THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, September 2, 1996 TAG: 9609020043
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SERIES: Elizabeth River
This is the first in an occasional series by The Virginian-Pilot
following the problems and progress in cleaning up the highly polluted
Elizabeth River.
SOURCE: BY SCOTT HARPER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: 142 lines
No one is quite sure when the Parris Island, a rusting 170-foot tug boat, was deserted in a shallow inlet of the Elizabeth River. Since the owner can't be found, state officials guess the tug has been listing near the Campostella Bridge for several years.
Maybe longer.
This slowly sinking vessel has caught fire twice and has been used by renegade boaters as an illegal dump for waste oil and fuel - both of which have leaked into the river. Removing the craft has been stymied by complex maritime laws and a lack of money.
Officials consider the Parris Island a poster child of sorts for an unsightly problem that poses environmental and safety risks throughout the river. The old tug represents the worst-case scenario for what can happen when boats, piers and bulkheads are abandoned and left for others to worry about.
``It's pretty sad, isn't it?'' said Jay Lipscomb, an environmental manager with the Virginia Marine Resources Commission, as he gazed at the Parris Island during a field trip Thursday to map deserted structures on the river.
The Elizabeth River Project, a grass-roots coalition bent on cleaning up one of the most polluted waterways on the East Coast, has targeted abandoned boats and piers as one part of its ong-term restoration strategy.
The coalition of conservationists, citizens, business leaders, military officers and government experts is trying to revive the Elizabeth through consensus and volunteerism, rather than relying on government, which typically has led environmental cleanups.
Lipscomb conducted a study of the abandoned-boat problem in 1990, and found that ``we had massive structures out there that would take millions (of dollars) to remove,'' he said.
He and other marine officials urged the state for years to appropriate money to at least start addressing these hulking eyesores. Their requests were rejected each time - until this year.
Spearheaded by state Sen. Stanley C. Walker, D-Norfolk, the Virginia General Assembly approved $200,000 to identify and begin removing abandoned vessels from the river over the next two years.
The field trip Thursday, in conjunction with the Coast Guard, the Army Corps of Engineers and the Elizabeth River Project, was the first step in what officials concede will be a long, difficult and expensive effort.
``Why can't boating and industry cohabitate with natural beauty?'' asked Robert Dean, an environmentalist and former Virginia Beach city councilman who is co-chairing a subcommittee of the Elizabeth River Project dedicated to derelict vessels.
``It's crazy that people don't maintain or take responsibility for their property in this way. I mean, c'mon! This is about helping your community,'' Dean said.
During Thursday's tour along the Southern and Eastern branches of the river, where heavy industry and shipyards dominate the shoreline, those aboard witnessed something rare - a junk vessel actually being pulled from the river.
Across from Elizabeth River Park in Chesapeake, on Scuffeltown Creek, a marine contractor attached a steel cable to the hull of a rusting barge belonging to Carpenter Construction Co. and slowly pulled the hull from the water.
The action came after months of state inspections, investigations, letter-writing, negotiating, prodding and, finally, legal action, Lipscomb said.
``And this one went pretty smoothly, really,'' he said with a wry smile, noting how it was easy for the state to identify the barge's owner; the company logo was stenciled on its side.
Two other vessels belonging to Carpenter also must be removed from the narrow creek, according to a court order won by the state this summer, Lipscomb said. They include a second big barge with an attached crane that leans precariously toward the water.
The Southern Branch, the most industrial stretch of the river, hosts the most troublesome abandoned vessels, officials agree. They noted a preponderance of large barges and retired ships that often contain oil and fuel, hydraulic fluids and even asbestos. All are toxic.
``That's when we have the biggest pollution threats,'' explained Lt. Eric Runnels, a spokesman for the Coast Guard's Marine Safety Office in Hampton Roads. ``You also have a lot of boat traffic in here, so the navigational hazards and obstructions are very real. That's our big concern.''
On the Eastern Branch, a handful of barges and fishing boats were seen in disrepair Thursday. Most were stashed in shaded coves along the shore. Others, including a long, rusting barge just east of the Campostella Bridge, were sitting directly in the navigational channel.
``I don't know where that one came from,'' Lipscomb said, peering at the barge through binoculars. ``I see a lot of new vessels I haven't seen out here before.''
He said many boat owners who abandon their vessels will first erase identification numbers, so government officials can't track ownership.
If officials don't know who owns a derelict boat, they can't force a removal, and the problem becomes one the state, federal or local government must address, Lipscomb said.
Rick Henderson, a navigation specialist with the Army Corps of Engineers, said the legal protections afforded boat owners is quite extensive, making government removals difficult and sometimes disastrous.
Henderson recalled a case in Rhode Island in which the city of Newport lost a lawsuit after removing a boat that had been deserted along the resort waterfront for three years.
The city, he said, had issued a public notice that it intended to remove the boat and also sent letters to the owner informing him of pending action. The owner sued and won in court after arguing that the city illegally confiscated his property.
``The laws are so complicated, so touchy, it's just incredible,'' Henderson said.
During his career in federal government, Henderson said he has succeeded only once in removing a derelict boat. He did so because he proved the craft was a navigational hazard.
``I think it's terrible that people can get away with this,'' he said, ``but they often do.''
Randy Owen, a Virginia Marine Resources Commission staffer who will oversee state efforts at removing abandoned vessels from the Elizabeth, said the $200,000 in state aid will not likely go far.
He will cruise creeks and inlets for the next several months and map where derelict craft and piers lie. Then, some time next year, the cumbersome process of yanking such structures will begin, Owen said.
But considering that extracting a single barge can cost as much as $80,000, Owen said he hopes to persuade local governments along the river to chip in matching funds to tackle longstanding hulks.
One of those certainly will be the Parris Island.
Contractors already have tried cutting sections of the old tug away with blow torches. But the vessel has caught fire twice during this salvaging.
Years ago, officials said, the old tug was converted to a menhaden fishing boat. The owner tried to sell it, first as a commercial fishing craft and later as scrap.
When no buyer surfaced, the owner vanished and the state has watched in quiet frustration as the old vessel has slowly deteriorated on a muddy shoal, officials said. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by BETH BERGMAN/The Virginian-Pilot
Two members of the Elizabeth River Project, Del. Thelma Drake and
Okie Thompson, a retired Coast Guard captain, survey an abandoned
Carpenter Construction Co. barge.
KEYWORDS: POLLUTION ELIZABETH RIVER ABANDONED BOAT BARGE by CNB