Seawater Pumped Into US Ship To Prevent Sinking

From the Manila Bulletin (Jan 28): Seawater Pumped Into US Ship To Prevent Sinking

The United States Navy salvage teams have pumped in 15,000 gallons of seawater into the tanks of the grounded USS Guardian to stabilize the ship and keep it from sinking after the same amount of fuel was sucked out on Friday.

Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesperson Lt. Cmdr. Armand Balilo said yesterday that this was done to ensure the ship would remain stable while awaiting the two US salvage ships that would likely arrive in February to extricate the minesweeper from Tubbataha Reef, Sulu Sea. “An equivalent amount of seawater was pumped on her fuel tanks after US salvage teams have removed the last of 15,000 gallons of diesel fuel last Friday,” he added. The fuel was placed aboard the US-contracted Malaysian tug M/T Vos Apollo.

Balilo stated that PCG ships monitoring the ongoing salvage works include the BRP Corregidor (AE-891), BRP Pampanga (SAR-003), the Philippine Navy’s BRP Mangyan (AS-71), BRP Rizal (PS-74) and BRP Ismael Lumibao (PG-383).

He also added that the USS Guardian is now in a stable position and in no danger of foundering.
As this developed, it was reported that the United States Navy paid Hawaii P610 million or US$15 million for coral damage in 2009 – a generous amount to cover the damage and rehabilitation efforts for the 890-square meter damaged coral reef.

Given that the area damaged by the USS Guardian spans at least 1,600 square meters in Tubbataha Reef, the cost of damage and rehabilitation should also be double the amount paid by the US Navy for the Port Royal incident in 2009, the World Wide Fund for Nature-Philippines (WWF-Philippines) said.

WWF said the grounding of USS Guardian is but the latest in a long line of scrapes between ships and reefs because in February 5, 2009, the USS Port Royal, a guided missile cruiser, ran aground less than a kilometer from the Honolulu International Airport in Hawaii, which destroyed about 890 square meters of coral reef.

The United States Navy promised to pay the State of Hawaii US$8.5 million to settle claims over coral reef damage, plus another US$6.5 million for reef restoration, including the reattachment of 5,400 coral colonies to expedite regrowth.

The total assistance provided by the US Navy amounted to US$15 million or about P610 million.
Tubbataha Reefs Park superintendent Angelique Songco cited that under Republic Act (RA) 10067 or the Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park Act of 2009, a fine of about US$300 or P12,000 per square meter is mandatory, plus another US$300 per square meter for rehabilitation efforts.

Given the estimated size of damaged reef, the minimum fine would be US$960,000 or P38 million.
Songco said further sanctions should include unauthorized park entry, non-payment of conservation fees, destruction of resources, and the obstruction of law enforcement.

“This is not the first grounding incident in the park – all previous cases paid the appropriate fines for damages. We will not ask for anything more than what the law requires. We wish only for the US Navy to be responsible enough when entering our protected areas,” she said. At present, the USS Guardian still sits on the northwestern portion of the Tubbataha Reefs’ south atoll. Two heavy lift ship-borne cranes are due to arrive in Tubbataha Reef on Friday to support the salvage operations of the mine countermeasures ship USS Guardian (MCM 5), the United States embassy in Manila reported.

“Like a ticking taxi meter, the passing of each minute and hour raises the stakes,” WWF-Philippines vice-chairman and chief executive officer Jose Ma. Lorenzo Tan said. “However, safety must be chosen over speed – hasty efforts might do further harm to the reef,” Tan, a member of the Tubbataha Protected Area Management Board, also said. United States Ambassador to the Philippines Harry Thomas Jr. stated that the US government will take steps to address the environmental issues that have arisen from the incident.

“Clearly, parallelisms between the USS Guardian and the USS Port Royal can be made. In the case of the Port Royal, the US Navy did the right thing by working cooperatively to fund the restoration and continued protection of the damaged reef,” Tan said.

http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/391568/seawater-pumped-into-us-ship-to-prevent-sinking