Oil Spill Blog

Boatyards and ports contribute a lot to the economic development by providing services for boats and ships belonging to public as well as private sectors. Despite the fact that pollution occurring in marinas, boatyards, and ports seem trivial, their consequences are as serious as that of bigger oil leaks. Carrying out pollution prevention techniques in these regions is highly necessary. Source reduction and recycling programs can help a lot. However, you should first understand the various sources of pollution.

The first source of pollution that seems to be a biggest challenge is activities concerned with boats and ships. As activities, such as maintenance, fueling, repair, and painting cannot be restricted; a pollution prevention strategy must be carried out instead. Limiting various activities like boat/ship painting, blasting, sanding, and stripping to a specific area, can help prevent pollution to a great extent.

Vessel operations are the next source of pollution! Every vessel owner or operator must ensure that vessel sewage is managed properly and effectively. Improper discharge of bilge water that is contaminated with oil, fuel, or other contaminants is illegal. So, use oil spill cleaners like Oil Gone Easy Marine S-200 to remove the port oil spills before subjecting your boat/ship for bilge pumpout. Oil spill removers should also be used while loading and unloading of vessels as there are pretty good chances of oil leaks. Dry dock maintenance and non-dry dock containment are some vital factors to be considered. Above all recycling of materials like glass, aluminum, plastic, trash, newspapers, and batteries in specific collection facilities can be of great help.

Besides these factors, other possible pollutants include heavy metals, hydrocarbons, toxic chemicals, and PCBs. It is high time that we start realizing the seriousness of this issue and put a stop to the pollution occurring in marinas, boatyards, and ports.

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Constant loading and unloading of oil tankers and other vessels in ports make the place prone to toxic pollution. As these places are just a stone’s throw away from the marine environment, it is crucial to make sure that port oil spills and other port wastes don’t disturb the aquatic beings. Apart from the pollutants generated by normal port operations, the area gets even more polluted if port tenants dump wastes nearby.

A similar situation arose in 2007 in Port of Los Angeles. The US EPA found that four tenants of Port of Los Angeles were discarding wastes into San Pedro Harbor. Oil and greasy wastes, metals, acidic wastewater, and other industrial pollutants were some of the trash dumped into the harbor. These violations came to light when the U.S. EPA and the Los Angeles Regional Quality Control Board conducted an inspection covering ports located in Los Angeles and Long Beach. These firms were later fined for violating the Clean Water Act!

One thing is pretty clear from the Port of Los Angeles issue. Apart from waste management plans and environmental laws, an effective cooperation between the port officials and the tenants is needed to keep the ports free of pollution!

Port oil spills and wastes can be minimized to a certain extent, but completely avoiding them is way beyond reality. So, there undeniable has to be an effective remedy to deal with environmental issues in ports and harbors. If chemical cleaners and detergents are used to get rid of the wastes, then there is every chance that these cleaners make their way into the ocean waters. So, idea of substituting chemical cleaners with eco-friendly cleaners should reinforced.

Oil Gone Easy S-200 is a green formulation that will prove helpful while clearing out oil wastes. It will also not cause any kind of environmental threat. This product makes use of oil-eating micro organisms to convert oily wastes into nontoxic byproducts. With such eco-friendly products and a deep sense of respect for nature, we will definitely be able to make our planet clean and green!

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First Time Sailors – Boat Safety Tips!

Do you have a passion for sailing, but lack the much needed confidence? Then, following simple tips will help you sail like a professional! First and foremost, wear your life jacket all the time. It is the best friend for all first time sailors out there. Before getting into the waters, know the safe speed limits and abide by them.

As safety should be the first thing on your mind, inspecting the weather conditions is also crucial! Never venture into the sea without ensuring if your boat insurance is in order. Above all, check if the boat you will be sailing is sea worthy. Beware of oil spills. As there are stringent laws attached when it comes to water pollution. Unobserved but incessant oil spills can not only damage your boat, but can also pave way for some heavy penalties!

Taking care of your boat is very important in terms of personal and environmental safety. The first step in boat care is proper cleaning. It’s always good to wax or paint your boat once in a while. Flush your engine every time it’s out on the shore, and remember to cover it after the job is done. Check the batteries of your boat; you could get into trouble in mid sea if you don’t. Most importantly, pay a lot of attention to your boat’s bilge!

