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Officials say 336,000 gallons of diesel fuel spilled into the waters between Staten Island and New Jersey after a storage tank was lifted and ruptured from the surge from Sandy.
All of the spilled fuel is believed to be contained by booms put in the Arthur Kill waterway, the Coast Guard says.
The liquid leaked at the Motiva oil tank facility in Woodbridge, N.J., according to authorities.
Read more stories on NBCNewYork.com
Coast Guard spokesman Les Tippets says a secondary tank caught most of the fuel and that the liquid that escaped moved into the Arthur Kill.
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Superstorm Sandy made landfall Monday evening on a destructive and deadly path across the Northeast.
About 200 responders were on scene to contain the spill.
Full coverage of Sandy from NBC News
New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection spokesman Larry Ragonese says the company reported the spill and hired contractors to clean it up.
Air samples collected by the Coast Guard at Arthur Kill showed levels within acceptable thresholds Wednesday.
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Could this fuel have been removed from the storage tanks and transported somewhere safe prior to Sandy? In other words, with the long advanced warning of Sandy, could this have been prevented?
No, 330,000 gallons were spilled. It would take about 37 tanker trucks to move it all and that tank is one of many at the site.
I'm sure it's tempting to assume that companies and people have unlimited godlike powers, but no it was probably not possible.
Your taxes will probably increase by $150 next year in order to make it possible next time.
Pierce Morgan was asking that same question about the hospital generators going out. "Who can we blame?" Pierce seems to be a confrontational interviewer though and likes to stir things up.
The fact is, nobody predicted it would get that bad. Infrastructure planning goes back for decades and costs billions of dollars. You can't just change things with a weeks notice or even a years notice in most cases.
To concentrate on placing blame on infrastructure at this point is an exercise in futility in most cases.
recon the price of diesel will increase to make up for what spilled...those CEO's need their 800 million retirement packages...let the losers who live there deal with it and pay for it...like that's the politically correct thing to say...that's what the paid off politicians always say...hope ya had a great Halloween...and didn't eat to much candy corn...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=raa0T-gdA8I
John "The fact is, nobody predicted it would get that bad"
what news coverage were you watching? everything I saw was predicting it would be the worst storm we've ever seen. in some ways, I thought perhaps it might have been worse - given the size and strength of the storm.
dont get me wrong, it's bad enough...some of hte worst damage we've ever seen.
but it could have been worse, and many of us heard that warning loud and clear.
I dont understand how you didnt?
Just moving it is not that easy and produced inherent risk in itself. Even with vessels that are supposed to be designed to hold up, occasionally sh!# happens.
To back up what Johnbarker is saying: As far as hospital gens that quit, people gotta know that over half of the ridiculously high hospital bills that we gripe about constantly are because a health care facility is constantly subjected to TJC (Joint Commission), CMS, state health board and others inspections. Generally as many as 5 inspections a year, if you get busted for something, even more. My point is that generator systems have mandated monthly test that have to be absolutely documented and if you get caught falsifying a test (think pissed off employee or ex-employee here) you can lose accreditation, worse if CMS pops you, they can cut off all payments immediately (oh but you have to continue treating any medicare and medicaid patients you have under your care for free if you want a hope of getting accreditation back).
NO hospital intentionally puts their patients in danger, it is really bad business. I do know this for fact since designing hospitals is what I do for a living now.
How you liking that climate change now?? Still think its hokus pokus?
Dont forget to fill up the SUV...
The type of vehicle you drive has no bearing but rather the number of miles you drive your vehicle, so get off your soap box. I have an SUV and I am retired and have had it for 18 months, guess what, I still haven't turned 6,000 miles yet. How about all of the people who commute to work and drive alone say 30 or more miles each way every day. I know you have drove more miles and burned up more gas than I have idiot!
Show me a causal relationship between climate change and the east coast hurricanes of the 1950's, and we'll talk.
denver, the difference in today's climate is in the difference in sea level height and the temperature and pressures at the poles. The warmer weather in the Arctic actually aggravates the weather system south of the Arctic. This is all due to global warming and CO2 released into the atmosphere. This data comes from the ice cores that go back 10's of thousands of years.
As long as people continue to deny the global warming issue, these so called '100/500 year events' will continue to become more frequent.
ABigJRFan does have a point though. A guy and his SUV is not a major contributor to green house gasses compared to the steel smelting plant that supports a city's economy.
But I never could understand why the large vehicles in urban areas are popular. Unless you have a large family to ferry around, it's not very fuel efficient. But SUV's for more rural residents, no problem.
The "big car thing" is a part of the American culture, though, encouraged by the manufacturers and oil companies.
Except for the local dense urban areas, cars are low on the list of polluters compared to industry itself.
