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Mystery Spill, Florence

NOAA was notified of this incident on July 18, 1999, by MSO Portland who requested the SSC
to report on-scene.  NOAA provided assistance with weather, SCAT surveys, and "How Clean
Is Clean".  On July 22, cleanup efforts continued to remove sporadic patches of small
tarballs from the upper tidal zone of several beaches along the Oregon coast between the
Siuslaw River and Baker Beach, and just north of Coos Bay.  The SSC met with the FOSC
representative and conducted a brief beach survey of the impacted area at Baker Beach.
Only trace amounts of very small tarballs remained and these were too small to be removed
manually  The physical characteristics of these tarballs suggests that they are by no
means "fresh" they are the consistency of taffy, covered with sand, and do not sheen when
wet.   Samples have been sent to the COIL to determine the oil's origin.  Results should
be available sometime Friday, July 23.  The SSC surveyed the plover habitat sections of
Baker Beach with several trustee agency reps (including Oregon Department of Fish and
Wildlife (ODFW), USFWS, and US Forest Service) to determine if the beaches were ready for
a visit from a beach signoff team.  Of the shoreline surveyed one section, south of Holman
Vista, that had been missed during the contractors first efforts was in need of some
removal action.  On July 23, 1999, members from the PST arrived and set up three SCAT
surveys, each including an ODFW biologist to conduct thorough assessments of shoreline
oiling from Heceta Head down to Port Orford.  Up to this point, beach oiling reports were
concentrated near the seven plover habits along the coast and the degree of tarball impact
in between these areas was not known. There were three areas identified for further
cleanup.  The proximity of these impacted areas to plover nesting grounds has narrowed the
criteria for acceptable concentrations of tarballs, and cleanup efforts are scheduled for
July 24 to reduce the concentration further in these three areas.  Cleanup crews were sent
to the areas identified in yesterday's SCAT survey.  Cleanup was completed by midday of
the 1/4 mile Baker Beach area.  No cleanup was done at Siltcoos River, however, as no
plover biologists were available to accompany the cleanup team.  Cleanup continued at the
Bullards State Park area all day.  The crew in this area also began removal at Bandon Park
and at nearby Face Rock where more patches of trace tarballs were found this morning.
Results from tarball samples analyzed at COIL indicate that the oil at Sutton Beach
matches that from Baker Beach, and that neither were a match with oil from the M/V New
Carissa.  The FOSC relocated to Coos Bay to focus the remaining cleanup efforts in the
Bandon area.  The SSC and the PST members were released July 23.  NOAA remains on standby
with support for any further issues that arise through the weekend. NOAA supported this
effort on-scene for 5 days.