Latest news with #dieselspill
CBS News
18 hours ago
- General
- CBS News
Baltimore harbor fuel spill cleanup on track after initial estimate ballooned to 5,000 gallons, mayor says
The diesel sheen remains visible on the water in Harbor East, where 5,000 gallons of fuel spilled on June 4, as estimates surged past initial reports of the amount of diesel in the water. You can still see the diesel sheen on the water in Harbor East where 5,000 gallons of fuel spilled last week as estimates surged past initial reports of the amount of diesel in the water. CBS News Baltimore Bigger than initial estimates At first, authorities thought 200 gallons of fuel had spilled. That quickly grew to 2,000 gallons, then to 5,000 gallons. The latest eye-catching estimate was contained in a single sentence in the third paragraph of a joint news release from Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott and Maryland Gov. Wes Moore on Friday night. "As part of their ongoing cooperation, Johns Hopkins reported an update that approximately 5,000 gallons of diesel fuel are believed to have leaked," the joint statement read. "There continue to be no impacts to drinking water or air quality in the area." Mayor Scott's response At City Hall on Monday, WJZ Investigator Mike Hellgren asked Mayor Brandon Scott about ongoing remediation efforts and whether he was confident about the 5,000-gallon estimate. "What we've heard from Hopkins is they are very confident that that is the amount," Scott said. "We obviously as a city cannot be the folks; we're not going to take the responsibility for saying how much because we didn't spill it." The ballooning amount of fuel that made its way into the Harbor came as a shock to some in Harbor East. "How could they not have known that in the first place if the truck had a certain amount of capacity?" asked Maryland resident Eric Smith. "We know that numbers are going to change, and they will be adjusted, but at least give us—best case scenario, it was this, the worst case scenario, it will be this." WJZ saw on Monday more protective barriers in the water and crews monitoring the area. The response is scaled down as the spill transitions from an emergency to remediation, the city said. Streets have all reopened, and water taxi service is back to normal. How did the fuel spill happen? The spill began on the Johns Hopkins Hospital campus on Fayette Street near Broadway when a contractor overfilled emergency generators. That diesel fuel washed through the storm drains to the Baltimore Harbor. Johns Hopkins has promised to pay to clean it up. "As I spoke to [Baltimore Fire] Chief Wallace last night, he felt very confident we were in the place where we needed to be, being able to open up some of the roads and things like that," Mayor Scott said. "The team has done a great job. We'll just continue to monitor as we move forward and make the adjustments necessary. But as of right now, the remediation of this has gone as smoothly as possible," Mayor Scott said. Ryan Workman, from Taylor Oil Company of Brooklyn Park, told WJZ that backup generators can have 10,000-gallon tanks. Environmental impact Dr. Scott Knoche, with Morgan State University, studies the economic impact on the environment from fuel spills. He also directs the Patuxent Environmental & Aquatic Research Laboratory. "It's nice to have a responsible party already identified and one that is committing to the process," Knoche said. "Those longer-term impacts can take months or years, or in some cases longer than that, to fully understand." WJZ cameras spotted many turtles in the canal along Lancaster Street, which has been cleared of pools of fuel. WJZ cameras spotted many turtles in the canal along Lancaster Street, which has been cleared of pools of fuel. CBS News Baltimore That diesel fuel was easy to spot because of its red dye. "The greater the magnitude, the more of the fuel in the water—all else equal—you're going to have greater chances of injuries, but that being said, the response appears to have been fairly quick," Knoche said. "I'm encouraged by the rapid response. Again, no one wants to see anything like this happen, and I'm sure there will be lessons learned to prevent the next one from occurring, and that's important, too." The Waterfront Partnership still expects the Harbor Splash public swimming event for June 21 to continue. The Maryland Department of the Environment is now leading the remediation efforts at the scene.
