HOUSTON — The Coast Guard continues its response Thursday to the report of a ruptured condensate oil and natural gas pipeline near Cameron, La., received Wednesday by watchstanders at Coast Guard Marine Safety Unit Lake Charles.

At approximately 8:30 p.m., Wednesday, the dredging barge Bayport reported that a 12-inch, condensate oil and natural gas pipeline was ruptured during a dredging operation within the Calcasieu Ship Channel.

The Coast Guard Captain of the Port immediately established a two-mile safety zone around the area and a broadcast notice to mariners was issued, urging mariners to proceed with caution when transiting this area. The Captain of the Port also closed the Calcasieu Ship Channel to all traffic as of 9:42 p.m., Wednesday.

The Coast Guard Captain of the Port has reduced the safety zone from a two-mile radius to 1,000 yards. This will allow vessels with drafts less than 32 feet to navigate safely around the established 1,000 yard safety zone. Once the Captain of the Port has verified that the pipeline poses no risk to 40-foot draft vessel traffic, the Calcasieu Ship Channel will be reopened.

At 8:15 a.m., Thursday, an MH-65 Dolphin helicopter and crew was launched from Coast Guard Air Station Houston to assess the extent of pollution.

The aircrew did not observe any visible signs of condensate oil pollution in the water.

The platform A, located in West Cameron block 62, owned by El Paso Exploration and Production Company, L.P., has been shut-in, which means no further release is anticipated.

Stingray-Enbridge, the pipeline owner, has been identified as the responsible party. Stingray-Enbridge is mobilizing personnel and skimmers to commence clean-up activities.

The Coast Guard and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement are investigating the cause of the incident.

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THEBES, Ill. – The Coast Guard has closed a portion of the upper Mississippi River, Wednesday, after an uninspected towing vessel allided with a railroad bridge.

Watchstanders with Coast Guard Sector Ohio Valley received a report at 10:04 p.m., that the uninspected towing vessel, Jay Luhr, allided with the Thebes Railroad Bridge, causing the vessel’s tow of 25 loaded rock barges to break loose. Twenty-four barges have been accounted for and one remains in the waterway.

The Mississippi River will remain closed from mile marker 43, near Thebes, to mile marker 0, near Cairo until all the barges have been recovered.

An Urgent Marine Information Broadcast has been issued. 

There are no reported injuries or pollution.

The Coast Guard is investigating the cause of the incident.  

 NEW YORK – Dr. Olivia Hooker, 97, who holds the distinction of being the first African-American woman admitted into the U.S. Coast Guard in 1945, addresses an audience at a Women’s History Month celebration at Manhattan’s Federal Hall on Wednesday, March 30, 2011. Dr Hooker, who went on to earn her doctorate in psychology, joined the service as a SPAR (Semper Paratus, Always Ready), the acronym used for female service personnel during World War II. U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Thomas McKenzie.

 NEW YORK – Vivian Davis, a National Park Service Ranger based in Manhattan’s Federal Hall and dressed as a World War II American Red Cross Clubmobile worker, delivers a speech during ‘Women at War’, a Women’s History Month program on March 30, 2011. U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 1^st Class Thomas McKenzie.

CRESCENT CITY TSUNAMI OPERATIONS CENTER NEWS RELEASE

Date: March 31, 2011 Time: 1000

Media Contacts:

Rachel Polish, U.S. Coast Guard, (415) 713-7224

Alexia Retallack, California Dept. of Fish and Game, (916) 952-3317

Kevin Metcalf, U.S. Coast Guard, (281) 851-4546

Location:   Crescent City Inner Basin Harbor, Crescent City, California

Cause:   Tsunami following 9.0 earthquake in Japan (March 11)

Operational Update:

• Five sunken vessels that posed a pollution threat have been extracted from the harbor. 

• The crane removed a total of 10 pilings that impeded access to the remaining several sunken vessels in inner harbor that pose a pollution threat. A total of 16 pilings will be removed. 

• As part of the removal process, the depth and GPS (global positioning system) location for each removed piling are recorded for use by the harbor during dredging and rebuilding.  

 • Cleanup crews have removed approximately 1,441 gallons of petroleum products from damaged vessels and 1,395 cubic yards of debris from the inner boat basin. A total of 1,300 feet of containment boom has been deployed.

• The Unified Command’s primary goal is to complete pollution mitigation operations as quickly and safely as possible so Crescent City can begin restoring its harbor.

• The current federal project ceiling from the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund is $2.75 million for pollution mitigation at the Crescent City Harbor. The project budget can be adjusted as needed. 

• The Unified Command is working with more than a dozen local businesses, including commercial divers, restaurants and hotels, and remains committed to using local resources whenever possible.

• There are 49 personnel participating in the response effort. This includes USCG, DFG and contractors.

• Those seeking to transfer their fishing vessel permits should contact the Department of Fish and Game’s License and Revenue Branch at 916-928-7470.

Closures or restrictions: 

• During crane operations, access will be limited to portions of “A” dock as a safety precaution.

• Between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., C, D, E, and F docks are open to owners of vessels within the boomed off area. Vessel owners should contact Coast Guard Auxiliary members at the Harbor Office to schedule vessel access. For emergencies only, owners wishing to access their vessels outside of that time frame may contact the Coast Guard. Requests will be considered on a case-by-case basis. Personal flotation devices are required on all docks.

