100 pounds of oily tar globs cleaned from Delaware beach

Julia Rentsch
Salisbury Daily Times

Nearly three months after an unknown spill sent heavy fuel oil floating up and down the coastline of Delaware and Maryland, globs of tar are still turning up.

The 100 pounds of oily debris collected from Towers Beach south of Dewey on Wednesday were certainly from the same oil spill, said Lt. Cmdr. Frederick Pugh, chief of incident management for the Delaware Bay Coast Guard. 

The oil, missed during the intensive two-week cleanup last fall, had likely been covered with sand due to weather, Pugh said.

A team of 10 contractors from Lewis Environmental removed the oil on Wednesday, according to a Coast Guard news release.

Background:Estimated 215 gallons of oil wash ashore at Delaware's Broadkill Beach: DNREC

The source of the oil spill has still not been identified, despite the Coast Guard investigators' efforts, Pugh said.

"We ran down all leads that we had originally," Pugh said. "Our crews looked at all vessels transiting the area in the Delaware Bay and cross-referenced the types of fuel and petrochemical products those vessels may have been carrying. ...Unfortunately, none of those products that were on board came back in any way resembling the product we recovered on the beach."

The spilled product was a heavy fuel oil with a relatively high sulfur content, Pugh said. Because fuels of this type lead to particularly high sulfur oxide emissions when burned, they have mostly been phased out.

"To find an oil of that high of sulfur content nowadays is exceedingly rare," Pugh said.

The oil spill, originally estimated at around 215 gallons, ultimately affected nearly 60 miles of coastline in Delaware and Maryland.

More:Delaware Bay Oil spill: Cleanup wrapping up after more than 75 tons of debris collected

After two weeks of intensive cleanup, the team of about 100 federal, state and private staff members were sent home after collecting 75 tons of oily debris.

The Coast Guard does not believe the spill will impart any prolonged impacts on wildlife, Pugh said.

The public can report sizeable portions of oil or oily debris on the sand or in the water, as well as any oiled wildlife, to their respective state agencies.

For reports concerning the Delaware coastline, call DNREC’s toll-free environmental hotline at 800-662-8802. For reports concerning the Maryland coastline, call the Maryland Department of the Environment at 866-633-4686.

Regional environmental watchdog reporter Julia Rentsch can be reached at jrentsch@delmarvanow.com.