CBS News
4 days ago
- Climate
- CBS News
Johns Hopkins promises to pay to clean massive diesel fuel spill in Baltimore harbor
Many of the large pools of diesel fuel, noticeable by its distinct red color from dye, have been removed from Baltimore's harbor two days after a 2,000-gallon spill. It is a testament to the quick response after Johns Hopkins Hospital's emergency generators were overfilled, leaking into storm drains and funneling into the Harbor Wednesday. "I was really worried when I woke up this morning about what I was going to find when kayaking around the harbor. I was pleasantly surprised and impressed that areas where there were impacts yesterday have since been cleaned up," said the Waterfront Partnership's Adam Lindquist. He not only extensively observed conditions from the water on Friday but also was instrumental in the creation of the turtle habitat in the canal along Lancaster Street, where much of the fuel was collected. It is one of the only stretches of natural shoreline left here. "Wildlife have really made that a sanctuary to the point where we know there are hundreds of turtles living in that canal, as well as the ducks and the geese and the fish. We are at this moment less concerned about how that spill is going to affect the larger harbor and really starting to focus our attention on how we're going to restore and clean up the canal, which is the focused area of this spill," Lindquist told WJZ. Fells Point safeguards A WJZ drone captured protective barriers in Fells Point, placed there in case fuel runoff flows that way. "With the rain coming through this weekend, I think that's a big question mark. How much fuel is still left in the stormwater pipes? Is it going to keep coming out of that one outfall, or could it spread to other outfalls? Right now, there has not been any spread to other outfalls, but we just don't know what's going to happen when it's raining, so we'll all be keeping an eye on that," Lindquist explained. Fire Chief James Wallace promised, "Should the situation change, we're able to react to it very quickly." Oil spill investigation Officials say the investigation into the spill from Hopkins' generators will start once the cleanup has ended. Johns Hopkins tells WJZ they are "working closely with federal, state, and local authorities, and we are focused first and foremost on the health and safety of the community and on environmental cleanup." They also promised to pay for damages. "This is our home, and we are fully committed to funding the cleanup and remediation efforts in the Inner Harbor, including any impacts to local wildlife. While we are concentrating on the cleanup effort, we are also closely reviewing the situation to understand what happened," the statement said.
CBS News
5 days ago
- General
- CBS News
Fuel spill into Baltimore's harbor creates long-term environmental concerns
Crews worked around the clock to clean up 2,000 gallons of diesel fuel that dyed the water red near Harbor East and had environmental groups concerned about long-term impacts. Crews worked around the clock to clean up 2,000 gallons of diesel fuel that dyed water near Harbor East red and had environmental groups concerned about long -term impacts. CBS News Baltimore The spill began more than a mile away on the Johns Hopkins Hospital campus on Fayette Street near Broadway. The spill began more than a mile away on the Johns Hopkins Hospital campus on Fayette Street near Broadway. CBS News Baltimore When tanks for emergency generators were overfilled, the diesel went into the stormwater system and drained into the Patapsco River. "Unfortunately, this is something we deal with because of our underground pipe infrastructure that basically treats our streets as our streams," said Alice Volpitta, from the non-profit Blue Water Baltimore. "And by that, I mean anything that spills on our streets goes right into our streams without being treated." Blue Water Baltimore's boat was already scheduled to do routine water quality monitoring the day of the spill. "We were able to leverage that opportunity to take our boat out and try to see if there's any impact from this fuel spill," Volpitta said. Volpitta said it is crucial to get to the bottom of what happened. "Was there something that went wrong mechanically or potentially as a result of user error in the refueling process? That's something we don't know yet, but if there aren't already, there ought to be stricter regulations in place to make sure spills like this don't happen," Volpitta said. "We just don't know exactly where it went wrong." Volpitta added, "The regulatory agencies need to get a handle on the full extent of the spill, but also what happened at Johns Hopkins Hospital to allow this spill to occur." Past fuel spills While 2,000 gallons is larger than many recent spills, it happens more often than you may realize. Last year, 500 gallons of fuel spilled after a boat fire in Canton. The year before, Harbor East waters were again dyed red from a diesel spill. In 2017, a truck carrying diesel overturned on the JFX, spilling fuel into the Jones Falls, which headed to the harbor. Environmental concerns A fuel spill into Baltimore's harbor can bring about many environmental concerns, including for wildlife. "Diesel is lighter than crude oil and evaporates more quickly, but I think it can seep into mud or marshy areas, and some of it may sink below the surface, so it's very important to remediate it as soon as possible," said Dr. Sam Sherchan, a biologist at Morgan State University. Sherchan noted that the quick use of pumps and absorbent material is crucial. "They act like paper towels where they soak up the diesel, and the skimmers they're using are mechanical devices that skim the diesel off the water," Dr. Sherchan said. Sherchan has concerns about the long-term environmental impact. The DNR has already worked to clean wildlife. He has concerns about the long-term environmental impact. The DNR has already worked to clean wildlife. CBS News Baltimore "The contaminated mud, when it gets stirred up again it can become toxic to wildlife," Sherchan said. "Animals that come into contact with the water may become sick and die. In the long term, we want to see continuous monitoring of water and air to make sure that it's safe." Harbor Splash Two weeks ago, athlete Katie Pumphrey swam in the Inner Harbor. Two weeks ago, athlete Katie Pumphrey swam in the Inner Harbor. CBS News Baltimore The next public Harbor Splash event is scheduled in just 15 days. It aims to showcase progress in cleaning up waterways that could now be in jeopardy. "These types of episodic pollution incidents are just part of the unique set of challenges facing urban waterways," Volpitta said.
