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Case: Cold Spring
Harbor Barge, NJ
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Date of incident: March 24, 2004.
Location: Sewaren, New Jersey.
Trustees:
Case status: Settled.
Overview: The barge Cold Spring Harbor, being towed by
the tug Delta, collided with a pier on the Arthur Kill waterway on the
night of March 24, 2005, while departing the Motiva Sewaren facility in
Sewaren, New Jersey. The barge was loaded with 966,000 gallons of No. 2 diesel
fuel; the damaged tank held approximately 99,000 gallons of the total amount.
Following the collision, the tug boat crew observed oil in the water and the
tug and barge immediately returned to the Motiva Sewaren facility where the
vessels were secured, a boom was deployed, and the remaining fuel oil was
offloaded. The United States Coast Guard estimated that 13,000 gallons spilled
into the Arthur Kill. Approximately 10,000 gallons of oil/water mix was quickly
collected from within the containment boom.
On Friday, March 25th the Coast Guard conducted an overflight and observed a
four-mile-long sheen in the Arthur Kill, which evaporated and dissipated within
the following 24 hours. Smith Creek and Woodbridge Creek on the New Jersey side
of the Arthur Kill were boomed, as was Mill Creek on Staten Island. There were
no reports of oil observed inside any of the three creeks or along the
shorelines.
The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection served as the Lead
Administrative Trustee on the case, with NOAA providing technical, legal, and
administrative support.
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