LITTLE BOSTON — After the Port Gamble Bay was hit hard by a preventable oil spill in October 2005, the Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe decided it never wanted to be that helpless again.
Working with the Washington State Department of Ecology, it was able to acquire a $1.25 million appropriation from the state and purchase an oil spill response trailer now parked at Point Julia.
“When the oil spill happened in October 2005, all we could do was stand on the shore and watch it spread,” said Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe Department of Natural Resources acting director Tamara Gage. “It seemed very significant to us, and we couldn’t do anything to stop it. It affected the shellfish the tribe uses as a livelihood. Now we have a way to prevent that kind of disaster if it happens again.”
The tribe was completely powerless while the October 2005 spill took place, said Tribal Chairman Ron Charles, who reiterated the trailer will be able to stop another devastating spill from hurting the area’s shellfish, beaches and ecosystems.
“We were pretty happy to hear that we received this trailer,” he said. “We kept thinking we could have helped if we had equipment. We’ve always had people working on the water. They and the trailer might turn out to make the difference in a situation like that.”
The bright yellow trailer came with not only 800 feet of boom, buoys, oil absorbing pads, decontamination kits for workers, suits, boots and tools, but it also included training, Gage said. The tribe invited its own members and representatives from North End organizations that could utilize the trailer as well, she said. A dozen people showed up from different groups to participate.
“We invited people we figured would be useful on scene,” she said. “We also had room for outside agencies. The Poulsbo Police Department sent a representative to get the training.”
Most of the tribal members and workers who attended the training, held in December 2006 when the trailer was delivered, have had experience working in boats and in the water, Gage said. This additional information was easy for everybody to learn, and could make the difference in an emergency.
“We had to learn how to use the booms and buoys in the baseball field, because it was wet and stormy the day of the training,” Gage said with a laugh. “But everybody understood it, and we’re ready now if something happens again.”
“It seems to make a lot of sense for us to have the trailer,” Charles said. “We sure have people all around here who have a stake in trying to protect our shorelines.”
The trailer is not a complete oil response package, Gage said, but it will prevent spreading while the bigger response teams mobilize.
“It provides us with a first response ‘Band-Aid,’” she said.
