A barge carrying 420,000 gallons of black oil ran aground yesterday morning near the mouth of the Nanticoke River on the Eastern Shore, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.
No oil has been released from the double-hulled barge, according to Petty Officer John Edwards, a Coast Guard spokesman, but a commercial cleanup crew set up nearby as a "precautionary measure."
The tug pulling the barge reported the incident to Coast Guard Sector Baltimore about 7 a.m., just after it happened, Edwards said.
A Coast Guard inspection team was expected to arrive on the scene by about noon to begin trying to figure out what happened. The investigation will include standard alcohol and drug screening tests, Edwards said.
The tug, named Gold Coast, is owned by Dan Marine, and Vane Line Bunkering owns the barge, Edwards said. The companies are figuring out how to free the barge.
"It will be up to [the companies] to prepare a plan for review by the Coast Guard," Edwards said.
Edwards said it was not yet clear whether the shifting of the tide will be enough or whether the company will need to make plans to remove some of the oil from the barge to make it lighter.
Coast Guard officials did not immediately know which direction the tug was pulling the barge, nor the planned final destination for the oil, Edwards said.
Baltimore
: FBI
Head of office in city to retire
The chief of the FBI's Baltimore office will retire at the end of this month after a quarter-century of public service.
William D. Chase, 51, said in an interview yesterday that after overseeing local cases, including the theft of a Veterans Affairs computer with personal information about millions of service members and the corrupt dealings of a Maryland state senator, it was time to leave the law enforcement agency for the private sector.
"I have to start working on that college fund for my two boys," Chase said, calling his new job "a great new challenge."
He will become vice president for law enforcement affairs at i2S Inc., a Columbia-based professional-services company. His wife and two children have stayed in the Boston area, but Chase said he hopes to relocate the family to Baltimore soon.
No replacement was immediately named. Chase said he expects an interim chief to be appointed in the meantime.
As special agent in charge in Baltimore for almost two years, Chase oversaw about 180 agents in Woodlawn and about 200 administrative personnel in Maryland and Delaware.
