On July 9, 2009 at 0315, the “New Dawn” barge operated by Tidewater Barge Lines (TBL or RP) ran aground on an allegedly uncharted sand bar near the mouth of the Hood River on the Columbia River, near river mile 169.
The “New Dawn” was being pushed up-river to Pasco, Washington by the river tug “The Chief” while carrying a cargo of 25,000 barrels (bbls; 1,050,000 gallons) of gasoline. The “New Dawn” is a double hull design, and neither hull has been reported breached.
River mile 169 is between Bonneville Dam and The Dalles Dam projects operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The intervening segment of the Columbia River is also known as Lake Bonneville or Bonneville Pool.
No release has occurred, Inspection of barge (New Dawn) found no problems so integrity of vessel is good.
An empty barge (New Vision) is enroute from up river and will arrive in morning to participate in litering (removal of fuel) operations to remove enough fuel to hopefully re-float vessel sometime tomorrow.
EPA dispatched OSC's Richard Franklin & Mike Sibley, along with one START contractor to the scene.
In conjunction with the United States Coast Guard (USCG), the RP established a 1,500 foot security zone around the grounded barge and tug. The USCG also inspected the vessels for navigation and marine safety issues.
The RP, Washington State Department of Ecology (DoE), Oregon Deparment of Environmental Quality (ODEQ), and USEPA established a Unified Command (UC) operating out of the Emergency Operations Center at the Tidewater Barge Lines office at 6305 Lower River Road in Vancouver, Washington.
At approximately 1725 hours, the tug “The Chief” attempted to free the “New Dawn from the sand bar from a variety of angles with no success. The attempt was made after some water was released from the The Dalles Dam, attempting to raise the level of Bonneville Pool slightly. USCG and law enforcement cleared marine traffic and recreational users from the vicinity of the vessels during this attempt.
UC proceeded with preparing for a lightering operation on July 10, 2009 to commence after 0600 hours, the beginning of the next operational period (July 10, 2009 0600 to 1800 hours). An IAP was prepared, including a lightering and cargo plan. The plan includes contingency preparations for a potential discharge of 2,000 gallons (caused by a transfer hose failure), a volume arrived at by UC consensus. An empty barge, the "New Vision" pushed by the tug "Defiance" is enroute downriver to meet with the grounded barge and tug to receive product during the lightering operation.
Lightering is a common marine cargo practice used to allow deep draft vessels to enter restricted harbors to offload remaining cargo.
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Lightering operations are expected to commence between 0600 and 0800 hours on July 10, 2009 and is expected to last 3 to 5 hours. No more fuel than necessary to lighter the barge and float it off the sandbar will be transferred to the receiving barge.
Each barge will have a tankerman Person-In-Charge (PIC) who will be ultimately responsible for the oil transfer operation on their vessel. In addition, there will be an overall PIC responsible for the entire operation and a safety PIC. Extra deck hands will be present to adjust mooring lines between the vessels as their buoyancy changes.
60,000 gallons of gasoline is anticipated to be transferred from each of the port and starboard (P&S) tanks 1 on the "New Dawn" to the P&S tanks 2 on the "New Vision". 70,000 gallons of gasoline is expected to be transferred from each of the P&S tanks 3 on the "New Dawn" to the P&S tanks 4 on the "New Vision". Up to double this amount can be transferred if needed to sufficiently lighten the "New Dawn". Each barge is equipped with a manifold system so no hose reconnections are necessary to switch between tanks. Pumping rates will proceed slowly to check connections and completely wet tank bottoms. Pumping rates are not to exceed 2000 bbls per hour. Vapors are expected to vent from the "New Vision" (as per a pierside fuel transfer).
After the lightering operation is completed, the "New Dawn" and "The Chief" are anticipated to continue to Pasco, Washington to offload the remaining cargo. The "New Vision" and "Defiance" are anticipated to proceed to the Portland area to offload the lightered cargo.
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