The boat’s bilge is the lowermost section where two sides meet. This part of the ship is prone to oil spills and collects water and oily residues, often causing a foul odor. Oil spews out from the engine and through a series of limber holes, eventually makes its way into the sea. No need to explain what it does to the marine ecosystem! So, cleaning your bilge is extremely important.

You can get a number of chemical bilge cleaners out in the marine hardware stores. However, most of them are harmful chemicals and when they are let into sea water after cleaning; the situation becomes worse than the oil spill itself. Some sailors place absorbent pads around the engine to soak up the leaking oil. These pads just suck up the leaking oil, but never remove it entirely. So, you should ideally be using eco friendly spill removing products.

Oil Gone Easy Marine S-200 is one such formulation that uses oil eating bacteria to cleanup oil spills. Available in 5-gallon pails, you even stock up this eco-friendly oil spill cleaner in your boat before you leave on your sailing trip and get a clean boat and an oil-free marine ecosystem! Let’s march towards a green planet!

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Concrete Oil Spill Cleanup Made Easy!

With the increasing oil spill tragedies in the sea, there is so much talk about oil spills these days. Yet, most of us fail to notice the oil spills that occur at our homes every day. Do you often wonder why your driveway is turning grayish day by day? The reason might be pretty much evident. Check if your car is spilling too much oil.

Anyway, you car might not be the only source for concrete oil spills at your outdoors. Vehicles of your visitors or passer-by trucks can also spew oil in front of your gateway. These are situations you have no control over. However, you cannot sit idle after knowing that there’s a spill. So, here are some tips for you to cleanup those unsightly concrete oil spills.

It’s best to avoid wire scrubs to cleanup spilt oil from your concrete driveway. Besides leaving a lot of oil intact, these scrubs damage the concrete surface too. In addition, ground water safety is also at stake. If you want to safeguard your ground water, then do not, at any cost, seal the oil spilt area with fresh cement. This method causes a certain amount of oil seepage into the ground, and in the long run has a toll on the water table.

Do you use chemical oil dispersants to cleanup oil spills on your concrete driveway? Then, we suggest you better stop doing it. Chemicals especially muriatic acid and silane siloxane that are used in these cleaners erode the concrete surface leaving a permanent scar. Sometimes, people use kerosene to remove oil spills. Besides being very tricky to handle, kerosene also raises environmental concerns.

So, the best alternative to all these techniques is to go green. By doing this, you’ll not only be saving yourself, but the environment too. Try Oil Gone Easy Home & Driveway S-200, an eco-friendly oil spill cleaner, to cleanup oil spills. This green oil spill cleaner uses oil eating bacteria to clean up the spill. It can be used on concrete, asphalt, granite, and many other surfaces without compromising on environmental and personal safety.

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The Impact of Highway Oil Spills on Traffic!

Highway accidents due to oil spills are not uncommon. However, highway traffic hold ups due to oil spills is one thing we could have experienced, but not given a second thought. There need not necessarily be an accident to hold up the traffic, just a spill is enough.

Recently, a semi truck roll over was reported on Kings Highway, just north of Rampart Blvd overpass. Not only was the truck’s driver injured in the accident, even the traffic came to a standstill. It was reported that large oil drums in the truck spilled as many as 1000 gallons of oil into the dirt.

A similar, but more serious incident was reported on I-95 in Stratford, where a trailer tractor spilled 25 gallons of gasoline near Exit 34. Even though no accidents or injuries were reported, the oil spill delayed traffic on the right and middle lanes of the highway for more than an hour. Even the entire northbound traffic was also held up for about five minutes. The area was reopened for use only after a sand truck scattered sand all over the place. A fireman who was at the scene, termed the surface as dangerous and slippery.

In San Leandro, two lanes on the transition ramp from southbound Interstate Highway 880 to southbound Interstate Highway 238 were closed down due to a big-rig accident. Consequently, the oil tank was punctured leading to an oil spill in that area. No injuries were reported. The lanes remained closed as the clean-up crews removed the truck and started the clean-up operations. Just as in the case of above incidents, there was a heavy delay in traffic.

So, isn’t it pretty evident from the above cases, that whenever there are accidents involving oil spills, there should be an effective remedy to clear out the oil spill? Instead of using chemical cleaners or sand, it’s always a safer and effective option to use green spill cleaners like Oil Gone Easy S-200.

