While the Coast Guard reviews plans to salvage a barge that delivers fuel to WAPA after it ran aground Feb. 9 off the port entrance in San Juan, Puerto Rico, officials for the utility said Sunday it will not affect fuel deliveries to the Virgin Islands.
“Our diesel supplier has secured an alternative barge to provide our fuel delivery. We do not anticipate any impact to the territory,” said Shanell Spencer, head of communications for the V.I. Water and Power Authority.
According to the latest update from the Coast Guard, salvors completed the removal of about 1,000 gallons of residual fuel and oily water from the barge, the 265-foot Defiant, on Friday. The vessel was largely empty after returning from a delivery to St. Thomas when it ran aground.
Five of 10 fuel-cargo tanks with residual fuel were breached in the accident and presumed to have been discharged, according to the Coast Guard, which added that it presented “minimal environmental pollution concerns due to the significant hazardous weather since the incident.”
The region has been experiencing rough seas as a powerful swell moves through the area, which also made access to the barge dangerous for most of last week.
On Saturday the Coast Guard said the salvage company has presented a removal plan, which is under technical review and pending approval. Meantime, the barge remains wedged between a breakwater and a riprap revetment to the side of the San Juan Harbor.
Public Information Officer Ricardo Castrodad told the Source last week that an investigation is underway to determine the cause of the accident but cautioned that will take some time.
“That’s a pretty lengthy process,” he said. The Coast Guard is looking at “what happened to cause the barge to disconnect or come off the towline and run aground, to look at what the causal factors were, hoping that we can identify what that was and then prevent other instances in the future from occurring.”
Castrodad said the Port of San Juan remains open to vessel traffic as the barge is not obstructing the harbor entrance or navigable waterway. Nonetheless, the Coast Guard has urged people to stay away from the area to allow response agencies to access and work at the site.