And on the global level, cars do little compared to the plants and factories of civilization. But every little bit of conservation effort helps to reduce the problem.
What you say may all be true. Global CO2 and mean sea levels have both been rising. Now show me a causal relationship between that and east coast hurricanes.
"But all he'll ever say is Neigh, Neigh, Neigh" Gay Purree
Why drive a bigger vehicle? Because you can't fit a refrigerator in a Yugo.
I drive a dually truck, and, I haul an 18k lb triple axle toy hauler, ya can't pull that with a VW bug.
People buy what they need. We can't all afford specific vehicles for specific tasks, for exampe, the truck that hauls heavy stuff, the grocery store runner, the mid distance light vehicle,the vehicle that can carry 5 to 8 etc. We just don't all have that much money to put into that many machines.
Umm, ok, so tell me, with all of the very expensive measures we have already implemented, has a measurable change been observed? anywhere?
All I see is people whining more and more about global warming and that we need to do more and more to try and change it, but we aren't having much effect now are we?
It isn't worth bankrupting our society to try and change something that is out of our control, and, even worse to keep trying when there are no measurable improvements.
Phil - of course there are measurable improvements (not just from cars)...China is going through the same industrial revolution we went through, complete with all the toxic waste dumping and air pollution and water contamination we experienced. there will come a point when the realize that poisoning their nation and people, wasnt worth the money they temporarily made...just like we did.
and EVEN IF it doesnt have any impact on the warming earth, it'll have an impact on our quality of life...and 1/4 of our income wont be going towards energy needs. IMAGINE what that would do to global economy to free up a fourth of the average persons income?
yes, some really rich people/industries will lose...but we'll all gain.
and thats the exact reason they are fighting the evolution away from fossil fuels toward renewable energies. they stand lose, while we stand to gain...
unless you have tons of stock in coal/oil...im not sure why you're so hellbent on protecting them and their riches. every fear mongering tale they weave, isnt to scare you into maintaing the status quo for no reason...it's to ensure their fortune doesnt go up in smoke.
You could always do your part to fight climate change by turning your computer off and leaving it off.
Actually Jessica, if you look at one of the causes of US companies moving business to Mexico and China, you will find that oppressive EPA standards is one of them.
So when you say only a few rich people lose, check out all of the unemployed people that used to have jobs in the auto, steel, coal, manufacturing and mining industries. They have lost too, in a BIG way.
I am not arguing whether they (companies) are right or wrong, but perception is reality, companies have the perception that the only way they can compete is to move. So now we have an issue in America, one of our strongest points, our manufacturing savvy and natural resource pool has left the building for greener (less EPA controlled) pastures and we can not survive as a service country. We already have plenty of lawyers and reporters.
We don't control other countries and can't control what they put into the air. I personally believe that it is extremely shortsighted and arrogant of people in the US to think that we are the only one that can "make a difference". Our population can go back to cave-dwelling and guess what, within a couple of years, no one will give two seconds thought of it. If you REALLY want to make a difference, go out in the back yard and kick your own arse for two hours because half of what you own is a Chinese import, or because you are driving a Nissan or some other foreign car. Is there no freaking pride left in this country, have we all turned into such beat down apologist that now we have to apologize to the earth too?
Is this what the reporters have been smelling and reporting about? If it is, it's not contained as this story claims. How much of a risk is it to the homes in soaked and everyone's health?
nope what they were smelling was falling out of a helicopter flyover...........
what they are smelling is gas from broken lines. The kind of gas used in heating.
I read some where Romney is saying as long as it's in the lower end of New York City where the 47% live it's not a problem. He's not worried about that part of town.
ahh the sign of a true lib lemming, no facts- no problem, just make em up as you go..........
Tramp:
Did your read your previous post? Or even think about it?
JC - lol, that was hilarious!
what is wrong with people?
damn I cant wait for the election to be over, though im not stupidity will cease.
Don't let the Obama administration hear about this, there will be some kind of moratorium brought about.
There are probably a lot more fuel spills than this. The devastation is immense.
My prayers go out to everyone having to deal with that mess.
John, you are likely correct, think of all of the vehicles that are underwater, those systems aren't water-tight, a lot of gas and oil floating around. Probably several septic systems got flooded out too, maybe a few dumps, etc. Flood waters = NASTY
It looks like the Motiva facility had plans in place in case a spill like this happened, and followed through on them. We had a pipeline leak 800,000 gallons of crude oil into a small river here in 2010. I don't know if the pipeline company had plans in place to take care of a spill of that size or not, but they certainly were not monitoring leaks from this pipeline, or there might not have been such a large spill. The river just opened to the public again after two years of clean up. (Enbridge Pipeline, Kalamazoo River, 2010)
Why contain it? Just hire BP to pour 10,000,000 gals. on toxic dispercent on it. Problem sovled, or dissolved or whatever, you can't see it anymore.
