Episode notes
That tug trailing the tanker down Rosario Strait isn't being polite. It's a legal requirement measured in shaft horsepower, and the number of hulls you count tells you something specific about what's in the tanks. This episode traces a rule Washington has spent fifty years writing, from the 1975 tonnage threshold through the 2019 law named after the Southern Resident killer whales, to the permanent rules that took effect in December 2025. Along the way: why an empty barge needs no escort, why 43 percent of laden barge transits were carved out by an interpretive statement, and why a barge of canola oil is legally an oil barge.
Go look at: the next laden vessel outbound from March Point. Count hulls, and note the ones running without an escort — the absence tells you either she's empty or she's exempt.