US Navy Ship Spills Oil near Tijuana River

Hundreds of gallons of oil leaked from the San Diego-based guided-missile destroyer USS Dewey on October 4 while the vessel was near the mouth of Tijuana River, a US Navy spokesperson confirmed.

Around 700 gallons of oil were spilled due to a mechanical failure aboard the ship, media reports suggest. At the time, USS Dewey was some 4 miles off the coast of Imperial Beach, California.

Helen Haase, Navy Region Southwest Environmental Public Affairs Officer, said that the Navy pilots and Coast Guard observers “did not see the sheen during the 4 pm flight” on October 5.

“They did a complete search of the area in a grid pattern and no one was able to see any sheen in the water.”

Another flight over was planned in the morning hours on October 6 for final verification, due to inconsistency with sheen and original modeling that was created earlier.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) officials earlier informed that the oil sheen could reach land last Thursday afternoon, however the spill did not move from the incident area, media sources cited Haase.

World Maritime News Staff