This bill amends RCW 88.16.190 to impose navigation and escort requirements for oil tankers, articulated tug barges, and towed waterborne vessels or barges operating in specified Washington waters. It prohibits oil tankers greater than 125,000 deadweight tons from proceeding beyond a line from Discovery Island light south to New Dungeness light unless authorized by the U.S. Coast Guard under 33 C.F.R. Sec. 165.1303. It requires oil tankers of 40,000 to 125,000 deadweight tons to be under escort by tug(s) whose aggregate shaft horsepower is at least 3,000 or five percent of the tanker’s deadweight tons, whichever is greater, when operating east of the Discovery Island–New Dungeness line and in Puget Sound area waters. Effective September 1, 2020, the bill requires operation in Rosario Strait and connected waterways eastward of oil tankers between 5,000 and 40,000 deadweight tons and of articulated tug barges and towed vessels that transport oil in bulk internal to the hull and are greater than 5,000 deadweight tons only if under escort by tug(s) with aggregate shaft horsepower equal to at least five percent of the deadweight tons of a 40,000 deadweight ton oil tanker. Exemptions include vessels providing bunkering or refueling services and towed general cargo deck barges, and the board of pilotage commissioners may adjust or suspend the escort requirement by rule under RCW 88.16.260(1)(c). The bill also states that vessels in ballast or unladen are not required to be under escort and exempts tankers assigned a deadweight under 40,000 at construction or reconstruction as reported in Lloyd’s Register of Ships from RCW 88.16.170 and 88.16.180. Definitions for terms such as “articulated tug barge,” “oil tanker,” “towed general cargo deck barge,” and “waterborne vessel or barge” are included. This is a regulatory change to existing law establishing operational and escort requirements and rulemaking authority; it does not, in the extracted text, create a new crime or change criminal penalties. The extracted facts do not provide an overall effective date for the act beyond the September 1, 2020 date for the specified subsection, nor do they include precise geographic coordinates or a map for the referenced Discovery Island–New Dungeness line.

If enacted, the law would force many oil tankers and certain tank barges that operate east of a line running between Discovery Island and New Dungeness and in Puget Sound and Rosario Strait to travel with more or stronger escort tugs, and it would prevent tankers larger than 125,000 deadweight tons from proceeding past that line without U.S. Coast Guard authorization. That change will most likely raise operating costs and complicate scheduling for tanker and tug operators because owners will need to secure higher‑horsepower tug capacity or additional tugs for affected voyages; vessels in ballast, bunkering/refueling vessels, and some cargo barges are exempt, and the pilotage board can adjust or suspend escort rules in certain cases. The groups directly affected are tanker and tug operators (who face higher tuging costs, potential route restrictions, and logistical changes), the board of pilotage commissioners (which must set or modify escort rules), and the U.S. Coast Guard (which controls access for the largest tankers); Lloyd’s Register entries will determine some exemption eligibility. The text provided leaves out the act’s overall effective date and precise geographic coordinates for the referenced line, so the exact timing and locations of these requirements are unclear.