Oil and water

A quiet but intense debate between the state and the Coast Guard over what business, if any, the state has in enforcing safety standards for oil tankers in Maine waters has ended up on the governor’s desk. He has the difficult task of calming federal officals who prefer to see Maine back away while he also makes sure the state retains its authority for inspecting the tankers.

The Coast Guard and tanker owners make the legitimate argument that state statutes on tankers interfere with international trade agreements and have the potential of further complicating an already intricate regulatory system. The Maine Department of Environmental Protection counters with the equally legitimate observation that it is responsible for protecting the Maine coastal environment and, respecting the Coast Guard as the first line of safety, must have the option of stepping in when necessary. The federal Oil Pollution Act of 1990, under the urging of the Sen. George Mitchell, gave states the right to adopt their own oil-pollution laws to meet local conditions.

Neither side is the villain here; both are protecting their assigned interests. The Coast Guard believes it has ample authority to oversee and control potential pollution problems and views the state interest as unnecessary interference. To make its case, Maine officials must show that they can accommodate the concerns of the Coast Guard while carrying out their jobs. Fortunately, Maine has a track record of cooperation that should calm the waters between the state and the feds.

Some of the regulations that tanker owners and the Coast Guard object to have been on Maine’s books for 25 years without — so far as anyone knows — causing an international incident. Maine now proposes to update its authority to mirror federal safety regulations, but there is no reason to assume the state will be any less reasonable under the new regulations. If anything, the lengthy discussions around the proposed rules have given Maine an even better appreciation of Coast Guard concerns about jurisdiction.

The talks in Maine are further complicated by a lawsuit initiated by the Department of Justice against the state of Washington, which also demanded a right to assert its authority on tankers. The decision in that case should give Maine a pretty good idea of how far it can push its rights.

In the meantime, Gov. Angus King has an opportunity to keep Maine out of the courts by persuading Coast Guard officials that, far from being a redundant nuisance, the state has helped improve and streamline regulations and has done so in the least intrusive way possible. Its judicious use of these enforcement tools would allow the Coast Guard to act unimpeded while reserving for Maine the right to step in if some egregious breach of regulations were to occur.

That’s a compromise both sides should be able to live with.