Oil spill clean up a success
Staff Report
It took about 10 days, 550 man hours and $330,000 but the Coast Guard led clean-up effort, which followed an oil spill in the Charleston Harbor, was completed on October 30.
Laboratory tests and witness accounts led investigators to believe the John F, a 600 foot cargo ship, was responsible for the oil
Staff photo. Tar balls and oil, like the one pictured above on Folly Beach, washed ashore area beaches from Sullivan’s Island all the way to Edisto as a result of an oil spill that occurred on October 19 in Charleston Harbor. While clean up efforts were successful, we’re unsure if the responsible party has been held accountable.
spill. The ship reported a 10 gallon oil spill on October 19 while trying to transfer heavy bunker fuel from a barge off Crab Bank in the harbor. Within the next few days, clumps of oil and “tar balls” began to appear on area beaches which included Sullivan’s Island and Folly Beach and stretched as far south as Edisto Island. Sullivan’s Island seemed to get more clumps of oil which were held together by sand. Folly Beach on the other hand saw a lot more tar balls. The balls were pitch black, malleable, sticky, shiny and ranged from pea-sized to slightly larger than a golf ball.
However, while the John F reported a 10 gallon oil spill, the huge area impacted by tar balls that washed up along area beaches is consistent with a spill that would have involved a few hundred gallons of oil according to a Coast Guard article that appeared on Military.com on November 11. The John F was still identified as the responsible party in that article, though.
The Coast Guard Charleston Sector led the investigation and clean-up efforts. Over 50 people cleaned and assessed approximately 60 miles of shoreline and came from the Coast Guard, South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control, the Department of Natural Resources as well as contractors from Moran Environmental Services. Over 2600 bags were used to collect sand and oil debris from the spill.
The Coast Guard was satisfied with the clean up effort and considered the job complete on October 30 after 10 days of work. The owner of the John F was notified of possible liability. The $330,000 cost was paid from a Coast Guard trust fund dedicated to oil spills.
As of our publication deadline, Lucky Dog Publishing had not received a reply from the Coast Guard Charleston Sector whether the John F had reimbursed any of the $330,000 or incurred any fines for the spill. We will update that part of the story at www.follycurrent.com if and when we receive a reply.
