MANATEE COUNTY, Fla. — Officials with the U.S. Coast Guard faced tough questions Friday about the cause of a crude oil spill that happened late last month at SeaPort Manatee.
According to the U.S. Coast Guard, port officials reported the oil spill to the National Response Center on Thursday, Aug. 31 — a day after they had conducted their post-Hurricane Idalia inspections.
On Friday, Sept. 1, the U.S. Coast Guard began cleaning up the spill and launched an investigation into the cause. An estimated 3,500 gallons of unrefined crude oil is among the 19,000 gallons of contaminated oil-water mixture that have been removed from the port so far.
The source of the spill has remained a mystery to officials who said the responsible party would likely face some hefty fines. Local elected officials have now joined area environmental groups to call for immediate accountability.
"It does bother me as someone who has been around boating a long time," Congressman Vern Buchanan said.
"With no evidence pointing to any infrastructure failures or pipeline leaks so far, it looks increasingly likely that someone may have dumped this oil and is failing to come forward. Whether an accident or purposeful, any potential bad actors must be held accountable for putting our waterways at risk. Just as water quality is critical to our way of life, Port Manatee is essential to our area's economy, and I'm committed to ensuring both are safeguarded from future spills," he added.
"There are a lot of facilities here that need to be checked," Captain Michael Kahle, a sector commander for the U.S. Coast Guard, said.
Capt. Kahle, who is leading the investigation, said samples of the oil are undergoing testing and analysis for identification. He said they've taken additional samples from three vessels and two pipeline companies. They plan to compare those samples with what they found in the water to try to find a match.
"It takes time to get the samples from all the facilities, get them to the lab, and get the lab analysis back. We don't want to rush out and not do a thorough job so we want to make sure we do it correctly," Kahle said when asked about why it was taking so long to identify a responsible party.
Pending when that happens and barring any criminal liabilities, hefty civil penalties to repay the cost of the cleanup await those responsible for the discharge.
"Right now we are using what's called the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund which is a fund set aside for this reason. When you don't have an immediate responsible party, someone that is claiming to be responsible for the spill, we use those funds so the cleanup is done swiftly and is not delayed by lack of funds," Kahle said.
Environmental advocates have said not knowing the source this far into the investigation is problematic in itself and are concerned about water quality impacts.
"We just can't continue to take these hits...we can't continue to have these incidents, so it's concerning especially with, you know, the recent news of seagrass loss in certain base segments in Tampa Bay," Tampa Bay waterkeeper Justin Tramble said.
"We've got to find a way to figure out who did it and why, and if they didn't know they did, that's a big problem. And if they did know they did it, they have got a lot at risk right now in my mind," Buchanan said.
Port officials said they have been cooperating with the investigation from the beginning and have handed all surveillance footage and necessary logs to the U.S. Coast Guard.
"Our cameras which we have for security purposes are for the security of the perimeter and not necessarily all focused on the water but on the ships coming in or leaving the port or any individuals that are around the port who are not supposed to be there," Carlos Buqueras, the executive director of SeaPort Manatee, said.
"We are going to be very studious about making sure we cross our 'T' s and dot our 'I's," Capt. Kahle said.
On Friday, Coast Guard officials said they had mopped up about 97% of the oil from the surface of the water. They expected to complete the cleanup efforts over the weekend.