement for the development of all our domestic energy sources. The policies must also take into consideration the needs and aspirations of other nations and provide contingenc y plans for meeting possible 126 disruptions in foreign supplies. The overall objective must be to provide an adequate supply of energy for present and long-term needs at a reasonable balance between cost, dependability, and protection of the environment. In the United States today, public concern for the environment probably commands more attention than concern for national energy supplies. Limited natural gas supplies and increasingly frequent electrical brownouts-there were fifty-four last year alone-remind us that new sources of energy must be found. But the threats to which our natural environment is being exposed have to many people been more noticeable, more immediate, and more alarming. Some would have us bring the energyenvironment equation into proper balance by putting tight reins on economic growth. But is this realistic, considering current population projections and the aspirations of people everywhere to improve their lot? I hardly think so. The question is not if energy production should continue to increase but how the energy supplies can be provided without irreparable harm to the environment. I am convinced that this challenge can be met-that acceptable levels of air and water purity can be achieved at a price we can all afford-in both an economic and a social sense. But if this and the broader goals of environmental conservation are to be realized, all segments of society must lend a hand: > National governments must enact laws and establish codes that will best serve the public both from an environmental and economic standpoint. > Local governments must install the equipment and controls necessary to rid our environment of untreated sewage, smoke, and refuse from incineration. > The individual citizen must be willing not only to accept his fair share of the economic burden of the cleanup campaign but to alter attitudes and behavior patterns that have contributed to environmental deterioration. ,> And business and industry must contribute to these community-wide un- dertakings in every way possible, not only by raising their own standards but also by accelerating their efforts through research to discover new and better ways of protecting the environment. Business must accept this challenge and set an example others might follow. Much has already been achieved and greater efforts are under way. From 1966 through 1970, for example, U.S. oil companies alone have spent more than $2 billion on environmental conservation. Today such expenditures are running at about $1.5 million each day. Other industries are working hard toward conservation objectives. The Environmental Protection Agency recently estimated that the auto industry is spending some $330 million annually on emissions control research. Many other industries are investing substantial sums of money to reduce the discharge of pollutants. Today the need is not-as some would have it-to call a halt to progress and to negate the tremendous achievements and social advances that have been brought by the industrial revolution. Our efforts as individuals, as members of the business community, or as representatives of government must be directed toward finding ways of reconciling our economic needs with the preservation of our environment. This can be done through a more rational utilization of natural resources and a more thoughtful and intelligent management of our environment. We can no longer afford to ignore our environment. Nor should we seek to "conquer" it. The proper course , I believe, must be to seek a more harmonious collaboration with nature 's forces: a balancing of the energy-environment equation that will both supply the energy needed to meet the demands of the world's population and preserve the environment in which we all live. February 1, 19i:2 , Clzairma,1, DUbllGatlons and fllms 8V8118blB Publications The following publications can be obtained from the Public Affairs Department, Exxon Corporation, 1251 Avenue of the Americas, New York, N.Y 10020. Exxon Background Series: Environmental ConservationA Progress Report. The Offshore Search for Oil and Gas. Reducing Tanker Accidents. U!ry Large Crude Carriers (VLCC's). Breathing Space. The subject is air pollu- tion. The booklet describes the main sources of atmospheric pollution and details the measures taken by the oil ind us try in general and Exxon, in particular, to limit the pollutants emitted when petroleum products are used. Passage to Cleaner Seas. This is a report on how the international oil industry, including Exxon, endeavors to reduce sea pollution. It covers tanker operations, loading and off-loading at terminals, offshore exploration and production , oil spill cleanup and containment technology. Striking a Balance. The balance is be- tween the need to develop sources of energy and the preservation of a healthful , unspoiled natural environment. The booklet describes how this has been achieved in many areas through the careful design and operation of oil and natural gas facilities. Films The following films are available on a free-loan basis. They may be ordered by writing Modem Talking Picture Service, Inc., 2323 New Hyde Park Road, New Hyde Park, New York 11040. Include number and title of the film. Sea Venture, #4876. This award-winning film tells the story of a new kind of seafarer- those who work for weeks at a time on offshore rigs drilling for oil and natural gas.Shown are the design of different rigs, the equipment used to prevent blowouts and pollution, how oil moves from sea to sh?re. A teacher's guide is available. 28 mmutes, 16mm, sound, color. Offshore,_#4880. The search for new supplies of 011and gas is increasingly moving offshore and into deeper waters. The film deJ?ictsthis search from the initial exploration stage to development drilling and actual production. A teacher's guide is available. 18minutes, 16mm, sound, color. Evidence of Progress, #4882. There is no quick and easy way to improve the quality of life on our planet EARTH. A balanced environment will be the result of many small and patient efforts. It will take time and inspiration and money and dedication. This award-winning film offers encouragement to keep working on environmental problems by citing examples of places around the world where progress in reversing past trends of environmental degradation has been achieved. Filmstrips Two series of 35mm, color filmstrips produced by the Cousteau Society a:e available for rent or purchase. Included m each set are the filmstrips, cassette tapes and a teacher's guide. Contact Modem Talking Picture Service, Inc., 2323 New Hyde Park Road, New Hyde Park, New York 11040. Undersea Explorations. These four filmstrips explore all facets of undersea investigation. They include such subjects as why women are better "water creatures" than men; how a bathyscape works; why oceanographers go aloft in balloons to study whales; how oceanauts eat, sleep and work at depths to which no diver can safely venture. The Life of Fishes. Six filmstrips which portray sea animals-their habitats, complex societies, success and failure in surviving ecological hardships. The Three E's, #4900. Environment, energy and economics. These three E's are interrelated, and neglect of one must result in disastrous consequences to the other two. The film calls for"a more compassionate technology,"-an_ approach to economic growth that permits us to make profitable use of our natu:al resourc~s while preserving and restonng the enVIronment from which these resources are drawn. A teacher's guide is availble. 28 minutes, 16mm, sound, color. World Beneath the Sea, #4901. The film depicts the day-an~-night vigil maintaine<;lby oil compames to p~otect the environment as they drill for oil and gas _beneath the sea. Discussed are technological developments - camouflaging d~g platforms as high-rise apartment buildings, computerized cont~ols, un~erwater television cameras for mspectwn, advanced drilling systems that operate ·~y remote control on the ocean floor.28 rrunu tes, 16mm, sound, color. 127