Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority; Christiansted, St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands

Christiansted, St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands | 1989-Sep-18

Initial Notification: On September 18, 1989, Hurricane Hugo hit the island of St. Croix with winds in excess of 140 miles per hour, damaging the steel containment walls around two of the main No. 6 fuel oil storage tanks at the Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority (VIWAPA) power plant in Christiansted Harbor on the north coast of St. Croix. Oil leaked from a severed discharge line near the bottom of one or both of these 54,000-barrel capacity tanks. It then overflowed the containment dike and moved toward the beach 250 feet away. VIWAPA personnel constructed sand-based containment trenches and berms along the beach to contain the oil. They also diverted oil to a diesel storage tank containment area. Oil began to leak through the trenches, proceeding down the sloping base toward the shoreline. U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) Marine Safety Office (MSO) San Juan personnel flew over the area on September 21 and estimated that approximately 48 barrels of oil had overflowed the trench and entered the harbor, impacting the sand beaches west of the facility. MSO and USCG Atlantic Area Strike Team (AST) personnel arrived on-scene on September 22. They immediately began working with VIWAPA and contractor personnel to locate and stop the leak. The Strike Team lowered the level of oil in the containment areas and secured the leak on September 25. The containment wall had been blown by the wind onto a ten-inch transfer pipe, rupturing the pipe. An open valve had permitted the oil to escape through the broken pipe. A total of 14,076 barrels escaped from this tank between September 18 and 25. Approximately 1,000 barrels overflowed the containment area and entered the water. Three miles of sand beaches were heavily oiled, with some impacts east of the power plant in the harbor area. Some of the oil refloated, but local meteorological and oceanographic conditions isolated the resultant secondary impacts to previously oiled beaches. Response efforts concentrated on the recovery and removal of the oil after it was on the beaches. No dead fish or animals were reported. USCG district 7. Keyword: Atlantic Strike Team (AST), boom, vacuum truck, hydro-blasting, manual removal, sorbent boom..