Gary Merrick News

President George W. Bush is briefed on port security issues as he walks with Capt. James Tunstall, Commanding Officer at Group Charleston and Cmdr. Gary Merrick, Commanding Officer at Marine Safety Office Charleston and Captain of the Port. The President spoke to about 3000 people which include personnel from most branches of the Armed Forces, Citadel Cadets, U.S. Border patrol and many others from the Charleston area. USCG photo by PA2 Dana Warr

Clean up crews working on the Cooper River Oil Spill are concentrating their efforts today on the remaining heavily concentrated areas of recoverable oil between Piers Delta and Pier Papa on the Old Navy Base in Charleston. Contractors will also be replacing saturated absorbent boom with new absorbent boom to facilitate collections efforts. To date, more than 700 gallons of oil has been recovered using skimmers, absorbent pads and boom. The spill still remains a mystery but more than 100 people from 10 different federal, state and local agencies are aggressively working to clean up the oil spill. Presently, over $225,000 has been spent on the recovery effort and the ceiling for the clean up was raised from $500,000 to $750,000 today.