2:45pm | Containment on an oil spill that occurred in the Port of Long Beach on Monday evening is well underway, according to spokesman Trent Kelly of the United State Coast Guard. Kelly said this afternoon that the incident should be cleaned up and back to normal within the next 24-48 hours.
The agency has been scrambling to contain a 700 gallon oil spill that occurred when the Libyan ship Aljalaa, docked, somehow lost control and oil swept across the deck and into the water. The Coast Guard is still investigating the exact cause of the incident.
“In general, it was caused during a fueling operation and the vessel was taking on fuel and there was a problem,” Kelly said. “Fuel spilled out of one of the vents. We don’t know what the cause is exactly. Fuel spills are quite common in the marine environment, whether it’s a small recreational vessel or something larger. But a spill of this magnitude is quite rare.”
More than 5,000 feet of containment boom have been deployed around the spill in an attempt to contain it. Kelly said that the environment outside of the boom has been 90% contained and cleaned. A preventative boom was set up around the ship before the spill, but the magnitude of the spill overflowed the precautionary boom. Much of the oil will naturally evaporate, he said.
Environmental groups rushed to the scene yesterday to assist affected wildlife if needed, but Kelly said that there have been no reports of damage to the environment or wildlife. That could be because the oil was a relatively light, low-sulfur grade diesel fuel and not the type of heavy crude oil that starred in last summer’s Gulf spill.