A large amount of diesel fuel has spilled into Elliott Bay in Seattle after an operation to remove fuel from a vessel went wrong. According to the Washington Department of Ecology, more than 25,000 gallons of diesel escaped into the water, turning what was meant to be a routine and controlled procedure into a major environmental incident on the city's working waterfront.
The trouble began during a fuel removal from the USS Sampson, an operation in which diesel is drawn out of a ship's tanks. The department says the process went sideways when an issue with a hose allowed the fuel to spill instead of being safely transferred. It was that hose problem, rather than a collision or a sinking, that turned the defueling into a spill.
The picture of just how much fuel was lost has shifted as officials worked to measure it. Early estimates placed the volume that seeped into Elliott Bay at somewhere between 2,400 and 5,000 gallons, but the latest official account puts the figure much higher, at more than 25,000 gallons. The exact total is still expected to become clearer as the assessment continues.
One factor working in responders' favor was that the fuel spilled into an area that had already been ringed with containment booms. The vessel was inside a pre-boomed zone, meaning floating barriers had been placed in the water around it before the work began. That precaution is designed to hold spilled fuel close to its source and keep it from drifting across the bay.
With the diesel largely confined to that boomed area, crews were able to move quickly. Officials said recovery efforts started soon after the spill occurred, with responders working to skim and collect the fuel from the surface before it could spread further or reach more of the shoreline around the harbor.
Elliott Bay sits at the heart of Seattle's busy waterfront, a stretch of water lined with docks, piers and marine traffic. A diesel release of this size in such a setting draws close attention, both because of the potential harm to the water and marine life and because of the visible sheen and odor that fuel can leave behind on a heavily used urban harbor.
For now, the focus remains on containing and recovering the spilled fuel and on nailing down exactly how much diesel ended up in the bay. Questions are also likely to follow about how the hose failed during the operation, as officials work to account for the full scope of the spill and its impact on Elliott Bay.