News stories tagged with "oil-spill"

(06/24/10) State officials in New York announced yesterday that they're suing BP. They hope to recover hundreds of millions of dollars in losses suffered by the state's pension fund after the oil giant's stock price plummeted. Brian Mann has our story. more

(06/11/10) As the effects of the Gulf oil spill continue to grow, all was calm and sunny on the St. Lawrence River Wednesday. That was the setting for the St. Lawrence Seaway to test its spill response plans. The exercise raised two questions. Should some of the containment boom and manpower positioned along the St. Lawrence be used to help in the Gulf? And if the River were to be the site of a spill today, could America fight oil spills on two fronts? David Sommerstein reports. more

(05/18/10) Hurricane season starts soon. Experts predict an active season with four "major" hurricanes. What happens if a storm hits while there's still an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico? Tanya Ott reports. more

(02/18/10) Save the River, based in the Thousand Islands, wants the St. Lawrence Seaway to make public how it decides when to open the waterway every spring. The environmental group has filed a legal petition with the federal government. David Sommerstein reports. more

(09/14/06) A tanker had gone aground on Whiskey Island shoal on the St. Lawrence Seaway, spilling 100,000 gallons of thick oil. That was the nightmare scenario emergency responders on both sides of the river faced in a drill exercise last Thursday and Friday. 150 people charted the simulated oil's progress downriver, laid booms to contain it, and then reviewed what went right and wrong. As David Sommerstein reports, the exercise demonstrated the first hours after an accident need the most attention.

(06/29/06) This summer marks the 30th anniversary of the "Slick of '76", a 300,000 gallon oil spill in the heart of the Thousand Islands. Thick, gooey crude coated the shoreline from Alexandria Bay to Massena. The accident remains one of the largest inland oil spills in the United States. Many river residents still remember where they were on June 23, 1976. The event re-shaped the way a generation views its relationship to the river and the giant freighters that ply its waters. David Sommerstein reports.

(06/23/06) 30 years ago today, on a foggy morning, the NEPCO 140 barge hit a shoal in the St. Lawrence River near Alexandria Bay. The barge spewed 300,000 gallons of thick, gooey oil into the river. The "Slick of '76," as it's known today, stretched as far downriver as Massena. It remains among the largest inland vessel oil spills in the United States. Next week on The 8 O'Clock Hour, we'll hear from the people who saw the spill unfold, the people who helped clean it up, and the people who are passing on the memories of the oil spill to a new generation. Today, Martha Foley talk with someone who tried to measure the Slick of '76 in human terms. John Omohundro is a professor of anthropology at SUNY Potsdam. In 1976, he got a grant from the Coast Guard to study the spill's impacts on people's work, their recreation habits, their social networks.

(07/28/04) Shipping on the St. Lawrence Seaway reopened at 6:20pm yesterday as officials work to remove a grounded tanker barge from the river near Alexandria Bay. The barge was carrying liquid calcium chloride, a kind of salt. Some 12,000 gallons of the chemical escaped into the river before the leak was stopped. As David Sommerstein reports, Vicki Garcia of the St. Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation says the Canadian owned tug boat Salvor was pushing the barge downriver early yesterday morning when the tug's steering malfunctioned.

(05/21/02) A cargo train struck a boulder on the track near Port Henry just after ten o'clock Monday morning. The Canadian Pacific train spilled 700 gallons of diesel fuel. Brian Mann reports DEC officials are working to clean up contaminated soil near the track.