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Cleanup Costs associated with Port Oil Spill Cleanup

Port oil spills create a huge havoc and affect the surrounding environment heavily. The cleanup of in-port oil spill incidents is not an easy task. There are many facets to an oil spill cleanup employed. Several factors, such as type of oil spilled, location of the spill, weather conditions, and the reach of the spill in sensitive areas determine the cleanup costs in ports.

The cleanup cost incurred is really high, especially when manual recovery is involved. The cleanup operations sometimes tend to render more environmental damage when compared to the situation where the oil would have been left to degrade at a natural rate. However, that cannot be the case all the time as public demands and aesthetic considerations require some action to be taken for cleanup.

Manual containment can be the most damaging of all the oil spill cleanup exercises. In cases, especially where oil reaches the shore, the situation worsens since the use of heavy equipment and human resources can cause the oil to seep further into the sand and pebbles. Also, there is a possibility of damage to the physical integrity of the beach and the sensitive shoreline flora and fauna.

The type of oil spilled also plays a major role in determining the cleanup cost. Usually oil with lighter density is easy to cleanup than heavy oils as it easily evaporates. However, emulsified lighter oils are usually viscous, resulting in amplified cost related to oil spill cleanup.

In most cases, use of a dispersant is enough to mitigate the problem and it is easy to use as well. But, dispersants tend to linger in the deep water causing after effects to marine life at an immeasurable rate. So, it’s always better to use bio-degradable oil spill cleaners like Oil Gone Easy S-200. No after effects, easy to use, reduced cleanup cost, and most important of all – it’s harmless on Mother Nature. There more, this product is available in convenient 5-gallon pails. Places like Port of Pensacola have tried this product, you should too!


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Dealing with Port and Harbor Stormwater Runoff!

Have you ever given a second thought to how disastrous stormwater runoff pollution can prove to be? If no, then you are also one among thousand others who do not take this issue seriously. Any activity in ports and harbors causing an eco hazard reflects badly on the ocean. For instance, when oil leaks out of large tanker vessels while loading or unloading, then there is every chance for the leaked oil to get into the ocean waters. The flora and fauna of the sea are most badly affected, not to mention the degradation of the water quality. Such ruining impacts on water quality and aquatic beings, damage the marine ecosystem as a whole.

You might think that the probability of port oil spills contaminating the sea is rather too low. It might be considered true to a certain extent, but what if there is a storm? Stormwater runoff carries all those toxic and oily wastes from ports and harbors and leads them directly into the sea.

Though we might not win if we fight against the force of nature, we certainly can prevent chemicals and oil from mixing with the runoff. Only ‘Best Management Practices’ to the ‘Maximum Extent Practicable’ at ports and harbors will help us deal with it!

Finding a solution to a problem is impossible without properly understanding the source of the problem. In this case, the source is nothing but pollutants in ports and harbors, and from where they surface. The pollutants here are antifoulants, oil spills, heavy metals, organics, and cleaning chemicals, and they come out from routine seaport activities like loading, unloading, and boat hull cleaning. Modifying these activities is way above practicality, so finding remedies to nullify these chemical pollutants will be a viable option. Having environmentally-friendly spill cleaners handy is always a safe choice.

Oil Gone Easy S-200, an eco-friendly oil and grease cleaner, is a great example. It enhances the growth of oil eating bacteria to degrade oil. By using this product in ports and harbors, we can rule out pollution issues dealing with oily and greasy wastes.

If essential steps are taken to use this green product in ports and harbors, then there is going to be a sharp decrease in oil spill contamination. However, when we talk about stormwater runoff pollution, stringent BMPs and regulatory practices are also obligatory.

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Los Padres Oil Spill

Oil spills harming aquatic birds and animals have become rather too common – the oil spill into the tributary of Sespe Creek being the most recent one. This spill has caused waves of distress among environmentalists as the water body at issue is very close to a condor reserve in the Los Padres National Forest. However, there are no reports of wildlife injuries as of now. An area, not very far from this spilt area, has already been affected by a similar oil spill tragedy that occurred in 2007 for which a lawsuit has also been filed.

The Los Padres oil spill was a result of a pump failure at a ‘produced water’ storage facility located nearby. Produced water is nothing but a mixture of water and oil that is used in the drilling process. According to reports, about 630 gallons of crude oil and 25,700 gallons of ‘produced water’ leaked into the river. Toxic chemicals and crude oil in the ‘produced water’ have made their way through the river and are expected to have long term ill effects on the environment.

