Tosco cleans up oil spill

By Brendan Shriane

An oil tanker unloading Alaskan crude spilled more than 1,500 gallons of oil into Georgia Straight June 13.

The tanker Overseas Boston spilled approximately 37.5 barrels (1,575 gallons) of Alaska North Slope crude oil at about 12:35 p.m. while unloading at Tosco Refinery’s Sandy Point dock, west of Ferndale.

Tosco said an investigation has begun into the incident, but at this time no cause is known.

A crew of 180 people from Tosco, the U.S. Coast Guard, Washington state Department of Fish and Wildlife, Lummi Nation and private industry wound down cleanup efforts 48 hours after the incident. The crew used 17 boats, two helicopters and 18,000 feet of absorbent containment boom to clean the affected water and shoreline.

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