OREGON BOARD OF MARITIME PILOTS MINUTES #521

Transcription

1 OREGON BOARD OF MARITIME PILOTS MINUTES #521 The Oregon Board of Maritime Pilots met in regular session on March 15, 2018 at 10:30 a.m. in conference room 1-B of the Portland State Office Building. The Board representatives present included Chair Gary Piercy, Leslie Goss, Kip Callahan, Capt. Chris Farrell, Capt. Elroy Olson, Andy Papachristopoulos, Dan Pippenger, Capt. George Wales, Assistant Attorney General Katharine Lozano, Marc Warren, Executive Director and Susan Johnson, Administrator. This was Mr. Papachristopoulos last meeting as a Board member. APPROVAL OF MINUTES #520: The minutes from the January 18, 2018 meeting were approved as previously mailed. PILOTS REPORTS: Recent Activity/Announcements Capt. Steve Dobbins (Columbia River Pilots) reported that Capt. Patching did a TV32 presentation at the CRSOA Agent s Forum. Capt. Amos attended an E-Nav conference in Denmark. Capt. McIntyre participated in a Women in Leadership Conference at CMA. Capt. Amos and Capt. Nielsen are participating in the PNWA mission to WA DC. A grounding occurred at the Rice Island anchorage with the Danae R. there was discussion of the master moving the vessel without a pilot. Capt. Dan Jordan (Columbia River Bar Pilots) announced that a pilot trainee, Capt. Derek Hill, is now licensed and working as the seventeenth bar pilot in the organization. He reported that they met with the director of NOAA about weather forecasting. Their crews went to a job fair at Job Corps and will be attending another in Naselle to talk to students about career paths. He gave a presentation to the Oregon Women for Agriculture and attended the crabber/towboat lane meeting. A pilot in Lisbon died after falling off a pilot ladder they have worked with a group in Seattle to produce videos on pilot ladder safety and MOB procedures. He ll be giving a presentation at the National Maritime Pilots Association Conference in Dakar, Senegal on pilot ladder safety; a presentation at the Port of Vancouver lecture series; and there will be a Council of Master Mariners Conference. Capt. George Wales (Coos Bay Pilots) reported that their Harbor Safety Committee finally got their Harbor Safety Plan initiated. Since last reported they have had seven ships and five more projected before the end of the month.

2 Oregon Board of Maritime Pilots Page 2 A cable ship may be arriving in Newport in June. Jordan Cove is doing a study on port systems and the pilots have been taken out to view sites for the buoys which will measure tides, currents and wave heights. The company GMA Garnet recently purchased the old nickel ore dock which will generate one ship per quarter; and applicant interviews have not yet been scheduled. NEW BUSINESS: Q4 Fatigue Reports Board members received fatigue reports for the fourth quarter of This reporting mechanism is required by rule and no action of the Board is necessary. On a different matter, Capt. Olson questioned the necessity of giving pilot reports at every meeting, suggesting they could be given every four to six months instead. Mr. Warren suggested that reporting might move into more of an operational format, rather than mostly public outreach efforts. Things that have been happening on the pilotage grounds that affect piloting or the associations may be more informative for the Board. He said he would reach out to the pilot groups to discuss further. OLD BUSINESS: Coos Bay Complaints: M/V Princess Bright - Mr. Piercy reported that the Board has received two complaints from Knutson Towing in Coos Bay. Both complaints were directed to the Complaint Resolution Committee for recommendation. Mr. Pippenger made the committee s report to the Board, noting that besides himself, committee members included Mr. Piercy and Capt. Olson. They met on February 7 with counsel and staff. The first complaint regarded an alleged unsafe movement by Capt. Steve Woods of the M/V Princess Bright on November 10, After initial review they decided to open an investigation and examined information which included photos, statements of the people involved and TV 32 logs. The committee determined that no additional information was needed and unanimously voted to close the investigation with a finding of no pilot error and no incident. Mr. Pippenger made a MOTION that the Board close the investigation and not open an investigation on the M/V Princess Bright, with a finding of no pilot error and no incident. Capt. Olson provided a second to the motion, which CARRIED. ORS Mr. Pippenger advised that the second complaint related to a violation of ORS , which states that a licensee or trainee may not pilot a vessel on the Coos Bay or Yaquina Bay pilotage ground, if they have any financial interest in a boat

