New NOAA Report Examines National Oil Pollution Threat from
Shipwrecks (Click to enlarge) Disabled T/B DBL 152 vessel
discharges oil into the Gulf of Mexico in 2005. (Credit: ENTRIX,
Inc.) NOAA presented to the U.S. Coast Guard today a new report
that finds that 36 sunken vessels scattered across the U.S.
seafloor could pose an oil pollution threat to the nation’s
coastal marine resources. Of those, 17 were recommended for
further assessment and potential removal of both fuel oil and
oil cargo. (From ScienceDaily) — The sunken vessels are a legacy
of more than a century of U.S. commerce and warfare. They
include a barge lost in rough seas in 1936; two motor-powered
ships that sank in separate collisions in 1947 and 1952; and a
tanker that exploded and sank in 1984. Read the full story »