The Independent
5 days ago
- Health
- The Independent
Crews clean up 2,000-gallon fuel spill in Baltimore's harbor
Crews were working Thursday morning to contain and clean up a 2,000-gallon (7,570-liter) diesel fuel spill in Baltimore's harbor, according to state and city officials. Initially, Johns Hopkins Hospital reported a contained 200-gallon diesel fuel spill at its East Baltimore facility on Wednesday morning, but a few hours later the fire department responded to a 911 call for a spill at a marina in Harbor East more than a mile away, officials said. The state, city and U.S. Coast Guard began coordinating a response to the spill. In an update around 7 p.m., Hopkins reported that 2,000 gallons had spilled, officials said. More than 100 people worked through the night to make sure that the situation was under control and contained, Gov. Wes Moore said at a news conference. Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott stressed that there's no evidence to suggest that the spill was affecting drinking water in the area. A boom was deployed on the water quickly and later crews began to skim the heating oil product off the water, Fire Chief James Wallace said. They've begun to flush the storm drain system to push the product to the harbor where they have skimmers to capture it, he said. That effort will continue through the majority of the day on Thursday. Officials explained that the water appears red due to dye in the fuel. 'Very speedy response, solid coordination, partnership with our state and federal resources have put us into the position right now,' Wallace said. 'That's what's going to drive the remainder of the day and actually the coming days.' Officials expect the containment and cleanup efforts will disrupt traffic well into the day Thursday, and they encouraged people to avoid the area.
The Guardian
5 days ago
- Business
- The Guardian
Baltimore scrambles to clean up 2,000-gallon diesel fuel spill in harbor
Crews were working on Thursday morning to contain and clean up a 2,000-gallon (7,570-liter) diesel fuel spill in Baltimore's harbor, according to state and city officials. Initially, the Johns Hopkins hospital reported a contained 200-gallon diesel fuel spill at its East Baltimore facility on Wednesday morning, but a few hours later the fire department responded to a 911 call for a spill at a marina in Harbor East more than a mile away, officials said. The state, city and US Coast Guard began coordinating a response to the spill. In an update at about 7pm, Johns Hopkins reported that 2,000 gallons had spilled, officials said. More than 100 people worked through the night to make sure that the situation was under control and contained, the Maryland governor, Wes Moore, said at a news conference. Baltimore's mayor, Brandon Scott, stressed that there's no evidence to suggest that the spill was affecting drinking water in the area. A boom was deployed on the water and crews later began to skim the heating oil product off the water, the city's fire chief, James Wallace, said. They had begun to flush the storm drain system to push the product to the harbor where there were skimmers to capture it, he said. That effort will continue through most of the day on Thursday. Officials explained that the water appears red due to dye in the fuel. 'Very speedy response, solid coordination, partnership with our state and federal resources have put us into the position right now,' Wallace said. 'That's what's going to drive the remainder of the day and actually the coming days.' Officials expect the containment and cleanup efforts will disrupt traffic well into the day on Thursday, and they encouraged people to avoid the area.
