PORT HUENEME : Spill Cleanup Firm Dumps Oil in Harbor
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An emergency response crew charged with cleaning up oil spills mistakenly dumped nearly 400 gallons of diesel fuel into the harbor in Port Hueneme, officials said Sunday.
Dozens of workers from the Marine Spill Response Corp., spent Saturday cleaning up the fuel which leaked into the harbor late Friday when a storage tank overflowed, said Ike Ikerd, operations manager for the response corporation.
“It is awfully embarrassing for us,” Ikerd said. “But on the good side of things, our business is oil spill clean-up, and we received the call and responded appropriately.”
Crews on Friday night were transporting the diesel fuel between tanks on the California Response, an emergency response vessel operated by the marine spill company.
“For the most part, diesel dissipates with wind and sun,” Ikerd said. “We basically surrounded the fuel and contained it with floating booms.”
U.S. Coast Guard specialists from Long Beach and Santa Barbara who inspected the site after the clean-up said there was no ecological damage from the spill, said Petty Officer George Wills.
“There were no environmentally sensitive areas impacted,” Wills said.
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