Hulks Pollute Columbia River

"Davy Crockett" finally sinks

Another dirty secret emerges to mar the shiny green public image of Stumptown: a derelict, converted liberty ship moored illegally in the Columbia River on the Washington state side is leaking oil laced with the carcinogen PCB (3.4ppm). Federal regulations require PCB levels to be below 0.003 ppm before the toxin can be discharged to navigable waters*.  Parts were being salvaged when the barge broke apart and sunk after many years of neglect, allowing the oil and toxins to escape into the river. A sheen of oil was detected 15 miles downstream and traced to the rusting hulk.

The Davy Crockett barge, named after the famed frontiersman of lore and legend, was moored on submerged property belonging to the State of Washington since at least 2007. The US Coast Guard inspected the ship once before it sank, advising the apparent owner to secure debris and fuel during salvage operations. The agency took control of the vessel last week and is now asking for $3.5 million from a federal fund to clean up the mess left behind by the owners. Beside deploying 18,000 feet of oil absorbent booms, the partially submerged vessel must be stabilized with ballast to make it safe for salvage workers. The barge could hold as much as 953,000 gallons of oil. About 1400 gallons have been recovered so far. The environmental group, Columbia River Keepers, says the former WWII transport ship is only one of hundreds of abandoned vessels that litter the industrialized waterways of the Columbia River. Because large ships only come to the attention of federal officials when they are hazards to navigation in the ship channel or begin leaking contaminants, the owners of this ship were allowed to essentially dump it without cost or permission. State officials claim to be focused on smaller vessels, so the lacunae in jurisdiction has allowed the problem of abandonment of large derelict vessels to grow. The worst fine that could have been imposed on the owner was $170 per month for trespassing according to Washington's Department of Natural Resources because their derelict ship program focuses on ships under 200 feet in length, leaving the big hulks to someone else to police. The state agency never moved to evict the ship from its property.

These old vessels constitute floating waste dumps which contain fuel oil, asbestos, arsenic, and polychlorinated biphenyls used as industrial lubricant before it was banned in 1979.  The EPA has identified PCBs as one on the main pollutants in the Columbia River. Sea lions can be killed and harassed to protect endangered salmon, but people cannot be relied upon to clean up their pollution of the fish's habitat. A survey of all abandoned and derelict vessels in the industrial zone of the Columbia River ("our fabled junkyard" says Stumptown news) is badly needed to understand the scope of the problem before it flows downstream.

*a series of conservative Supreme Court decisions over the years since the passage of the Clean Water Act in 1971 have created regulatory confusion over what constitutes "navigable waters" within enforcement reach of the Act.  Internal EPA studies indicate as many as 45% of major polluters may beyond regulatory coverage.  In the case of the Davy Crockett, jurisdiction of the EPA over the pollution source does not appear to be a difficult issue since the barge is moored in the river adjacent to the Columbia ship channel.  Jurisdictional determinations are made on a case by case basis.