Fuel transfer from grounded Alaska tug is done

By MARY PEMBERTON | Posted: Saturday, December 26, 2009

The tug Pathfinder is surrounded by a spill containment boom Thursday, Dec. 24, 2009, in Prince William Sound, Alaska. The Pathfinder, a 136-foot tug scouting for ice along Prince William Sound's oil shipping lanes near Valdez, Alaska, grounded on Bligh Reef on Wednesday. (AP Photo/Anchorage Daily News, Marc Lester)

Photo by: Marc Lester

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Salvage crews have completed transferring thousands of gallons of diesel fuel from a stricken tug boat that crashed into the same reef that damaged the Exxon Valdez 20 years ago, a spokesman for the tug's owner said Saturday.

Crews finished transferring about 49,000 gallons of fuel and water mixed from the two damaged tanks late Friday, said Jim Butler, a spokesman for Crowley Maritime Services. On Saturday morning, the U.S. Coast Guard, state of Alaska and Crowley _ owners of the stricken tug _ had agreed on a tow plan to bring the boat back into the Port of Valdez, Butler said.

Officials had hoped to remove the fuel from the tugboat's tanks early Friday before towing it back to Valdez, but diesel removal was halted after about 10 minutes when workers noticed a new sheen on the surface of the water, said Coast Guard Lt. Erin Christensen, a spokeswoman for the joint information center.

Helicopter flights measured the sheen at 50 feet wide by one-mile long, Christensen said.

The 136-foot tug Pathfinder had just finished checking for dangerous ice and was heading back to port in Valdez when it hit Bligh Reef at 6:15 p.m. Wednesday.

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