Water between Staten Island and NJ polluted? How can you tell?
No worries, nothing to see here, just move along now.
What people need to realize is that all of the past events of global warming and ice ages have been causing the growth in vegetation that lock up carbon and depositing the earth and dead matter that bury this biomass and convert it into methane, oil, and gas while trapping it in earth deposits and permafrost preventing it from being released into the atmosphere. This is the first time in our earths history where we have reversed this process and instead of trapping these gases we are releasing them while stripping the planet of the very resources (biomass such as trees and plant life) that it requires to remove these gasses. Add to this the melting of permafrost which releases tonnes of methane as well and we may well see greater extinction level events than we have already caused to plant and animal life on the planet.
OMG, we survived Sandy and now we are all going to die!
So we discovered that a GIANT black hole is at the center of our galaxy and we are stuck in its gravitational pull, and over the course of billions and billions of years we will eventually get sucked in. According to mainstream science that is.
If thats true, who the f cares about global warming?
Remember the ice age was 20,000 years ago? How did the earth warm up without our carbon footprint? This is what our planet does. It gets cold, then hot. Eventually so hot we can't survive, then cold again, and we start over.
We should be more concerned with getting off this rock then trying to preserve it. Now obviously i'm not saying let these oil companies go crazy and pollute the earth. But lets get real here guys. We are only hurting ourselves right now until we become energy independant. And until someone can find a profitable way to produce clean energy, we will never have clean energy.
On a side note.. i hope everyone is ok in the wake of Sandy. My family has lost a lot from the storm, so i know first hand how devastating it has been. We lost our vacation home at the shore, and so far our homeowners insurance has told us that since we didn't have hurricane insurance we won't be able to collect any money from them. We will see though...
Plznomoredems
People have this belief that for some reason they can change the normal course of the life/death on this piece of space flotsam that we call Earth. As you note, "earth" has gone through and will continue to go through glacial and inter-glacial periods and the species we call "human" will never be able to alter it.
I'll agree that we should do what we can to make life as pleasant and safe as possible while we exist, but eventually, our species will cease to exist, as many before us have. That's not a fatalists view, it's reality.
I wish you and yours well. My family has also lost a great deal to the effects of Sandy. Very fortunately, no one was killed or injured, but their lives have been turned upside down. But, they'll get through it with help from friends and family.
I believe it was Trace Adkins that said in song: Tough times don't last, People do.
And the people will get through these tough times.
Seems kind of pointless if we can't escape that gravitational pull that you mentioned.
On a side note... its scary to think that Joe Biden actually thinks he could be a presidential canadate in 2016. Dude is a frigging lunatic!
I don't care if you're democrat or republican, this guy has no right in any position of power.
just doing his job deflecting from the real issues for his pal barry and a lack of any kind of substantial record , ( that THINKING America actually wanted anyway) but the job of buffoon fits him very well doesn't it.
scooter, I still think of "Of mice and men" when I see angry Joe. I don't know why?
I still with the people in NY good luck cleaning. They need to chat with some folks from Mississippi, Louisiana, Houston, etc for a bit of advice on fastest cleanup. I still think Mississippi was the record holder after Katrina!
the storm was more than what usually happens in the north east,
but that's no excuse for incompetence,
then how long will the clean ups take?
the answer is how long does it take to wait for the federal funding to begin.
Over 300,000 gallons of fuel,maybe NJ has oil eating fish.Lets be glad the storm wasn't bigger,lets say a catagory 5 like in 1938..
I wonder just how much oil was actually saved by the berm walls placed around the tank since water sinks to the bottom of the oil and it was water, lots of it, that knocked the tank off its foundation in the first place. I think that the berms are supposed to contain the capacity of the tank that it surrounds but the water would prevent that I think. Hope they can recover most of it anyway.
The possibility of that is zero, nada, zilch.
The containment was flooded and the tank leaked... into the flooded containment sending the fuel into the fast rushing waters.
gotta have some kind of excuse to gouge the people at the pump ya know.
Environmental planning along with building industry is possible...but we need to connect all the right people to make it happen...extremely large sites would be needed to build multi-use industries...coal fired power plants/steel plants on the same site while exhausting emissions into large ponds/lakes to promote algae growth to be utilized for biofuels which also can be developed on the same site...lots of infrastructure and water...possibly cogeneration to make it all work...but we can do it...we have to do it as it would promote lots of needed jobs as well...
Sky High costs are on their way. This storm will have repercussions across the United States. It's hard to imagine the losses the people on the East Coast are going through.
Similar to Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh's Earth Day celebration