Baltimore Gas and Electric; Patapsco River, Baltimore, Maryland

Patapsco River, Baltimore, Maryland | 1993-Jun-01

Initial Notification: The USCG MSO Baltimore received notification from Baltimore Gas and Electric (BG&E) that they had a spilled between 300 and 500 gallons #6 fuel oil into the Patapsco River while hydrotesting a transfer line. The BG&E contractors had installed containment boom at the facility and were removing contained oil using vacuum trucks. Approximately one nautical mile of shoreline was impacted with scattered patches of oil. The most impacted shoreline was located on the west side of Rock Point, at Fort Smallwood State Park. BG&E contractors removed oil using shovels and rakes from the sandy shoreline; however, cleanup of oiled marsh grasses was not attempted. A combined field survey of the oiled areas by federal, state, and local officials on June 4, concluded that the marsh grasses would be least impacted if no aggressive cleanup effort was conducted. USCG district 5. Keyword: none.