Coast Guard responds to tar-like substance spill on Utqiagvik beach
Coast Guard officers are enroute to a seashore in Utqiagvik in response to a tar-like substance spill.
The spill was reported simply previous midnight Tuesday morning, when an area resident posted images to Fb, mentioned Kimberly Maher, a spokeswoman for the Alaska Division of Environmental Conservation.
“A personal citizen in Utqiagvik was on the seashore and observed this tank that was on a line of tanks that’s on the seashore for coastal erosion,” Maher mentioned. “They usually observed some black tar-looking substance oozing out of one of many tanks.”
Maher mentioned officers are nonetheless analyzing the substance in a lab to find out what it’s, however DEC suspects it’s black tar or asphalt. Within the Sixties, native officers positioned 38 2,500-gallon tanks on the Simmons Subject Seashore in response to coastal erosion from a storm.
“These tanks, all chained collectively in an extended line, had been repurposed and introduced all the way down to the seashore and positioned for erosion management, to assist scale back further erosion sooner or later,” Maher mentioned.
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Maher mentioned DEC believes that it is a one-time prevalence, the place giant steel drums had been used to guard towards erosion. Nonetheless, she mentioned, comparable makeshift coastal safety strategies had been widespread.
“Up to now individuals have tried to recycle several types of issues so as to do both streambank revetment or coastal erosion sort issues,” Maher mentioned. “In the event you’re within the Fairbanks space and also you’re floating down the Chena River you’ll positively see some outdated autos which were used for financial institution stabilization. So it was not an unusual follow up to now.”
To this point, one of many tanks has been confirmed to be leaking, however there’s proof that one other 4 tanks may have leaks as nicely. Responders noticed proof of corrosion and weathering harm on the tanks.
The day the spill was reported, North Slope Borough officers started shoveling the spilled substance right into a 55-gallon drum and positioned sorbent growth across the tanks to attempt to take in a number of the contaminant.
Maher mentioned the tanks haven’t been faraway from the location, however the space is blocked off as responders proceed their investigation. The spill doesn’t look like impacting native wildlife.
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