Oil barge runs aground, no leaks reported

ILWACO, Wash. – Crews worked Sunday to retrieve an oil barge that broke away from a tugboat near the Columbia River Bar and ran aground in a cove near North Head, north of the river’s mouth.

Although the barge’s cargo tanks were empty, 5,000 gallons of diesel fuel remained in a double-hulled tank, said Gary Faber of Foss Maritime, which owns the tugboat.

No fuel had leaked by Sunday evening, the U.S. Coast Guard said in a joint press release with the Washington state Department of Ecology.

The tugboat Howard Olsen was pulling the barge Millicoma in severe weather crossing the bar when a tow line broke Saturday night, the press release said.

The barge drifted 3 1/2 miles to a cove near North Head in Washington state, where it was located Sunday morning.

The barge was heavily damaged, Faber said.

He said his company contacted the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality as well as the Coast Guard, and Washington state Department of Ecology.

“We have response personnel on scene to retrieve the barge when the severe weather breaks and allows us access to the barge,” he said.

An environmental response company has sent a team to the site in case there is a spill, the press release said.

The cause of the accident was being investigated. No injuries were reported.

A second barge being towed by the tug did not break loose and reached moorage in Portland.