3 Oregon Board of Maritime Pilots Page 3 or equipment assisting the vessel in entering or exiting the bay. The committee had a long discussion among themselves and with counsel regarding two main points: (1) The role of the Board in dealing with this kind of complaint; and (2) whether the Board has the authority to do anything even if it found the complaint was valid. The Board s enforcement authority as they understood it was related to license suspension, revocation, public safety, and pilot competence. The committee voted unanimously not to open an investigation because it is not related to the Board s core mission of public safety and pilot competence; and the Board lacked any meaningful enforcement authority if it investigated and found the complaint valid. Mr. Pippenger also noted that there are other avenues for this complaint to be dealt with through law enforcement for violation of Oregon statutes. Mr. Pippenger made a MOTION to not open an investigation because this is not part of the core function of the Board of Maritime Pilots, and that the Board lacks enforcement authority. Ms. Goss provided a second to the motion. At 11:10 a.m., Mr. Piercy then announced that the Board would go into executive session. The Board reconvened in public session at 11:38 a.m. Mr. Pippenger announced that, based on the discussion and legal advice in executive session, he would withdraw his previous motion and made a replacement MOTION, to not open an investigation because this is not part of the core function of the Board of Maritime Pilots related to public safety and pilot competence, and that the Board lacks any authority to take any meaningful enforcement action. Mr. Callahan provided a second to the motion. During discussion, Capt. Olson said he felt it was the Board s obligation to open an investigation into whether there was a violation. For the record, Capt. Wales abstained from making any comment. Mr. Warren advised that he was asked to speak to Rep. McKeown regarding this complaint, and he presented her with the information and recommendation from the committee. Her opinion was that it is the Board s responsibility to open an investigation and do something as it s in our statute. There was a long discussion of who would do the investigation and whether Board members had the expertise. Mr. Pippenger again made a MOTION to not open an investigation because this is not part of the core function of the Board of Maritime Pilots related to public safety and pilot competence, and that the Board lacks any authority to take any meaningful enforcement action. Mr. Callahan provided a second to the motion. There was a roll call vote: Capt. Farrell No, Mr. Papachristopoulos No, Mr. Pippenger Yes, Ms. Goss Yes, Mr. Piercy No, Capt. Wales Abstained, Mr. Callahan Yes, Capt. Olson No. The motion FAILED. Mr. Pippenger then made a MOTION to refer the complaint to the Investigations Committee (not the Complaint Committee) for action. Capt. Olson provided a second to the motion. There was a roll call vote: Capt. Farrell Yes, Mr. Papachristopoulos Yes, Mr. Pippenger Yes, Ms. Goss Yes, Mr. Piercy Yes, Capt. Wales Abstained, Mr. Callahan Yes, Capt. Olson Yes. The motion CARRIED.

4 Oregon Board of Maritime Pilots Page 4 STAFF REPORT: Budget: Board members received a budget report through January 31, % of the biennium has elapsed, with 19.12% of the budget limitation spent. COMMITTEE REPORTS: Harbor Safety The committee last met on March 14. After regular committee business, there was a presentation on tsunami modeling at the mouth of the Columbia River by Dr. Jonathan Allen, Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries. Incident Investigations (Manual) Mr. Piercy stated that the committee has not met recently and agreed to schedule a meeting to continue their work. Incident Review Team There is a meeting scheduled for March 26, to review incident investigations regarding the M/V Nenita and a man-overboard incident. Rules Review The committee met on January 29. Ms. Goss advised that the committee discussed delegating final rule filing authority to the Administrator, in the case where they have been noticed and gone through the public comment period and not received any comment or requests for hearing. The committee is recommending this to the Board with a motion. They also reviewed proposed rule language from the Tariff Review Committee, to which they added their recommendations and referred the language back to the Tariff Review Committee. They also discussed other proposed rules that have not yet been noticed; and the proposed rules noticed for the trainee selection process for Columbia-Willamette River and Coos/Yaquina Bays, which received public comment by the close of the comment period, so they will not be moved forward today. The last thing they addressed was Meetings of the Board proposed language, to include the Executive Director to be able to call a meeting in the event the Chair was unable to do so. There is a committee recommendation on this rule as well with a motion. Mr. Callahan made a MOTION that the Board delegate authority to call meetings of the Oregon Board of Maritime Pilots in the absence of the Chair, to the Executive Director as may be needed until such time as this authority can be defined in rule. Capt. Wales provided a second to the motion, which CARRIED. Capt. Farrell made a MOTION to delegate final filing authority to the Rules Coordinator/Administrator of the Oregon Board of Maritime Pilots for previously noticed rules (0007, 0010, 0025, 0045) and ; and henceforth on rules approved for notice which receive neither public comment nor a request for hearing by the expiration of the public

