Date of incident: February 13, 2006.
Location: Sewaren, New Jersey.
Water Body: Arthur Kill.
Trustees:
Case status: Restoration planning.
Overview: On February 13, 2006 approximately 14,364 gallons of
Dabo crude oil was discharged from a broken pipe during off-loading of the oil
from the T/B Energy 8001 barge to the Chevron facility. The oil entered the
adjacent Arthur Kill waterway where high winds dispersed some oil along the New
Jersey shoreline and to Mill Creek on Staten Island. A spill response plan was
initiated and Chevron, the U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency and New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection deployed
containment booms, skimmer vessels, sorbent material and vacuum trucks.
Approximately 8,500 gallons of oil-water mix were recovered.
On the New Jersey side of the waterway oil was generally limited to two areas:
the vegetated shoreline at Tufts Point and the Chevron dock area. On Staten
Island, the oiled shoreline extended from Port Mobil downstream to the area of
the Tottenville Marina. The heaviest oiling on the Staten Island side was found
in Mill Creek, located directly across the waterway from the Chevron spill
site. All New Jersey and Staten Island creeks were boomed by the day following
the spill and no oil was observed in any other creeks on Staten Island.
As of February 18, 2006 no free-floating, recoverable oil was observed on Arthur
Kill, although some sheening was observed in the area of the Chevron dock where
oil may have seeped from contaminated soils. High pressure power-washing was
conducted on hard surfaces, such as dock and piers, while low-pressure
flushing, sorbents, and manual removal of oil was conducted along vegetated and
other natural shorelines.
