DNREC, U.S. Coast Guard continue oil spill clean up efforts in Sussex County
SUSSEX COUNTY, Del. – Clean up and recovery efforts are underway in Sussex County after a large oil spill washed ashore. “The oil line from the spill extends approximately 11 miles from Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge and north of Broadkill Beach to the ocean side of Cape Henlopen State Park at Gordon’s Pond,” said Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control Nikki Lavoie.
The oil is showing up in the form of “tar balls”, or pebble sized globs of oil. “The tides had fragmented the oil from larger pooling to smaller sized speckling on the beaches,” said Lavoie.
As of Wednesday night, about seven tons of oily sand and debris was removed. Lavoie says that cleaning up an oil spill of that size is no easy task, and dozens of workers are on hand. “Some of the work is very labor intensive, including shoveling the oil and disposing of it,” said Lavoie.
For now, the effort is focused on three key aspects: monitoring the impact of the spill, cleaning up, and finding source of oil. DNREC and the United States Coast Guard are working together out of a command post in Slaughter Beach to do just that. “Slaughter Beach Volunteer Fire Department was very gracious in allowing us their facility, which has access to the beach. But also and most importantly it’s located near all of the affected areas,” said Lieutenant Commander Frederick Pugh.
As the Coast Guard works to trace the source of the oil, they are sending samples of the oil to their lab in Connecticut. “Our lab there will then do what’s called fingerprinting of the oil. They’ll basically do an analysis of the materials, see what properties it has and try to best identify the type of oil it was,” said Lieutenant Commander Pugh.
The Coast Guard says that once they identify possible vessels the oil could have come from, they’ll ask for samples of their oil to compare to the debris that washed up. They also say whoever is responsible could face fines and penalties for not reporting the spill.
There is some good news though. Lieutenant Commander Pugh says while some animals affected by the spill have been reported, most of the wildlife already migrated away for the season. “Our efforts are to remove as much of the affected materials possible and to remove as much product on the beach as possible so that next year when the birds come back and are attempting to nest on the beach, their eggs are not affected,” said Lieutenant Commander Pugh.
