Oil Spill in California Is Fraction of Rhode Island’s Last Two Spills

Oil Spill in California Is Fraction of Rhode Island’s Last Two Spills

The oil spill in California has closed beaches, killed fish and fowl, and has been tagged as a major environmental disaster. It is estimated that 100,000 gallons have been spilled.

 

The oil spill off the southern California coast left fish dead, birds mired in petroleum, and wetlands contaminated, in what local officials have called an environmental catastrophe.

GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST

But the spill is a fraction of the size of spills that have hit Rhode Island.

In 1989 and 1996 Rhode Island waters suffered two significant oil spills.

1989 Newport - World Prodigy

First, on June 23, 1989, the M/V World Prodigy oil tanker ran aground on Brenton Reef, off Newport, pouring 290,000 gallons of home heating oil into the water that encompasses a 123-square mile area of Narragansett Bay. The spill closed the bay and impacted wildlife, shellfish and lobster beds. 

The pollutant was a lighter oil and as the temperatures were high and the oil stayed primarily on the surface much of the pollutant burned off over the weekend.

Hundreds of RIDEM workers and contractors worked for weeks in the emergency response and the ongoing cleanup. 

"The tanker World Prodigy, which spilled hundreds of thousands of gallons of oil into Narragansett Bay in June 1989, was not under the control of any of her officers for several minutes before she ran aground, the National Transportation Safety Board said today. In a report on the accident, the safety board blamed the ship's captain, Iakovos Georgudis, for the spill, saying he was so tired after nearly a day and a half without rest that he allowed himself to get distracted with paperwork while the vessel passed on the wrong side of a buoy and onto a reef several hundred feet off Rhode Island," wrote the New York Times in 1990 followup on the review of the spill.

"The captain and the Greek concern, the Ballard Shipping Company, pleaded guilty in August 1989 to Federal charges of causing the spill, a misdemeanor, and agreed to pay fines of $510,000. Although many details of how the accident occurred have been known for a year, today's report is the first official and comprehensive explanation."

 

1996 South Kingstown - North Cape

On January 19, 1996, the tank barge, North Cape, and the tugboat, Scandia, grounded off Moonstone Beach in southwestern Rhode Island, spilling an estimated 828,000 gallons of home heating oil. This spill was the worst in Rhode Island history.  Oil spread throughout Narragansett Bay and spread to Block Island Sound and beyond, including shoreline of the Trustom Pond National Wildlife Refuge.

According to a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration report, the spill killed massive numbers of marine animals including 9 million lobster, 150 million surf clam, 4.2 million fish, and over one million pounds of other organisms such as worms, crabs, and mussels.

A 250-square mile area of Block Island Sound was closed to fishing and shellfishing for an extended period following the spill, and 3,300 lost commercial charter-boat trips resulted. In the coastal salt ponds, one-half million fish, 6.5 million marine worms, amphipods, and more than one million crabs, shrimp, clams, and oyster were killed by the spill.

Additionally, 2,100 marine birds, including 402 loons, died as a result of oiling.