STORM2K

LINK:
http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/11/27/oilspi ... index.html

Ship spills 30,000 gallons of oil near Philadelphia
U.S. Coast Guard helping in Delaware River clean-up

Saturday, November 27, 2004 Posted: 2:11 PM EST (1911 GMT)


The Cyprus-flagged Athos I began leaking Friday night.



(CNN) -- The U.S. Coast Guard was helping to clean up an oil spill in the Delaware River near Philadelphia Saturday, one day after after a ship leaked an estimated 30,000 gallons (113,560 liters) of crude into the waterway, according to a Coast Guard spokesman.

The Cyprus-flagged vessel Athos 1 was carrying about 325,000 gallons of oil.

The spill was contained as of about noon ET Saturday and assessment teams were working to determine the extent of any environmental damage, Coast Guard spokesman Patrick Montgomery told CNN. "We take any amount of oil in our waterways very seriously."

The vessel first called the Coast Guard about 9:15 p.m. Friday to report the leak.

"When they were pulling into the Citgo facility in Paulsboro, New Jersey, they were at an eight-degree list, which means the vessel was leaning a bit," Petty Officer John Edwards told Philadelphia's WPVI-TV. "They noticed product in the water and that's when they noticed they had a problem."

Paulsboro is just across the river from Philadelphia. A portion of the river, from the Walt Whitman Bridge to the Commodore Barry Bridge, was closed.

The Coast Guard has hired several environmental contractors to help clean up the spill. In addition, Edwards said it was "actively skimming the water" to separate it from the oil. There was no estimate on how long the cleanup might take.

"Environmental protection is the Coast Guard's long-standing mission, and we're out there with these other groups getting this cleaned up as quickly and effectively as possible," he said.

The vessel was anchored at a creek. The cause of the leak remained under investigation Saturday.

That has got to suck. I hope it does not kill to many animals.

Very Sad

With all the history, all the technology, all the experience, and all the attention, 'ya gotta wonder when these types of "accidents?" will no longer take place on our waterways. There's got to be a better way of making these ships more fool-proof. Or, maybe I'm over-reacting... I suppose in reality, millions (billions?) of gallons get transferred every year. Comparing 30K gallons in that regard is pretty small unless - I suppose - it happens in your neighborhood.

Ixolib wrote:With all the history, all the technology, all the experience, and all the attention, 'ya gotta wonder when these types of "accidents?" will no longer take place on our waterways. There's got to be a better way of making these ships more fool-proof. Or, maybe I'm over-reacting... I suppose in reality, millions (billions?) of gallons get transferred every year. Comparing 30K gallons in that regard is pretty small unless - I suppose - it happens in your neighborhood.

Yeah. I guess the hulls just need to be built thicker and need to have a schedule of replacements and evaluations. As if they didnt have enough already.

Oh well... very sad. The real question is how will we stop this from happening in the future.

The pictures of the Canadian geese and ducks that were covered in the oil broke my heart!! There are alot of animal rescue organizations trying to help as many as possible, but there were some that they showed that were too far gone and would be dead in a few hours.

Sad!

Stephanie wrote:The pictures of the Canadian geese and ducks that were covered in the oil broke my heart!! There are alot of animal rescue organizations trying to help as many as possible, but there were some that they showed that were too far gone and would be dead in a few hours.

I saw that on the news as well, very sad!!!

breaks dudes heart.....dude loves animals

Poor animals