Work to remove an abandoned dredging vessel, which leaked more than 500 gallons of oil in the North Sound earlier this year, is wrapping up, according to Department of Environment officials.
“As they go ahead and salvage the dredger by cutting it up and removing it, there should be no further impact to Cayman waters,” said Scott Slaybaugh, deputy director of operations and enforcement at the DoE.
Construction crews removed the partially submerged vessel from the North Sound and towed it to a secure sealed-off location on the shore on Friday.
“The best solution seemed to be to excavate a notch into the existing bay that the dredger could be floated into,” Mr. Slaybaugh explained. Crews then backfilled the seaward edge of the notch to keep the oil and dredger encapsulated, he said.
Since May, when the first oil spill occurred, several hundred gallons of oil have been recovered from the water and placed in a contaminant boom, which is a temporary floating barrier used to contain an oil spill, said Mr. Slaybaugh.
DoE officials were determined to get the vessel secured and out of the water since there were further environmental threats looming.
“We were concerned in the stormy season that the whole thing could have slipped off into deep water and become submerged, and then recovery would have been a much greater problem,” said Mr. Slaybaugh.
No fines or sanctions for the oil spill were going to be carried out as the “dredger belonged to one party, the property belonged to someone else, and they decided they would share the responsibility for solving the issue,” said Mr. Slaybaugh.
DoE officials say they are pleased with the results of the excavation, and that the work was done without any further oil spillage. They said no evidence was found of any wildlife being affected by the oil spill.
The next two stages of the excavation project will include cleaning the shoreline to remove any contaminated soil and relocating the contaminated soil to an environmental remediation site.
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Not a word about the obvious question – who abandoned the dredger?. Have enquiries been made to see if the substantial remedial costs can be recovered?.
First Oil leaked in May?…That’s funny I reported this was leaking Diesel oil to the DOE 30th of October 2011! So bad in fact that you couldn’t breath near the barge for the fumes. I know the date because I did a photoshoot next to the barge and my photos are timestamped.