There's an environmental cataclysm unfolding about a block down the street from my house. Last weekend, an oil tanker started leaking in the Delaware River. Initial reports from the Coast Guard pegged the oil lost in the river at around 35,000 gallons. As soon as I saw pictures of the spill and impact on wildlife in the area, I knew it was more trouble than was being reported. Then, this morning comes the report: 473,500 gallons of oil missing in river spill.
A leak of all 473,500 gallons into the Delaware would be a "worst-case scenario," said Coast Guard Capt. Jonathan D. Sarubbi, who is overseeing the investigation and cleanup.
The worst spill on the Delaware occurred in 1989 when a tanker ran aground in Claymont, Del., dumping 300,000 gallons of oil into the river.
Michael Hanson, spokesman for the company that manages the ship, said he did not think the spill would be much worse than initially believed.
"It's not just gushing out of there," he said.
By yesterday, the spill had spread significantly, affecting patches of shoreline in a 44-mile stretch from the Salem nuclear power station to the Tacony-Palmyra Bridge.
One half million gallons from a SINGLE HULLED friggin' tanker (I thought those went out of style with the Exxon Valdez?); a ship registered in Greece; hell, we'll never hear from the owner again.
The oil's now traveled past my house, big gooey globs of tar - this is not sweet, light crude that we're talking about. There's an environmental disaster in the making. After years and years of environmental cleanup, striped bass were just making a tremendous comeback in the Delaware River. The John Heinz (yeah, that Heinz...) Wildlife Refuge is right across the river from the spill.
The last time we had something similar happen, it was a much smaller spill, and still took nearly two years for the shoreline down from my house to recover to the point that you could walk on it without throwing out your shoes when you got back to the house. The geese had just recently returned - the ones that environmentalists are now trying desperately to save.
I'll keep ya posted. I get a front row seat for this one.
