The following is the text of a press release issued by the U.S. Coast Guard:
(BALTIMORE) — The Coast Guard is responding to a tug and barge that ran aground this morning near the mouth of the Nanticoke River.
The tug, Gold Coast, notified Coast Guard Sector Baltimore at about 7 a.m. today that they had run aground while transiting through the Nanticoke River while carrying 420,000 gallons of black oil. Measurements of the barge’s holding tanks indicated that no oil has been released from the double-hulled barge.
A Coast Guard investigation team is en route to the scene via a response boat from Coast Guard Station Crisfield, Md. The investigation team will meet with crewmembers of the Gold Coast to begin standard investigation procedures.
The vessels’ owner is developing a salvage plan and a commercial clean-up crew has been contracted, and is pre-staging nearby, as a precaution.
