174-foot Army landing craft runs aground, spills fuel into Alaskan bay

[IDemo]

Source: msnbc.com

A 174-foot Army Reserve landing craft carrying equipment to help move an Alaskan village struck a rock in a bay near Kodiak, then was run aground to keep the vessel from sinking, causing thousands of gallons of fuel to spill, Coast Guard and Army Reserve officials said Saturday.

The Monterrey was crossing Womens Bay with a crew of 15 aboard on Friday night when it struck a submerged rock, said Petty Officer 3rd Class Grant DeVuyst, a Coast Guard spokesman in Kodiak. The Coast Guard received a Mayday about 10:15 p.m. local time, and the vessel was grounded about four miles away on Puffin Island in Chiniak Bay, DeVuyst told msnbc.com.

Two fuel compartments appeared to have been breached, spilling more than 15,000 gallons of diesel fuel, DeVuyst said. He said that the fuel was expected to disperse but that the Coast Guard was working to get skimmers in to clean up any remaining diesel.

The Monterrey was traveling from Port Hueneme, Calif., to Bethel in western Alaska, carrying a load of construction equipment and vehicles for the Marine Corps, said Maj. Annmarie Daneker, media relations officer with the Army Reserve in Fort Bragg, N.C.

Read more: http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/06/09/12145335-174-foot-army-landing-craft-runs-aground-spills-fuel-into-alaskan-bay?lite

[Posteritatis]

1. Well, it certainly landed. Ouch. (nt)

[MADem]

2. As fuel spills go, that is relatively minor.

If they can get boom around it and skimmers working, they'll be able to make that go away with no ill effects. Also, the stuff spreads out and evaporates--it's not like thick, sticky crude oil that makes a total mess.

Someone better put that rock on a damn map, and send out a notice to mariners so no one else hits the doggone thing!!!

[lookingfortruth]

3. And yet another spill pollutes the waters. I believe that is all three now. Gulf coast with the

Deep horizon, Sometime in September there was a Boat that leaked oil in the atlantic and now this...

[freshwest]

4. Don't forget the big one in Alberta and the non-stop ecological disaster in Nigeria...

Oh, yes, we must keep funding those fossil fuel companies with our tax money...

[muriel_volestrangler]

5. Notice the reason it was there: global warming

Newtok, a Yupik Eskimo village of about 400 people on the Ninglick River in western Alaska, is threatened by erosion and melting and sinking permafrost.

The Army and Marines are there for a good reason - to help a village that global warming has made uninhabitable.

[Auntie Bush]

7. I wonder how much money will be added to the budget to cover other future threatened villages?

[tabasco]

6. It's about time we invaded Alaska

Any place that elects Sarah Palin is a danger to the world.