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Cuts limit state's response to oil spill Oregon turns to its northern neighbor By Peter Wong SALEM -- When a cargo ship grounded off Coos Bay started leaking fuel oil, state budget cuts limited Oregon's ability to respond. The Legislature approved cuts that eliminated the state spill-response program. The state Department of Environmental Quality has attempted to minimize the effect by shifting coverage for the worst spills to its cleanup program, but the crisis has stretched its thin staff. "We still have a cleanup staff; we have people," said Mitch West, a DEQ spokesman who formerly was the agency's budget manager. "Obviously, this was a big spill and we were going to be involved. We have virtually all of our spill people and lots of others involved in this effort." The spill-response program was part of DEQ's Waste Management and Cleanup Division, whose administrator, Mary Wahl, was in Coos Bay. She could not be reached for comment Friday. The division's proposed budget of $61.2 million for the two years starting July 1 comes almost entirely from sources outside the tax-supported general fund. The proposed amount from the general fund is just $3 million, down from $4.7 million in the current budget. Even after the Legislature approved $1.3 million more from the general fund two years ago, West said, the division still had to cut programs. That's because of declining revenues from one of its main sources of income, fees for disposal of hazardous waste at the state-approved site near Arlington in north central Oregon. "The money for the entire cleanup program comes from the fee on disposal of hazardous waste," West said. "During the last legislative session, we realized there was a shortfall of $4.5 million compared to what we had budgeted." The spill-response program was not the first to go. DEQ eliminated a program for cleanup of home heating-oil tanks, increased its charges for oversight of cleanups, and delayed a bond sale that raised money for cleanup of "orphan sites" -- contaminated areas whose owners are unknown or unable or unwilling to pay for cleanup work. "But when we were done, we were still about three positions short of what our previous budget had been," West said. "After looking at all our options, we decided that the spill-response program was the place to take that cut. "We recognized that in case of an emergency, we would have to divert resources from elsewhere. This would mean there would be more spills in which we would not be involved. "I can tell you we have virtually nobody in reserve for anything else in the state right now." The first response to spills normally is from county hazardous materials ("hazmat") teams; DEQ provides technical assistance and oversight. To help with the problems created by the breakup of the New Carissa near Coos Bay, DEQ turned to the Washington Department of Ecology. Washington state has refineries and tanker traffic through Puget Sound, and its environmental agency has maintained an oil spill-research program. Oregon has no refineries, and Coos Bay is its only deep-water port. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA