New York Department Of Environmental Conservation News

All passengers have safely debarked a passenger vessel that ran aground and began taking on water in the Saint Lawrence River near Alexandria Bay, N.Y., Thursday afternoon.The U.S. Coast Guard said it received a report at 1:17 p.m. that the tour boat Island Duchess, operated by Uncle Sam Boat Tours, had run aground with 134 passengers on board for a day cruise. All passengers were transferred via responding assets from multiple assisting agencies to another USBT-operated vessel…

July brought news about offshore wind. There was something for everyone: optimism, disappointment, and construction, too.Finally, starting with Dominion Energy’s Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind Project, a joint venture with Danish wind developer Orsted is underway. True, this is a small project – just two wind turbines to be installed 27 miles east of Virginia Beach. But considering all the preceding hurdles, news about Dominion blew in as proverbial, hopeful fresh air. Surely…

The U.S. Coast Guard has contracted Resolve Marine Group to conduct a full assessment of oil remaining on the Coimbra wreck, located approximately 30 miles southeast of Shinnecock, N.Y. If substantial oil still remains, and if feasible, the Coast Guard will work with Resolve Marine Group to remove oil from the wreck in order to reduce pollution risks to the environment.The operation is scheduled to take place from April 28th to May 30th. The initial evaluation will assess the condition of the tanker and what potential environmental impact still exists. Based on the assessment, possible oil removal operations will take place.During the operation…

Hudson Transmission Partners, LLC (HTP), owner and operator of an electric power cable buried beneath the Hudson River between Edgewater, New Jersey and New York City, is working closely with the U.S. Coast Guard, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP), the New York Department of Environmental Conservation (NYDEC), and other agencies to contain the release of small amounts of non-toxic cable fluid into the Hudson River. The fluid release was detected on Saturday and is the apparent result of damage to a portion of the cable in the Hudson River near the New Jersey shoreline in Edgewater. Spill responders were dispatched to the area on Saturday and have contained the cable fluid with booms and absorbent materials.

Incident responders from the Coast Guard and representatives from the Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation completed the salvage of the freighter that lost power and ran aground in the St. Lawrence Seaway, Tuesday, and have reopened the seaway to all vessel traffic as of 7:30 p.m., Thursday. The motor vessel Federal Kivalina was removed from its resting spot near the Thousand Island Bridge by a contracted salvage crew and two tugs from Montreal. Coast Guard personnel approved the salvage plan early Thursday afternoon and the salvage team immediately went to work to remove the vessel. Upon the safe removal of the Federal Kivalina, the SLSDC reopened the seaway to all vessel traffic, which had been shut down for more than two days.

Incident responders from the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) and representatives from the Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation continue to oversee the salvage and investigation of the disabled freighter that ran aground after losing steering Tuesday while transiting the St. Lawrence Seaway in the vicinity of Wellesley Island, New York. The motor vessel Federal Kivalina is currently anchored upriver, about one-third of a mile from the Thousand Island Bridge. There are no reported injuries to the crew and no reported pollution at this time.

The US Coast Guard Ninth District has responded to the Hong Kong-flagged cargo ship 'Federal Kivalina' which lost its steering while transiting the Seaway in the vicinity of Wellesley Island, New York. The Federal Kivalina, a 656-foot, Hong Kong-flagged freighter carrying 23,000 metric tons of canola seeds, reportedly dropped three anchors to bring the vessel to rest. The Coast Guard notified the New York State Bridge Authority of the situation, which shut down the Thousand Island Bridge for about 10 minutes as a precaution. Response crews from Station Alexandria Bay, New York State Parks Police, New York State Police, New York Department of Environmental Conservation, and inspectors from MSD Massena and the Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation are either on scene or en route.

On September 17, McAllister Towing and Reinauer Transportation will be partnering with the U.S. Coast Guard Sector Long Island Sound and Sector New York in a major simulated marine accident and pollution incident on the waters of Long Island Sound. Responders will be faced with a simulated grounding and subsequent oil spill impacting the waters and shoreline of Connecticut and New York. The exercise is part of the National Preparedness for Response Exercise Program (PREP), a voluntary program bringing together industry and government to meet the exercise and preparedness requirements of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, legislation enacted following the Exxon Valdez.