Officials were able to identify oil coated rocks and an oily sheen on the surface of the water after visiting the spill site. What made the matters still more worse was that oil absorbent materials were used to clean up the oil spill. It is the last thing that environmentalists would wish for.

The problem with oil absorbents is that even if they manage to sop up the oil from the river, getting rid of the oil in the materials is still a question. So, there has to be an effective technique to remove the oil from those absorbent pads. Dumping them could only worsen the situation. Despite all these problems, people continue to treat oil spills using oil absorbents, skimmers, and boomers during ocean oil spills. This situation badly needs to change and pave way for environmentally-friendly cleaning options!

Oil Gone Easy S-200 is an eco-friendly oil spill cleaner that uses micro organisms to eat up the spilt oil. This revolutionary oil spill cleaner has been recommended for the cleanup of the Gulf waters. So, why not for the Los Padres oil disaster?

Greener products like Oil Gone Easy S-200 should be relied upon to clean up everything right from minor home oil spills to serious oil spills in the oceans. This product is available in 5 gallon pails also.

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Its good to own a home heating oil tank, but it needs to be maintained with great care to avoid those nasty leakage problems. Improper maintenance of the home heating oil system may not only cause serious environmental concerns, but also can cause you thousands of dollars in fines and cleanup operations.

Heating Oil System

So, if you’re planning to set up your own oil tank, then go for a double walled one. An extra layer of protection is always better. Here are certain things you need to do if you want to maintain your home oil tank properly.
Cleanup of oil spills from home oil tanks may not seem like a tough job when compared to indentifying the oil leak immediately. So, it’s always good to know the vital signs that tell you if your oil tank is in a bad shape. Oil spots around your tank, unpleasant odor in areas away from the oil burner are all indications of a possible oil leak. Lack of vegetation around the oil tank or abnormal increase in oil utilization, though trivial are potential signs of leaks.
During your spring cleanup task, take into consideration your home heating oil system too. The problem areas of your oil tank are the valves, piping, fuel delivery line, and other fittings. If you happen to find any worn out or damaged parts, replace them as soon as you can.
Condensed water and sludge accumulate inside the pipelines may lead to corrosion. As corroded pipes are prone to leak oil outside, try to carry out an overall cleaning of your home heating oil system at least once in few years.
Whether it is an above ground or underground oil tank, perform these regular checks. Don’t convince yourself by painting the concrete and think its good enough to leave it as such for a few more years.
However, if your oil tank company confirms oil leak from your tank, don’t panic. There are eco friendly oil spill containment products like Oil Gone Easy S-200 available in 5 gallon pails that employ micro organisms to remove the spilt oil. However, in case of major oil leaks, you ought to intimate the fire department and the State’s Department of Environmental Protection immediately.

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Stormwater Runoff

Stormwater runoff carries all types of wastes, anywhere and everywhere and ultimately drops them into rivers and streams. Oil spills are one of those hazardous wastes that can enter into the sea water along with the stormwater runoff. As ports are very near to the sea, oil spills in ports can cause too much of a damage to the marine ecosystem. Apart from port oil spills, construction sites also generate oil wastes that can add up to the environmental mess during a storm.

To prevent such problems, there’s the SWPPP – Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan in place. It is a water pollution control measure that should be completed and certified before any construction starts. This plan identifies possible pollutants in a particular site that may pollute the stormwater runoff. It tells you ways to reduce pollutants in stormwater and also describes Best Management Practices (BMP). Waste disposal is one of the important aspects of the SWPPP. Construction and pollution go hand in hand. But, you can very well manage it and keep the pollution level to a minimum.

Oily and greasy wastes are not uncommon in any port. However, what’s crucial is to manage this oily stuff in an efficient way. Oil spills that occur from loading and unloading of tanker vessels in ports, when mixed with stormwater, can find their way into the marine water causing serious ecological damages. So, safe storage and disposal of oily material in ports is really important to avoid such complications. With such drastic consequences of oil spills, we just cannot afford to ignore proper oil spill prevention and treatment.

It’s not that there’s going to be a storm whenever there’s an oil spill in ports. But, it’s always better to be safe than sorry. Oil Gone Easy S-200 is an eco friendly oil spill containment product that degrades oil into harmless byproducts. It can clear out the oil completely, and leave the environment pollution free. So, join hands to prevent stormwater pollution in a greener way!

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