• Harbor is closed to the public at night, from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m., until further notice.

• Safety zone is in place for the inner boat basin only. The harbor is now open to vessel traffic.

Harbor operations: 

Crescent City Harbor asks affected boat owners to contact the harbor at 707-464-6174 ext. 22 to provide the following information: Boat name, official number/VIN, fuel capacity, actual fuel onboard, and contact information.

Wildlife:  There have been no reports of oiled wildlife. Monitoring is ongoing. 

Crews deployed:  U.S. Coast Guard, California Department of Fish and Game (DFG), Harbor District personnel and oil spill response organizations.

Information numbers:

Crescent City Harbormaster’s Office: 707-464-6174 ext. 22

Report oil: 1-800-852-7550

Report injured wildlife: 1-877-823-6926

DFG’s License and Revenue Branch: 916-928-7470

Media Alert: Media interested in viewing operations should coordinate access with the Joint Information Center at (281) 851-4546. Safety procedures will be strictly enforced, so media personnel are encouraged to bring U.S. Coast Guard-certified lifejackets and hard hats, which are required to enter the operational area. The Crescent City Tsunami Responders have limited safety gear to offer interested attendees.  

Caribbean Border Interagency Group law enforcement crews interdicted 21 Dominican and Haitian migrants Tuesday during an at-sea interdiction off of Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico.  The Coast Guard Cutter Nantucket repatriated 16 migrants to La Romana, Dominican Republic Thursday morning, while five others were brought ashore by CBIG authorites Wednesday to face judicial proceedings in Puerto Rico.  Photo provided by Caribbean Border Interagency Group.

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - The crew of Coast Guard Cutter Nantucket repatriated 16 Dominican and Haitian migrants to La Romana, Dominican Republic Thursday morning, following an at-sea interdiction by Caribbean Border Interagency Group (CBIG) law enforcement crews Tuesday.

The crew of a U.S. Coast Guard Air Station Miami HC-144 Ocean Sentry aircraft located a 20-foot yola Monday morning, while patrolling waters approximately 12 nautical miles west of Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico. The migrants were traveling illegally to Puerto Rico from the Dominican Republic.

The crew of a Puerto Rico Police Joint Forces of Rapid Action marine unit interdicted the migrant vessel as it approached Cabo Rojo, and they assisted in safely embarking all 21 migrants, five Haitian and 13 Dominican men and three Dominican women, aboard the Coast Guard Cutter Nantucket. The crew of the Nantucket conducted a background check on the interdicted migrants by collecting and processing their biographic information, including their digital fingerprints and facial photographs. 

The Nantucket rendezvoused with Ramey Sector Border Patrol Agents in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico Wednesday, who conducted migrant interviews and took five Dominican men into custody to face judicial proceedings ashore for attempting to illegally reenter a U.S. territory.

The crew of the Nantucket repatriated the remaining 11 Dominicans at approximately 8 a.m. Thursday to La Romana, Dominican Republic, where they turned custody of the migrants over to awaiting Dominican Republic Naval authorities.

Coast Guard Cutter Nantucket is a 110-foot patrol boat home ported in St. Petersburg, Fla.

The concept of CBIG resulted from a March 2006 collaboration of local Homeland Security components that effectively stemmed the increased flow of traffic across the Mona Passage between the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. In July 2006, CBIG was formally created to unify efforts of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Office of Air & Marine (A&M), Office of Field Operations (OFO), and Office of Border Patrol (OBP), the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) the United States Attorney ‘ s Office, District of Puerto Rico, and Puerto Rico Police Joint Forces of Rapid action (FURA) in their common goal of securing Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands against illegal maritime traffic and gaining control of our nation’s Caribbean borders.

CLEVELAND – The Ninth Coast Guard District announces Thursday a boundary realignment involving three of its subordinate sectors that serve the Great Lakes, in order to better balance span of control and provide better service to members of the maritime industry.

Specifically, the Ninth District has determined that crews would be in the best position to serve the public if Station Charlevoix, Mich., and Station Alpena, Mich. – previously falling under the command of Sector Lake Michigan in Milwaukee and Sector Detroit, respectively – would fall under the jurisdiction of Sector Sault Sainte Marie, Mich.

This sector boundary realignment takes effect Friday morning.  It impacts the geographic boundaries of three of the four sectors that make up the Ninth District; Coast Guard Sector Buffalo‘s area of responsibility will remain unchanged.

This boundary shift represents an opportunity to provide better customer service to the maritime industry.  For instance, previously, operators of commercial vessels and marine facilities in northern Michigan that required Coast Guard inspections were serviced by marine inspectors from areas as far away as Detroit, Milwaukee or Grand Haven, Mich.  Following the boundary realignment, inspections can be conducted by personnel from Sault Sainte Marie, which allows for greater efficiency, resulting in a quicker turnaround for those vessels and facilities.

Stations Charlevoix and Alpena would continue to operate within the same areas of responsibility as they have for many years; they would just fall under the operational and administrative control of a different sector command.

Coast Guardsmen from Station Charlevoix have protected citizens in Lake Charlevoix and Lake Michigan for more than 100 years.  Station Alpena was established in 1988 and, unlike Station Charlevoix’s primarily active-duty crew, it operates with a complement of active-duty, reserve and Auxiliary during the summer search and rescue season.