Motor Vessel Selendang Ayu Unified Command Joint Information Center |
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Date: Jan. 19, 2005 Coast Guard information officer: (907) 581-7158 |
Unified Command Photo Release |
New team formed to investigate reports of oil or tarballs |
The Unified Command for the M/V Selendang Ayu oil spill response has formed a special team to investigate any reports of oil or tarball encounters from local residents. Howard Hile, Incident Commander announced the creation of the New Oil Inspection Team, or NOIT, at the public meeting in Unalaska on January 14, 2005. Hile said the Environmental Unit of the Unified Command tasked the team with investigating reports of tarballs or oil from residents in the Dutch Harbor and Unalaska area. Persons attending the public meeting commented that numerous people and families spend time walking along the beaches and asked what they should do if they encountered any oil.
At the public meeting on January 12, the State On Scene Coordinator Gary Folley reported receiving a call from an individual that afternoon, which led to the discovery of tarballs on the southwest shoreline of an area known as "little South America," in the Captains Bay area. Shoreline assessment teams responded to the finding by expanding its beach surveys in the Captains Bay and Unalaska Bay area, as well as water quality sampling offshore.
Any persons observing any oil, oil sheen, tarballs, or dissolved oil in or around Unalaska shorelines or waterways are asked to call the Unified Command at 581-3726 or 581-3728. Individuals should provide the Unified Command with a description of what they observed and a location of where they encountered the oil. Persons should not try to collect the oil themselves. Hile stressed that they should call and report the location of the oil, so the NOIT technicians can safely collect samples and properly document the conditions found. Locations will be added to the priority list for appropriate cleanup. Both federal and state laws require that oil be handled by properly trained personnel and disposed of according to the Waste Management Plan.
"We don’t want the public to place themselves at risk," said Hile. "Please call us and let the professionals do their job."
Hile said the NOIT will have at least one member of the Shoreline Cleanup Assessment Team and a cleanup technician. The shoreline assessment has been ongoing since the freighter ran aground between Skan Bay and Spray Cape on December 8, 2004. In order to allow ongoing shoreline assessment to continue as scheduled, the Unified Command formed a team dedicated to investigating calls from the public.
This tarball, mixed with grass and debris, was observed floating along the shoreline of Unalaska Bay on January 14 and collected by a water quality sampling technician. (Official Unified Command photo)
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