Delaware Department Of Natural Resources And Environmental Control News

An emergency dredging project is set to begin and be completed by the end of August to restore navigability in the Murderkill River, the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control announced on Tuesday. Permitted by and with modification approvals from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and DNREC regulators, the project calls for removing approximately 52,000 cubic yards of sediment from the river’s navigation channel. DNREC will then make beneficial reuse of the dredged sand to nourish up to 1…

The fire on board the barge in the Delaware Bay that started burning on Monday, has been extinguished Tuesday, and Northstar Environmental and Marine Services has been contracted to assess the integrity of the vessel and manage salvage operations, U.S. Coast Guard said Wednesday.A Unified Command consisting of representatives from Eastern Metal Recycling, New Jersey Office of Emergency Management, Cumberland County Office of Emergency Management, New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, and the U.S. Coast Guard has been established to oversee salvage operations.According to the U.S.

A fire broke out on board a refrigerated cargo ship at the Port of Wilmington, in Delaware, late Monday evening.The crew aboard the Dole containerized fruit carrier contacted U.S. Coast Guard Sector Delaware Bay at approximately midnight, reporting that an engine fire erupted shortly after leaving port.The vessel quickly activated its firefighting system, energizing a carbon dioxide system to flood the engine room and rob the fire of oxygen, and safely moored back to the pier.

The , a 600-ft. Liberian flagged tanker, is anchored in the and near Reedy Point Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2008, after it ran aground with 21 people aboard Monday, Sept. 29, 2008, near the St. George Bridge 30 miles south of . Members of the Coast Guard, Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control and the New Jersey State Police responded to the grounding.

The Coast Guard, Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC) and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) are continuing to lead the recovery and clean-up of oil spilled in the upper Delaware Bay Tuesday. Shorelines impacted in Delaware by the spill include Port Mahon, Kelly Island and Pickering Beach. These areas have been reported to have light amounts of tar balls ranging from dime to baseball size. There is also a report of a scattered concentration of tar balls four-miles off of Bowers Beach, which oil skimming vessels are in the process of recovering. As a preventive measure, the NJDEP has closed 70,000 acres of New Jersey's oyster beds to prevent potential environmental contamination.

The Coast Guard, New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control are working together to clean up an oil spill. The crewman onboard the tug Liberty notified the Coast Guard that oil was floating in the upper Delaware Bay. Marine science technicians from Sector Delaware Bay and a helicopter from Air Station Atlantic City were deployed to survey the scene and begin initial assessments. The sheen is a narrow band of oil five to six miles long, near the center of the bay in the main shipping channel, east of Port Mahon in Kent County, DE. The clean-up efforts of the spill began after the determination to use federal funds was made. Funds from the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund (OSLTF) will be used.

The Coast Guard, Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC) and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) continue to lead the recovery and clean-up of oil spilled in the upper Delaware Bay. As a preventive measure, the NJDEP has closed 70,000 acres of New Jersey's oyster beds to prevent potential environmental contamination. The Captain of the Port of Philadelphia has also issued a safety broadcast to mariners informing them of the obstructions to navigation due to the deployment of protective booming. Under direction of the Captain of the Port, protective booming which will limit or prohibit access to waterways has been placed in Back Creek, Nantuxet Creek, Fortescue Creek and Dividing Creek on the New Jersey side of the Delaware Bay.

The owners/managers of the Bermuda Islander, a Netherlands registered 340-foot container vessel, have activated The O’Brien’s Group, a spill management consultant, and agreed to take over the coordination of, and accept costs relating to recovery and clean-up operations of an oil spill in the upper Delaware Bay that happened Tuesday. The owners/managers, JR Ship Management, have been cooperating with the Unified Command since Thursday afternoon. Clean up costs had initially been funded by the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund. The Bermuda Islander was determined to be one of the vessels of interest based on information received as part of an ongoing investigation into the source of the spill.