MARCH 17, 2015
Crews are working to remove remnants of a Delaware River oil
spill from Battery Park in New Castle, a week after a cargo ship dumped about
100 gallons into the waterway. An environmental group warned Monday of the
potential for devastating effects from repeated exposure to such smaller
spills.
The oil was from the barge Wild Cosmos March 9 at the Port
of Wilmington, Coast Guard officials said. The ship apparently was refilling
but overflowed capacity, with 400-500 gallons spilled on the deck and about two
barrels' worth going into the river.
Tar balls have been found on the coast of Salem County, New
Jersey. Oil has been detected on about 1,500 feet of shore in New Castle.
Workers spent Monday raking oil from the shoreline and
removing oil-soaked debris that has been washing ashore. As news spread that
the spill fouled the coast of New Castle's signature park, residents have grown
concerned, City Administrator William J. Barthel said.
"Anytime you have an event like this, it could be
catastrophic, so obviously it's very disconcerting to everybody," he said.
Environmental officials told the city that the cleanup at
the park – owned by the city and administered by the nonprofit Trustees of New
Castle Common, which is separate from city government – is expected to last
about six more days, Barthel said. That timetable depends on tides and other
variables. City officials are optimistic the cleaning will be done in a week.
Oil has washed up north of the park and as far south as
Gambacorta Dike, he said. The spill created a quarter-mile sheen on the river,
with booms placed to contain the spill and absorbent material was placed in the
river to help remove the oil.
The incident is under investigation.
Barthel praised the quick responses of state Sen. Nicole
Poore, who was alerted by city officials and got the Department of Natural Resources
and Environmental Control to respond immediately to the city shoreline.
"We're glad DNREC reacted as quickly as they did and
really responded in a timely manner," he said.
DNREC's Emergency Response Team and the U.S. Coast Guard
continue to oversee the cleanup by environmental contractors. A no-wake zone
was established in the area, to last for the duration of clean-up efforts.
Authorities have decided to let the relatively small amount
of oil that remains in the water – initially in a quarter-mile sheen –
dissipate naturally, said Coast Guard Petty Officer Cindy Oldham.
Environmental crews worked last week picking up tar balls
along the shore of Salem County, New Jersey. Pennsville police Chief Allen
Cummings said the area of oily wash-up runs from Fort Mott to the Riverview
Beach Park.
Officials have no estimate of the costs involved. Those
responsible for the spill are expected to be held responsible for expenses from
the clean-up work, Oldham said. No damage to wildlife has been detected.
The Delaware River's largest oil spill was in 1985, when the
tanker Grand Eagle ran aground off Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania, spilling 435,000
gallons, killing uncounted waterfowl and shore animals.
In 1989, the merchant oil tanker Presidente Rivera spilled
250,000 gallons after running aground near Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania, oiling 29
miles of shoreline in Delaware, Maryland and Pennsylvania. Five years later, a
self-propelled barge leaked up to 300 barrels of oil after hitting a submerged
object while en route to a refinery in Paulsboro, New Jersey.
In early 2000, a Sunoco pipeline under the eastern end of
the John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge at Tinicum, Pennsylvania, was found to
have leaked 192,000 gallons of oil into refuge marsh and waters.
Oil sits on top of water along the shoreline of Battery Park
in New Castle from last week's oil spill. (Photo: JENNIFER CORBETT/THE
NEWS JOURNAL)
On Nov. 26, 2004, the tanker Athos I hit a submerged anchor
in the Delaware River while approaching an asphalt refinery in Paulsboro, New
Jersey. Oil from the Athos I eventually spread across a combined 115 miles of
shoreline from northeast Philadelphia to the Smyrna River along Delaware Bay
northeast of Smyrna.
Jennifer Adkins, who leads the environmental group
Partnership for the Delaware Estuary, said her organization's scientists have
concerns about small spills as well as larger ones, and about the combined
consequence of oil releases of all sizes across the Delaware's
13,000-square-mile watershed.
"One of the things we've pointed out a couple of times,
at least since I was executive director, is that we don't have a great way to
look at the impacts of the many smaller kinds of spills that happen on the
Delaware," Adkins said.
In 2010, Partnership researchers called for a closer,
regular look at the cumulative effects of all spills, along with establishment
of a program to fund routine monitoring and environmental remedies for oil
spill effects.
Sheens are reported and tracked every year along the
Delaware, according to the Coast Guard's National Response Center. But the
sources of some spills remain mysteries.
Environmental workers clean the shoreline Monday at Battery
Park in New Castle, where oil has come ashore from a spill off a ship at the
Port of Wilmington. Tar balls also have been found on the coast of Salem
County, New Jersey. (Photo: JENNIFER CORBETT/THE NEWS JOURNAL)
Major Delaware River oil spills of past 20 years
November 2004 A single-hulled Greek oil tanker, the Athos I,
twice struck a rusting ship's anchor as it prepared to dock at the Citgo
Asphalt Refinery near Paulsboro, New Jersey. Heavy crude oil was dumped into
the water across the river from the Philadelphia International Airport.
June 1989 Uruguayan tanker Presidente Rivera prematurely
dropped anchor. The out-of-control tanker grounded off Claymont, spilling
300,000 gallons of heating oil.
September 1986 The Viking Osprey, registered in Singapore,
ran against a rocky underwater ledge near Marcus Hook. A ruptured holding tank
released 295,00 gallons of crude oil.
March 1986 Liberian tanker Inter Mar Alliance rammed a pier
at the BP Oil Co. refinery, near Marcus Hook, spilling 189,000 gallons of oil.
September 1985 The Panamanian tanker Grand Eagle spilled
more than 435,000 gallons of crude oil, polluting a 12-mile stretch of the
river. The 791-foot tanker hit a rocky shoal off Claymont.
Source:http://www.delawareonline.com