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EPA Gives the U.S. Coast Guard Go-Ahead Needed to Prevent Total Break-Up of Grounded Ship

Release Date: 02/04/2000
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(#00028) San Juan, Puerto Rico -- EPA has issued an emergency permit to the U.S. Coast Guard to offload 14,000 metric tons of hardened cement from the cargo hold of the grounded vessel, SERGO ZAKARIADZE, to prevent the harmful release of fuel oil and dry cement into environmentally sensitive areas in and around San Juan Harbor. Using an emergency permit issued late yesterday, the U.S. Coast Guard will break up the hardened cement and transport it to a location more than 3 miles from the coast of Puerto Rico for disposal into waters that are 1800 feet deep. By removing the hardened cement, which is weighing down the vessel, the Coast Guard hopes to refloat the SERGO ZAKARIADZE before it breaks up. If the vessel were to break apart, the remaining 3,000 gallons of fuel oil in the bottoms of the vessel fuels tanks could spill. The remaining dry cement would be released and would raise the pH level in the waters surrounding the vessel and could smother nearby reef areas, harming local marine life. This emergency action will prevent environmental and navigational harm that would almost certainly result from a total breakup on the vessel. "By allowing this offloading, we are preventing what could be an environmental disaster," said Jeanne M. Fox, EPA Region 2 Administrator. "Given the depth and location of the waters, the disposal of the hardened cement will not harm the environment. If we were to do nothing, we'd be gambling with the environment and safety of the Harbor." On November 18, 1999, the SERGO ZAKARIARDZE ran aground at the entrance of San Juan Harbor. In the months since the grounding wave action has caused the vessel's structure to deteriorate and crack. Water has entered the cargo holds and has caused some of the dry cement to set-up. The U.S. Coast Guard has removed most of the fuel oil from the vessel. Efforts to refloat the vessel have been foiled by the vessel's weight and further complicated by bad weather.