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Oil sheen found from partially submerged tugboat “Tagish” in Alaska

09 Feb 2023

The US Coast Guard on Wednesday (8 February) said a tug vessel, Tagish, was partially submerged with an observed oil sheen at the National Guard Dock in vicinity of the Alaska Marine Lines yard in Gastineau Channel.

It said the Juneau Sector received a report of the incident on 29 December 2022. 

The US Coast Guard said removal operations for the tugboat are scheduled, weather pending, to be conducted later this week and into the weekend.

Melino’s Marine Services, the contracted salvage company, plans to remove the vessel utilising a barge and crane system that are currently enroute from Bellingham, Washington.

The operation is expected to take multiple days pending weather conditions. Once the vessel is removed, it will be transferred via barge to an out-of-state disposal site.

Personnel from the Coast Guard, City and Borough of Juneau, Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation, and Melino’s Marine Services were involved in response efforts.

A containment boom was placed around the vessel to contain any residual oil or pollution. Melino’s Marine Services utilised divers to plug any holding tank vents to further secure the vessel from pollution discharge.

“This interagency collaboration highlights the importance of our federal, state and local partners in mitigating and removing pollution threats from our waterways,” said Capt. Darwin Jensen, commanding officer, Sector Juneau. “These relationships have been instrumental to the success of this planning effort.”

On Jan. 9, the Coast Guard federalised the response effort utilising money from the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund to secure funding for the removal of the pollution threat.

The vessel owner will remain responsible for the salvage disposal fees.

 

Photo credit: US Coast Guard
Published: 9 February, 2023

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