Date of incident: November 26, 2004.
Location:
Delaware River (near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania).
Trustees:
Case status: Draft Damage Assessment and Restoration Plan and
Environmental Assessment (Draft DARP/EA) out for public comment.
Overview of the spill and restoration planning: On 26 November 2004, the M/T ATHOS I (Athos) struck
a large, submerged anchor while preparing to dock at a refinery in Paulsboro,
New Jersey. The anchor punctured the vessel’s bottom, resulting in the
discharge of nearly 265,000 gallons of crude oil into the Delaware River and
nearby tributaries.
See Map of the approximate location of the Athos oil
spill incident on the Delaware River.
Federal, state, and local agencies responded to the incident to supervise and
assist in clean-up and begin assessing the impact of the spill on natural
resources. The U.S. Coast Guard (USCG), working with the states of New Jersey
and Delaware, and Commonwealth of Pennsylvania created a Unified Command for
directing clean-up efforts. NOAA, FWS, and natural resource agencies
within Delaware, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania (collectively referred to as the
natural resource trustees) began collecting “preassessment” data on the
natural and recreational resources injured by the spill. This data provided the
basis for crafting the proposed restoration alternatives considered by the
co-trustees. Further, the collection of these data allowed the trustees to meet
their legal requirement (see below) to prepare a natural resource damage
assessment (NRDA) under the Oil Pollution Act (OPA).
See Preassessment Data Report,
Appendix a, b, and c;
Appendix d and e; Appendix
f and g; Appendix
h and i.
The Athos is a 750-foot, single bottom, double-sided tanker that was built in 1983. At the time of
the incident, the vessel was registered under the flag of Cyprus, owned by
Frescati Shipping Company, Ltd., and operated by Tsakos Shipping & Trading,
S.A.
The Athos departed Venezuela for the Citgo Asphalt Refinery in
Paulsboro, New Jersey on 20 November 2004, carrying approximately 13 million
gallons of crude oil. At approximately 9:30 pm on 26 November 2004, tug
operators assisting the Athos with docking at the refinery notified the
USCG that the tanker was leaking oil into the Delaware River. The vessel had
struck several submerged objects while maneuvering through Anchorage #9 to its
berth. Within minutes, the ship lost power and listed onto its side.
Surveys of the river bottom following the incident found several submerged
objects in the area, including an 18,000 pound anchor. The USCG’s investigation
of the incident determined that the anchor punctured the vessel’s number seven
center cargo and port ballast tanks. The bulkhead between the cargo and ballast
tanks was also damaged, allowing oil to migrate into the river.
The Unified Command initially estimated that 30,000 gallons of oil spilled into the River. This estimate was
revised to 473,500 gallons based on “worst-case” assumptions once the vessel
was stabilized. Following a more comprehensive analysis, the USCG provided a
final estimate of 264,335 gallons that spilled into the Delaware River.
At the time of the incident, the tide was incoming, and the current was moving quickly. Within the first few
hours, thick oil covered the River and moved upriver with the flood tide to
about the Walt Whitman Bridge, approximately six miles north. Over the
following weeks and months, oil from the ruptured tanker also spread
downriver, exposing natural resources over 115 river miles of the Delaware
River (280 miles of shoreline), as well as its tributaries. Over time, the oil
spill extended from the Tacony-Palmyra Bridge to south of the Smyrna River in
Delaware. Key resources exposed to the spilled oil included shorelines
(marshes, sandy beaches, tidal flats, etc.), aquatic organisms (fish,
shellfish, etc.), birds and other wildlife that use the Delaware River and Bay,
as well as recreational areas used by the public. The incident also forced the
USCG to close the Delaware River to commercial traffic for over a week.
Meanwhile, submerged oil resulted in the contamination of water intakes
and the closure of the nearby Salem Nuclear Power Plant.
Findings from the trustees' assessment indicated injuries to shorelines (e.g., wetlands, beaches,
etc.), tributaries, birds, aquatic habitats, and recreational uses. Based
on these findings, the trustees developed several alternative restoration
projects, both ecological and recreational, to address these losses. These
alternatives were then narrowed down to nine preferred projects.
Preferred restoration projects (to see more details, please see the Restoration
Activities page):
-
Freshwater tidal wetlands restoration at John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge
(PA)
-
Creation of oyster reefs (NJ, DE)
-
Darby Creek dam removal and habitat restoration (PA)
-
Habitat restoration at Mad Horse Creek (NJ)
-
Shoreline restoration at Lardner's Point (PA)
-
Blackbird Reserve Wildlife Area Pond and Pasture Enhancement (DE)
-
Improvement of the Stow Creek boat ramp (NJ)
-
Installation of a breakwater at Augustine Boat Ramp to address ongoing shoaling
immediately offshore of the boat ramp (DE)
-
Enhancement of the recreational trail on Little Tinicum Island (PA)
These proposed projects are outlined in the trustees' Draft Damage
Assessment and Restoration Plan and Environmental Assessment (DARRP/EA),
which is presently being made available for public comment. The DARP/EA
outlines the findings from the trustees' injury assessment studies, which
indicated injuries to shorelines (e.g., wetlands, beaches, etc.), tributaries,
birds and wildlife, aquatic, and recreational uses. The document then outlines
the trustees' preferred restoration projects to
address these losses.
Legal requirements: Under the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA) (33 U.S.C. §2706(b)), state and federal
agencies are designated as natural resource trustees, responsible for assessing
natural resource losses and restoring those losses to baseline conditions, that
is, the conditions that would have existed had the incident not occurred.
Regulations promulgated under OPA provide a framework for conducting a damage
assessment, including preassessment, restoration planning, and restoration
implementation (15 C.F.R. Part 990). Funds to assess losses and to plan and
implement appropriate restoration are provided by either the responsible party
(RP) or, if an RP does not exist or exceeds its limit of liability, the Oil
Spill Liability Trust Fund established under OPA.
In this case, the RP met its limit of liability and the trustees will be submitting a claim to the Trust
Fund via the National Pollution Fund Center.
