Delaware Oil Spill Much Bigger Than Initially Thought - LA Times [View All]

NEWARK, Del. — Like a mutant blob in a bad horror movie, an oil slick first thought to be relatively small has grown bigger and more menacing over the past week, oozing its way down both banks of the Delaware River.

When the Greek tanker Athos I began leaking heavy Venezuelan crude into the river the night of Nov. 26, it appeared to be a manageable spill confined to a riverside terminal — just 30,000 gallons, according to estimates.

But authorities now warn that it could be as much as 473,500 gallons, a gooey mess that has spread to 70 miles of shoreline across three states.

Investigators are trying to determine whether a gash and a puncture in the ship's hull were caused by an 11-ton, 13-foot-wide propeller that fell off a dredge owned by the Army Corps of Engineers in April and was left on the river bottom. The muck has killed birds, fish and turtles. It has shut down a nuclear plant and threatened a dozen freshwater streams and tributaries. It has slid past a pristine nature reserve and spread to within three miles of drinking water intakes for Philadelphia and southern New Jersey."

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http://www.latimes.com/news/science/environment/la-na-spill4dec04,1,57792.story?coll=la-news-environment