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The clean, slate-gray decks of the ship show no trace of the thousands of gallons of oil crews have been battling for the last three weeks.
It’s been three weeks since the Del River has been in port in Lewes. Since Nov. 26, the crew of the Del River, a 166-foot oil spill recovery vessel, has been on board, setting out booms, skimming the surface oil and protecting the environment from the oil spill.
While the exact amount of oil spilled in to the Delaware river by the tanker Athos1 is not yet known, officials estimate the amount is between 30,000 and 400,000 gallons.
The Del River, the Del Bay and the other boats of the Delaware Bay and River Cooperative, Inc. (DRBC), have been on the front lines of the oil spill. Overall, the crews working on those boats recovered about 12,000 gallons of oil.
The crews say they have recovered the surface oil, the rest having either sunk or washed up on the banks.
“A lot of product sank,” said Gene Johnson, president of DBRC.
The crews arrived back in Lewes Dec. 16. For the past three weeks, they have been in rotating shifts of 6 hours on, 6 hours off. “I would say the crew did excellent,” said Gene Johnson, president of DBRC. “They got quite a bit of oil that was recoverable.”
In fact, crews working on the DRBC’s seven boats recovered nearly 12,000 gallons of oil. In addition, they deployed miles of booms that stopped the surface oil from contaminating vital creeks and wetlands.
At Pea Patch Island, DRBC crews used 28,100 feet of boom to circle the entire the island. “We were successful in keeping the oil from those areas,” Johnson said.
The boats, the booms and crews work for DRBC, Inc., which is funded by Citgo, Sunoco, and all the refineries in the Delaware River, as well as the large power stations in the area.
Overseeing the operation was Marine Supervisor Gardner Knight.
“On the night of the spill we got underway at 3 a.m., and we were on scene at 10 a.m,” Knight said. A crew of six was on the Del River and Del Bay boats, and the relief crews met the boats at the destination.
“We always keep a crew here, 24 hours a day,” Knight said. “The relief crews have to be ready within three hours.”
The 166-foot Del River has a crew of four and the 68-foot Del Bay has a crew of two. However, the boats will often take on extra crewmembers if the spill is large enough.
“When we fight a spill like this, time is the key,” Knight said. “Some oil will sink, and once the wind and weather starts moving the surface oil, it becomes harder for us to contain it. We want to get it before it gets to the beach,” he said.
To prepare for spills, the crew trains on how to deploy the booms, skim oil from the surface of the water, and how to get underway fast.
“Our goal is to get underway within 15 minutes of being called,” Knight said. “They can do it.”
While 15 minutes might seem like leisurely pace to some, to others, it is a phenomenal accomplishment. “I would say 15 minutes is pretty fast,” said Coast Guard Petty Officer Third Class Nathan Lutz, who recently completed a tour of duty on a 270-foot cutter. “I know the 270 [-foot cutter] would take about an hour, hour and a half to get underway, and that’s with a crew of 100.”
Gary Patterson, executive director of Delaware Petroleum Council said the DRBC crews were vital in minimizing the oil spill’s impact. “I am very proud of the work they did on the water,” he said.
Knight said since the crew has never handled a spill this big, that cleaning it up presented some challenges. “They came together. You know, anybody can come up with problems, but they came up with answers. Any time we had a problem, the guys were right on top of it.”
John Hughes, secretary of Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control said he is pleased with the job of the DBRC crews. “They were quick,” he said. “One of the most important things they did was create a clean channel for other shipping traffic. That way we didn’t have to worry about recontamination from passing ships. They did a great job. They put in endless hours. They’ve got to be a tired bunch of people right now.”
Tar Balls Spotted in Delaware Bay
Hughes said isolated tar balls have been spotted as far south as Cedar Swamp, which is northeast of Smyrna.
He said officials still do not know how much oil was spilled. “We’re real sure it was a heck of lot more than 30,000 gallons, but we don’t know what the final number is yet.”
Hughes said for now, the work of the DRBC crews is done, but that might change if the oil re-appears after the water warms up in the Spring. “Then we’ll call the Del River again,” he said.
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