Cleanup of the oily sheen along the coast near Shishmaref is now complete, and while state Department of Environmental Conservation responders aren’t exactly sure what the substance is, they now have a better idea where it’s coming from. Spokesperson Ashley Adamczak said DEC responders were in Shishmaref over the weekend with the U.S. Coast Guard and contracted waste treatment responders from Emerald Alaska. They’ve formed a “unified command” of federal, state and local agencies.
“The responders went out and looked at different patterns in the snow and the icepack,” said Adamczak. “When they cleared away the ice and the debris, they were able to see the petroleum product bubbling up. At this point it’s completely unknown where that petroleum is coming from and we don’t have a type of petroleum yet.”
The petroleum, which reportedly smells like gasoline, was first discovered by Shishmaref’s Village Public Safety Officer in June, and recently reappeared under nearshore ice. Samples from the contaminated area and from Shishmaref’s tank farm were collected and analyzed over the summer, but results have been inconclusive so far.
This time, the contaminated area was 30 by 40 feet—with about 30 bags of oily waste recovered between December 20 and 21. Oiled ice was chipped off and absorbent pads were used where the petroleum reached seawater. A smart ash burner was used to dispose of the waste. Adamczak said the Coast Guard is now sending more samples to their Marine Safety Lab in Connecticut, for comparison to the summer samples. However, she said it could take a while to determine the exact product name of the oil.
DEC and the Coast Guard met with the mayor, the president of the Native Village of Shishmaref and the community’s environmental program representative. Adamczak said the people of Shishmaref helped a lot by providing a history of the community and possible sources of contamination.
“Any time we get to work that closely with the locals, it really helps us identify where the problem might be and it is invaluable information,” said Adamczak.
People in the community say there might be buried fuel tanks in the area that could have burst, but no drums or buried tanks were found after search with a metal detector. The Coast Guard left Shishmaref yesterday, so the newest samples should make their way to the lab in the next several days. At this point, there have been no reports of impacted wildlife.
