By Megan Sayles
AFRO Staff Writer
msayles@afro.com
Baltimore officials have officially started clean-up efforts in Harbor East following a 2,000-gallon fuel spill on June 4. The leak was reportedly caused by the overfilling of two diesel tanks during a standard fuel delivery to Johns Hopkins Hospital.
The city of Baltimore, State of Maryland and the U.S. Coast Guard have been working together to assess, contain and respond to the spill since 2 p.m. on June 4. The spill is currently contained in the marina at the South Central Avenue Bridge, spanning approximately 100 by 250 yards.
“We are now roughly 26 hours into this coordinated response. Folks have worked through the night and the day to mitigate the impact of this spill and have made significant progress in a short amount of time,” said Mayor Brandon M. Scott during an afternoon press conference on June 6. “This morning, we laid out where we wanted to be at this point in the process, and I’m thankful to say that we have met many of those objectives, and we’re exactly where we need to be at this particular time.”
Officials from the Coast Guard and Baltimore City Fire Department (BCFD) are collaborating with four environmental contracting companies to clean up the spill. They are using oil-absorbent materials and skimmers that feed into vacuum trucks.
BCFD crews also conducted a flushing operation, opening hydrants North of the spill site to push remaining oil through storm drains in a controlled manner. This goal was to prevent run-off from expected weekend storms by clearing the system before rain could move the oil unpredictably. Crews have also set up three containment booms around the affected area as a precaution ahead of the inclement weather anticipated for this weekend.
Dye in the diesel fuel turned the portion of the Inner Harbor red on June 4, but much of it has dissipated. A rainbow-colored sheen now coats the surface of the water. State and city officials confirmed that there has been no impact to drinking water in the area.
“If you were out here this morning, that water was red. Last night, it was even worse. It was like wine,” said James W. Wallace, Baltimore City fire chief. “Today, as we stand here, the water is beginning to return to its normal color. Instead of seeing overall red, you see small streaks of red, some sheen and patches of red.”
Johns Hopkins Hospital initially reported a 200-gallon diesel spill at 11 a.m. on June 4. A couple hours later, the Baltimore City Fire Department deployed to respond to a 911 call for a fuel spill in a Harbor East marina.
By 6:48 p.m., Johns Hopkins Hospital amended its report to indicate a 2,000-gallon uncontained spill.
“On Wednesday, during routine fuel delivery by a third-party vendor, two diesel tanks which supply power for backup generators for our patient care facilities at Johns Hopkins in East Baltimore were accidentally overfilled causing overflow,” wrote a spokesperson for Johns Hopkins Medicine in an email to the AFRO. “We immediately notified the Maryland Department of Environment (MDE) of the overflow while continuing to investigate, and we proactively reached out again to MDE as we learned more about the estimated overflow volume. We also are actively working with local, state and federal authorities to support the response in the Baltimore Inner Harbor.”
Response operations will pause overnight in order for crews to rest and further assess the progress that’s been made so far. Traffic disruptions, including closures from Central Avenue to Fleet Street, are expected to persist throughout the day on June 6. Officials asked members of the public to keep clear of the spill area to support responders on site.
