Navy: Petroleum product spills at Bangor's shoreline are 11,890 gallons of oily water

Peiyu Lin, Kitsap Sun
·2 min read

BANGOR — Approximately 11,890 gallons of oily water was leaked from a failed onshore discharge pipe at Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor to Hood Canal between March 13 and 14, the U.S. Navy said.

On March 13, the Navy found a petroleum product spilled at the Bangor waterfront and the source of the spill was later identified as a leaking onshore underground pipe. The Navy stopped the leak by the afternoon of March 14, the Kitsap Sun previously reported.

A file photo of the waterfront at Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor. The Navy said on Wednesday that the petroleum product spilled at the shoreline of Bangor between March 13 and 14 was an estimated of 11,890 gallons of oily water.
A file photo of the waterfront at Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor. The Navy said on Wednesday that the petroleum product spilled at the shoreline of Bangor between March 13 and 14 was an estimated of 11,890 gallons of oily water.

In a statement updating the incident, Naval Base Kitsap on Wednesday said the petroleum product was identified as oily wastewater, and the volume of the spills was over 11,000 gallons.

"The estimated volume of oily water leaked into the Hood Canal is 11,890 gallons, estimated to contain 595 gallons of petroleum product," Naval Base Kitsap said in the statement.

The failed discharge pipe that caused the leak runs along the causeway of a Navy pier above water and the pipe was used to transport oily water off vessels, according to the statement.

The cause of the pipe failure is under investigation, the Navy said.

Since March 15, Washington's Department of Health has closed commercial shellfish growing area of a portion of the eastern shoreline of Hood Canal from Devils Hole Beach to Delta Pier due to the oil spill, according to the state agency.

The Navy said there are no indicators of impacts to wildlife in the area.

The Coast Guard, Washington State Department of Ecology, Port Gamble S'Klallam Tribe, and the Navy are operating under a unified command to continue cleaning up the oily water and monitoring, according to the statement.

More: Unknown volume of petroleum product spills at Bangor's shoreline

A total of 9,800 feet of containment boom has been deployed, and two specialized vessels — skimmers — are collecting remaining product found on the water, the Navy said in the statement.

"Crews continue to work on shorelines, though the amount of sheen in some areas is too thin to be recovered," the Navy said.

"There is not yet an estimate for when response efforts will be completed," the Navy said in the statement.

This article originally appeared on Kitsap Sun: 11,890 gallons of oily water leaked to Hood Canal from Bangor base