5 Oregon Board of Maritime Pilots Page 5 comment period, unless excluded by the Board at time of notice approval. Capt. Olson provided a second to the motion, which CARRIED. Ms. Goss added that the committee is going to meet on April 16 at 10:00 a.m., PSOB Room 221, to discuss pilot trainee applicant interviews and pilot training organizations. She also thanked Todd Zilbert and the Columbia River Pilots for a letter they submitted with ideas for reorganizing the rules. Tariff Review The committee has a meeting on March 26, before the Incident Review Team meeting. ELECTION OF OFFICERS: The Board must annually elect the Chair and Vice Chair. Capt. Farrell made a MOTION to nominate Mr. Piercy as Chair. Capt. Wales seconded the motion which CARRIED. Mr. Pippenger made a MOTION to nominate Ms. Goss as Vice Chair. Capt. Olson provided a second to the motion which CARRIED. PUBLIC COMMENT: Scott Ferguson, WA Dept. of Ecology Referring to the earlier mention of the grounding of the Danae R., he suggested the Board invoke their MOU with the Coast Guard and investigate even though there was no pilot on board. He noted that there have been a significant number of loss/reduction of propulsions in the last week and a half. Between 2012 and 2017, there were 169 loss/reduction events: 68 on the Columbia River, 23 offshore, and the rest in Puget Sound (78). Forty-five of those events involved low sulfur fuel and 50% related to vessel maintenance 25% involving injectors and fuel pump problems. He encouraged stakeholders to do more to prevent these events from happening. (Source: WA Ecology database) Mr. Callahan asked Mr. Ferguson to report at the next meeting on what Ecology is doing on oil-related rail/truck transportation. Capt. Olson noted that on the vessel grounding, the Coast Guard takes responsibility for seeing that these vessels receive the maintenance required, and there have been a significant downtown in low sulfur fuel events (source: Coast Guard). Capt. Farrell added that Board required continuing professional development for pilots includes emergency shiphandling to cope with these types of incidents. Capt. Wales stated that class societies send out recommendations to vessel owners to modify their engines to handle low sulfur fuel, which can be quite costly.

6 Oregon Board of Maritime Pilots Page 6 The meeting adjourned at 12:30 p.m. After the close of the regular session meeting, a Presentation was given by Tyree Wilde of the National Weather Service on weather forecasting. NEXT MEETING DATE: May 17, 2018 Respectfully submitted, Susan Johnson Susan Johnson, Administrator License Renewals - As submitted on the agenda, the following licenses are scheduled for renewal in March & April: On the Columbia and Willamette River pilotage ground D.R. Bybee #171, A.L. McIntyre #135, J.J. Nielsen #163, C.E. Williams #125, A.L. Sheridan #120, S.D. Hurn #126, B.E. Deaton #151, J.B. Parks $141, S.J. Verbeck #132, D.M. Johnson #172, P.D. Amos #111 and S.D. Harris #153. On the Columbia River Bar pilotage ground P.A. Matteo #145, J.M. Torjusen #137, C.G. Nehring #140 and N.A. Christian #176.