Greek tanker spills crude
PHILADELPHIA – A Greek-owned tanker spilled 30,000 gallons of crude oil into the Delaware River at Paulsboro, N.J., spreading a plume of sludge that extended 20 miles from Tinicum Island to the Tacony-Palmyra Bridge Saturday.
The Cyprus-flagged vessel, the Athos I, bound for the Citgo refinery in Paulsboro, sprang a leak that lasted about an hour Friday night. Investigators said they did not know the cause.
About 300 oil-slicked birds were rescued, and 50 were found dead on the banks of the river Saturday. In addition, two snapping turtles washed up dead, said Dede Manera, special agent with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
The worst spill on the Delaware in nine years, the Athos I spill does not compare to that from the Exxon Valdez, which dumped nearly 11 million gallons of crude off the coast of Alaska in 1989 in the worst spill in U.S. history.
By Saturday night, tidal currents had taken the spill northward toward Philadelphia, Coast Guard Petty Officer John Edwards said. He said officials of the Coast Guard, which is coordinating the cleanup, hope that barriers placed around the spill will contain it regardless of any shifts in wind, current and tidal flow on the river. If not, more barriers will go up today.
Concentrations in some areas appeared as thick as asphalt. More than 10,000 feet of barriers were set up along the river and at 12 creeks, including the Mantua and Woodbury Creeks in New Jersey and the Darby Creek in Pennsylvania, which feeds the John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge at Tinicum.
“The damage was not as bad as it might have been,” acting New Jersey Gov. Richard J. Codey said at a news conference Saturday.
A prompt response by the crew, the Coast Guard, and agencies on both sides of the river limited the harm, he said.
A 10-mile shipping lane between the Commodore Barry and Walt Whitman Bridges was closed Friday night and is expected to reopen Tuesday, said Coast Guard Capt. Jonathan Sarubbi, who is directing the cleanup and investigation. Until then, ships with destinations in that span will have to queue up and wait.
The operator of a tugboat noticed the leak about 9:15 p.m. Friday as he was guiding the 750-foot Athos I to its dock in Paulsboro, Sarubbi said. The ship, carrying 325,000 barrels, or nearly 14 million gallons, of oil, then tilted eight degrees to the left and lost power.
A stench hung over the riverbank in Paulsboro Saturday afternoon as the tanker sat, black smoke wafting from its top, a few hundred feet from shore. A portion of the hull of the ship, tipped on its port side, was visible above water.
The spill has not threatened drinking water, said David M. Sanko, director of the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency.
Cleanup should take two to three months, with residual work continuing for about six months, Codey said.
“We just don’t want the river cleaned,” he said. “We want it fully restored.”
Investigators were trying to determine why the hull of the vessel, owned by Tsakos Shipping & Trading in Athens, Greece, ruptured. Divers spent much of Saturday examining the hull for clues.
“We don’t know what happened,” said Michael Hanson, a spokesman for Tsakos. He said the ship had had no major incidents. It hauls cargo all over the world but infrequently along the Delaware, he said. Because of that, the ship had a pilot on board who was experienced in navigating the river.
“Tsakos regrets this incident and is doing everything possible to clean it up,” Hanson said.
More than 100 workers aided two dozen crew members Saturday night, including some from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Resources and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has set up a staging area at the Heinz Refuge to process dead and injured birds, which are being rescued by workers with the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, Pennsylvania Game Commission, and Tri-State Bird Rescue and Research in Newark, Del.