Thursday, May 24, 2012
By John Richardson jrichardson@mainetoday.com
State House Bureau
More than two miles of oil spill containment boom will be on its way from Maine to the Gulf of Mexico within the next few days, according to Congresswoman Chellie Pingree.
The Maine Department of Environmental Protection prepared the 13,900 feet of containment boom at the request of officials directing the cleanup of the BP oil spill off Louisiana. But the equipment has remained in warehouses in Portland and Bangor awaiting trucks to transport it south.
Boom is the lightweight material that contains oil on the surface of the ocean. The governor of Louisiana said this week that boom and other equipment were in short supply.
Told yesterday about the boom sitting in Maine warehouses, Pingree said she contacted the Marine Spill Response Corporation and was later assured it would be picked up in the next few days. The corporation is the owner of the Maine Responder, a Portland-based spill cleanup vessel that is helping to recover oil in the Gulf of Mexico.
BP is buying the boom and has agreed to replace it with a different type of containment boom requested by the DEP.
Meanwhile, the DEP is still waiting for a response to its offer to send eight to 10 trained responders with oil-cleanup vessels and other equipment to the spill site.
Copyright ©2012 MaineToday Media, Inc.
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