Tar balls found on the sands on Riis Park beach caused by oil tanker spill

Gothamist

On Thursday, the Dublin Express spilled an unknown quantity of fuel from its 300,000 gallon tank into Arthur Kill waterway, thanks to a 15-square-inch hole in its hull. Watchstanders caught the leak while the ship was moored at the Global Marine New York Container Terminal off Staten Island; responders hauled the wounded vessel up onto a containment boom and temporarily closed down the port so they could skim the surrounding waters. As of Friday evening, the Coast Guard said it had sent "60 responders, 10 vessels, four skimmers, two vacuum trucks, two vacuum trailers for recovered oil product, and 15,000 feet of containment boom" to deal with the incident.


By Saturday, however, the Coast Guard had received reports of "oil sheen and tar balls" in the waters off of Coney Island and Long Island, from Norton Point to Atlantic Beach. The Coast Guard deployed flight crews to survey the situation from the air, along with its Shoreline Cleanup and Assessment Technique (SCAT) teams to investigate on the ground. They spotted a swath of tar balls about 400 feet long and 2 feet wide on Jacob Riis beach in the Rockaways on Sunday, and today, Unified Command will send out "crews proficient in the cleanup of tar balls" to tackle the infestation once "the tide is favorable," according to a news release.

Army Corps to clean up Fort Totten spot

From the Queens Chronicle:

The U.S. Coast Guard doesn’t use its 9.6 acres at Fort Totten anymore, but the government will be cleaning it up.

Gregory Goepfert, project manager for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, announced plans for removing lead-contaminated soil during a meeting Tuesday in Bayside.

The area is near the northern part of the fort between the ballfields and the old fortifications.

“We would like to go ahead and clean up the soil that has been impacted and replace it with clean material,” Goepfert said.

The 20,000-square-foot site would be refilled with clean soil from elsewhere. The endeavor will cost about $200,000.

Goepfert said the plan was preferable to alternatives like doing nothing, just fencing it off to the public or covering it with a landfill cap, but that would require additional maintenance in the future.

The Army Corps determined that it is the only one of five areas they tested at the fort that requires remediation.

No one responsible for abandoned boats

From the Queens Courier:

The origin of an abandoned boat on the College Point shoreline in Flushing Bay is a mystery but like the bay’s water, which government agency is responsible for abandoned vessels is murky.

According to the Coast Guard and other organizations, there is no agency that’s responsible for such unworthy sea vessels that aren’t obstructing waterways.

“It just appeared here one day and we’ve been salvaging it for parts ever since,” said a construction worker, who didn’t want his name revealed because he didn’t know whether it was illegal to take parts of the boat. He said that the boat has been in the bay for five years. While the decrepit boat shell doesn’t bother the construciton worker, he wonders why the city hasn’t done anything about it.

“If someone abandons their car, the government is going to tow it, right? So why do different rules apply here?” he said.

Hipster boat vacated by FDNY

From Eyewitness News:

A boat in Brooklyn was vacated by firefighters Friday after a tip that people were illegally on board.

FDNY searched the boat and found evidence that people were living on the boat, and using it as a work space.

Firefighters went to the boat at around 11:30 a.m. after receiving the tip. They found 10 people on board at the time.

The boat, docked near Morgan Avenue and Stagg Street in Bushwick, has been deemed a hazard and vacated.

An area was carved into the hull of the boat and separated into nine bedrooms.

Artists and sculptures were using the boat as a work space. There were paint cans, gasoline canisters, and candles on board.

There was also a hot tub and an area on the deck being used as a pool.

Water and electricity were running to the boat from a nearby, vacant lot.

The boat was not registered with the Coast Guard.

I wonder if they realize the history of the spot they're inhabiting...