Hurricane 'Sandy' pollution response US Coast Guard unified command completes tank vessel lift on Staten Island, NY. The tank vessel John B. Caddell is a 184-foot tanker ship that washed up on Staten Island as a result of high winds and floodwaters from Hurricane Sandy. The Caddell posed both an environmental and navigational threat to the New York waterways. The Hurricane Sandy Pollution Response Unified Command lifted and transported the vessel from Front Street in Staten Island, thus removing that pollution threat to the environment.

Hyde Marine’s chemical-free, IMO Type Approved ballast water treatment solution packs performance in a smaller footprint. That’s good news for small vessel operators who may soon find themselves impacted by a problem that previously was thought to be a “bluewater” issue. The notion that ballast water treatment and invasive species are both strictly the domain of big, bluewater liners coming from the Far East and other exotic locales quickly went out the porthole last November when the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued its long-awaited, updated draft Vessel General Permit (VGP) rule. The new rules potentially bring regulations to bear on vessels as small as 79 feet LOA and others, depending on service and routing.

Draft USCG ballast water rule now finalized, according to OMB. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) completed its review of the Coast Guard's Ballast Water Discharge Standard regulations in accordance with Executive Order 12866, and changed its designation from an Interim Final Rule to a Final Rule on February 24, 2012. The Coast Guard is preparing it for publication in the Federal Register, and expects to complete the administrative process within 30 days. John Morris of the U.S. Coast Guard's Environmental Standards Division said in a prepared statement, "We are not at liberty to discuss details of the rule until it is actually published, but wanted to clear up confusion about its status.

Good news from New york on their local ballast water standard is tempered by more of nothing from Washington. On the same day that the New York Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) issued a press release stating that it will pursue a uniform national ballast water standard by  leaving in place the EPA’s current standards in New York for the remainder of EPA’s current Vessel General Permit through December 2013, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) declared that its review of the US Coast Guard draft interim final rule on standards for living organisms in ships’ ballast water discharged in US waters had been extended. No guidance was given on how much longer industry will have to wait for the extended review to be completed.

The Chamber of Marine Commerce, along with a number of other industry stakeholders, are joining forces to take legal action against the state of New York's proposed new ballast water regulations. The other parties joining in the lawsuit include American Great Lakes Ports Association, Canadian Shipowners Association, Federal Marine Terminals, Canfornav, Polska Zegluga Morska, Port of Oswego and Port of Albany Commission. During the past few months, four Great Lakes states (New York, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Ohio) have issued new ballast water regulations, joining Michigan and Minnesota, both of whom already had ballast water regulations.

The 200-foot dredge vessel, the New York, completed necessary minimum repairs to its damaged hull enabling it to be moved to the Brooklyn Navy Yard in Brooklyn, N.Y., on February 2. The hull was damaged following a collision with the 669-foot freight ship the Orange Sun, north of Shooters Island in Newark Bay, N.J., at about 1:50 p.m. Jan. 24, 2008. Workers from Randive Incorporated installed a steel framed box in the winch room reinforcing the hull and allowing for more stability. Contracted divers also removed and made minor repairs to the dredge vessel's three spuds. The spuds were damaged from the impact of the collision and were holding the vessel in the ground. The repairs needed to make the vessel capable of transit to the Brooklyn Navy Yard took seven days.

NOAA's Office of Response and Restoration, the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG), and the New York Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), are partnering to produce an updated survey of Long Island's coastal shorelines to help officials develop hazardous spill response plans for areas at high risk. NOAA will survey the shorelines of Long Island, focusing on shoreline types, natural resources, and historic structures most at risk for a hazardous spill. Long Island is at risk of oil releases due to the sheer volume of oil-related activities and shipping in its coastal waters that are associated with a large offshore oil platform, off-shore lightering operations, bulk fuel storage facilities, pipelines, and a commercial power plant.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Office of General Counsel has settled a multiple-violation shark case with the owner of Brooklyn-based Agger Fish Corporation. The fish dealer admitted to purchasing shark meat and fins without a federal permit, failing to report the vast majority of those purchases to federal authorities, and possessing fins from seven shark species that are prohibited from harvest under federal law, including basking and white sharks. he settlement agreement requires Agger Fish to pay a civil penalty of $750,000 and forfeit nearly 1,000 lbs. of dried shark fins, including more than 230 lbs. from prohibited species worth approximately $80,000. An additional $250,000 penalty was suspended.