M/V Nosac Forest; Blair Waterway, Tacoma, Washington

Blair Waterway, Tacoma, Washington | 1993-Apr-20

Initial Notification: At 0800 on April 21, 1993, MSO Puget Sound was notified that the forward tank of the M/V Nosac Forest had been overfilled while bunkering at the Pierce County Terminal in Tacoma, WA. Approximately 200 gallons of IFO 380 was spilled into the Blair Waterway. It was later determined that approximately 4,000 gallons of fuel were spilled into the water, 1,500 gallons were contained on the deck, and 14,000 gallons were spilled and contained in the engine room bilges when a valve broke. Personnel from the barge supplying the fuel quickly deployed a boom around the vessel to contain the spill and began skimming the oil. At 2030, a shoreline survey found a 3,000-foot section of the northeast waterway shoreline covered with a two-foot wide ribbon of oil. An overflight the following morning saw pockets of black oil trapped at the east end of the waterway, with heavy rainbow sheen and emulsified oil scattered throughout Blair Waterway. A small quantity of light sheen was also seen in Commencement Bay. Through a combination of southwest winds and a series of deflection booms deployed along the north shoreline, the majority of the oil was contained in the east end of the waterway where it either beached or was recovered. Recovery of pockets of free floating oil was completed April 27. Active cleaning of impacted shorelines was completed May 2. Passive cleaning using snare booms (pompoms) deployed along the more heavily impacted shoreline continued until June 1. USCG district 13. Keyword: containment boom, low-pressure flushing, skimmers, sorbent pompoms, high-pressure flushing.