Coast Guard, agencies, responding to oil spill at Honolulu’s Pier 19
The U.S. Coast Guard said Thursday it is responding to an oil discharge from a container ship reported near Pier 19 at Honolulu Harbor.
On Wednesday evening, Coast Guard Sector Honolulu watchstanders received a report of an accidental heavy, fuel oil discharge from the master of the container ship Kamokuiki during bunkering operations with a barge. According to the master, the crew immediately secured the discharge, activated its response plan, and began cleanup operations.
This morning, an MH-65 Dolphin crew flew over the impacted area and confirmed some of the oil had leaked out of the contained area and was spreading ashore near the Coast Guard base on Sand Island.
Pacific Environmental Corporation and Marine Spill Response Corp. representatives have deployed 25 bales of absorbent material, spanning from the Kamokuiki’s stern to Pier 22. Two Coast Guard response vessels placed 1,600 feet of hard boom around the bales.
So far, two barrels, or about 84 gallons, of oil have been recovered with absorbent material, and another 40 gallons have been cleaned up by skimmers currently deployed in the area.
The cleanup is still ongoing, according to the Coast Guard. So far, there have been no reports of impacted wildlife.
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In addition to Coast Guard Sector Honolulu, the state Health Department, Hazard Evaluation and Emergency Response, Marine Spill Response Corp., OMI Environmental Solutions and Pacific Environmental Organization (PENCO) are responding to the oil spill.