By ANDREW COEN
The quick response to the accident helped prevent any of the thousands of gallons of home heating oil the vessel was carrying from leaking into the water, officials said.
According to Coast Guard officials stationed at Jones Beach, the Kristin Poling, a 281-foot tanker owned by New Jersey-based Poling & Cutler Marine Transportation, ran aground on the sandy bottom of the inlet about 450 yards from the beaches of Far Rockaway at midnight on Friday, and authorities were notified immediately. The East Rockaway Inlet, at the western end of Reynolds Channel and the Long Beach barrier island, is a major shipping route for maritime traffic headed to Oceanside and Island Park.
The Coast Guard is investigating the cause of the accident, which occurred when waves were reported at four to six feet and a southwest wind was blowing at 10 to 15 knots. The channel is only 12 feet deep and requires frequent dredging, Coast Guard officials said.
Authorities from several agencies monitoring the scene determined that none of the tanker¹s 672,000 gallons of home heating oil leaked into the water. The vessel was headed to Sprague Energy in Oceanside, according to Coast Guard officials. None of the seven people aboard the ship was injured.
The incident marked the second time in 17 months that the waters off Atlantic Beach were threatened with environmental disaster. In June of 2005, a small diesel fuel spill occurred when a tugboat was towing a houseboat from the South Shore to just west of the Atlantic Beach Bridge, off Beach 9th Street in Far Rockaway, and some of the houseboat¹s fuel leaked into the water.
Lt. Scott Zelenetz of the Atlantic Beach Fire and Rescue Squad, which responded to the scene last weekend, said the vessel has run aground three times. It did so on Dec. 3, 2004, while carrying about 756,000 gallons of home heating oil, prompting temporary restrictions on fuel barges in the area, according to Coast Guard officials. Commander Bob McKenna said that as a result of that incident, barges were required to carry lighter loads.
The New York State Department of Conservation also responded to the accident, along with Nassau County police, fire officials, the Hempstead Bay Constable and representatives of the ship¹s owners. Emergency responders lightened the vessel on Saturday by pumping some of its diesel fuel onto a barge. Tugboats stationed nearby pulled the tanker as it began to float on Sunday, and the vessel was freed without further incident, according to Zelenetz.
Though the single-hulled ship sustained no damage, before it was pulled free the Coast Guard directed Poling & Cutler to ensure adequate pollution containment in case of a leak. Officials explained that recovery equipment, including containment booms, could have been deployed had the worst-case scenario of an oil spill occurred.
Coast Guard officers monitored the situation from aboard the Kristin Poling as well as from small boats sent out from the Coast Guard station at Jones Beach. Coast Guard helicopters from Air Station Atlantic City also responded. "With so much oil on board, the potential environmental damage could have been catastrophic," Zelenetz said.
"Almost 10,000 feet of containment booms were put in place in key areas to ensure that in the event of a spill, the effects would be minimized," said Atlantic Beach Fire and Rescue Chief Neil Metz.
Comments about this story? ACoen@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 210.
