Tests don't link oil, tug
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Tests comparing oil in a slick near the ferry terminal Sept. 12 to some in a tugboat docked there at the time are inconclusive, U.S. Coast Guard officials said last week.
"There were traces of the same lubricating oil in both samples but we couldn’t identify the lighter spill component and we can’t pinpoint it as an exact match," said Coast Guard petty officer James Highfill. No enforcement action will be taken in the matter, he said.
Timing plays a part in the effectiveness of such testing and even a few hours can make such matches difficult, Highfill said. "As (spilled oil) becomes more weathered over time, it becomes a harder task."
The Coast Guard arrived here Sept. 14, after reports that oil seemed to be percolating up from the sea floor near the Lutak Dock. The agency took a sample of the oil in Lutak Inlet, then met the tugboat Paul S while it was under way, heading to Wrangell towing a barge of local gravel.
The Paula S arrived in Haines Sept. 10 with two barges. The one loaded with gravel Sept. 13 was a former government-owned refrigerator ship that dates to the 1960s and recently was used as a houseboat, said tugboat skipper John Eilertsen of Wrangell.
Eilertsen said he had sprayed down the deck of the makeshift barge while docked at Lutak, but didn’t believe that caused the sheen. He said he was baffled by the source.
Petty officer Highfill said no oil samples were taken from inside either of the two barges. "The Haines harbormaster went on board and from my understanding, he didn’t see anything that led us to believe there was a discharge from the barge itself."
Ferry workers who arrived at Lutak Dock Sept. 12 described the slick as resembling "chocolate milk" in the water that extended the length of the dock and gave off fumes that nauseated workers on the dock.
