A ship or boat can have no means to go anywhere, no steering or no seating and still not fit into the definition of abandoned or derelict vessel in Oregon.

A vessel can be sunk and deteriorating for years and the state of Oregon still has a requirement that the state attempt to notice the owner and store it.

These are just some of the reasons why the Legislature is looking at changing the law for abandoned and derelict vessels in Oregon waterways with Senate Bill 795.

The state has been dealing with hundreds of them. They can be leaking fuel and other chemicals into the water. They can present hazards to boaters and swimmers.

Consider just one such vessel, the FV Tiffany. It was an 86-foot fishing vessel abandoned in the Columbia River. It was leaking fuel in 2001 and was patched. It began leaking again in 2021. The vessel was tested and was found to contain lead and PCBs. At one time, it even had a meth lab. The state was stuck with the cost of the clean up to the tune of $1.4 million.

Some vessels cost more than that to clean up. Any delay in clean up is another day when one of the hazards the vessels present has another chance to be hazardous.

The bill passed the Oregon Senate easily enough. It should do the same in the Oregon House.