COIMBRA (RULET); 30 miles south of Eastern Long island, NY

30 miles south of Eastern Long island, NY | 2009-Oct-16

Initial Notification: On October 15, the East Hampton Star reported that a recreational diver came to the surface covered with oil after diving on the British tanker SS Coimbra, which was torpedoed during WWII (located approximately 20 miles south of Shinnecock Inlet, Long Island, NY in about 150 feet of water). Divers have reported sheens coming from the Coimbra for decades, but the article suggests that the leakage may be getting worse. Last Thursday, the USCG contacted Ed Levine, NOAA SSC for the region, to discuss the situation. It is expected that an interagency conference call will be held this week to determine whether an investigation to evaluate response options, is warranted. At the national level, ERD is developing an interagency agreement with the USCG under which the agencies will work together to address threats from vessels sunken off US shores that contain significant volumes of oil. The recent news article is available at this link: http://www.easthamptonstar.com/dnn/Home/News/TorpedoedTankerStillLeakingOil/tabid/10288/Default.aspx.