MARINE SPILL RESPONSE CORPORATION (MSRC) AND CLEAN SOUND COOPERATIVE INC. ANNOUNCE PLANS TO MERGE IN 2005

January 20, 2005

The Marine Spill Response Corporation (MSRC) and Clean Sound Cooperative, Inc. announce plans to merge their operations with a target date of April 1, 2005. The merger is subject to final approval by the Boards of Directors of both organizations after completion of all due diligence. The merged organization will operate as part of MSRC's Pacific/Northwest Region, which includes Washington, Oregon and Hawaii and will continue to operate from its current regional office located in Everett, WA as well as its various operational sites. The merger combines the resources of MSRC's Washington, Hawaii, and Oregon operations with Clean Sound's resources located throughout Puget Sound into one locally operated organization, and provides access to MSRC's considerable additional West Coast and national resources in the event of a larger incident in Puget Sound.

Richard Wright, President of Clean Sound Cooperative, Inc. will become the MSRC Vice President for the Pacific/Northwest Region at the time of the merger. Mike LaTorre currently MSRC's Vice President for the Pacific/Northwest Region will be taking on a senior, multi-year assignment (on loan) to Oil Spill Response Limited (OSRL), an industry funded, United Kingdom based company with global oil spill response capabilities. Mike will manage all of OSRL's operations' personnel and activities out of its centralized Southampton, UK based facility.

MSRC, founded in 1990, is the largest dedicated standby oil spill response organization in the United States. It is a national not-for-profit response company which owns and operates a fleet of dedicated Oil Spill Response Vessels, ocean going barges, shallow water skimming systems, other response equipment and enhanced communications capabilities throughout the United States East, Gulf, and West Coasts, the U.S. Caribbean, the Hawaiian Islands and the Mid-continent region. MSRC is funded by the Marine Preservation Association (MPA), a member-supported, not-for-profit organization created in 1990 to assist the petroleum and energy-related industries by addressing problems caused by oil spills on water. An MPA member is eligible to enter into an Agreement with MSRC that provides direct, immediate access to MSRC resources.

Clean Sound Cooperative, Inc. is a not-for-profit company, established in 1971 by the oil industry for the purpose of responding effectively to marine oil spills in Washington State. Clean Sound has 30 plus oil spill response vessels of various sizes and 37 employees and is the largest local cooperative in the lower 48 states. Many of the Members of Clean Sound are also Members of MPA. The remaining members of Clean Sound will be eligible to become Members of MPA.

For more information on MSRC visit their web site at www.msrc.org or contact Judith Roos at (703) 326-5617. For more information on MPA visit their web site at www.mpaz.org or contact Robert Aldag at (480) 991-5500. For more information on Clean Sound visit their web site at www.cleansound.com or contact Richard Wright at (425) 304-1569.