OCEAN SHORES – After two weeks of work, more than 13,000 gallons of fuel oil has been pumped from the belly of the rusty carcass of the S.S. Catala – a floating hotel that has been entombed in a sand bank since it foundered in a 1965 storm.
As much as 47,000 gallons could still be inside the three remaining fuel tanks, a potential threat to the ecology of Damon Point. And the hardest work is still to come, according to the Department of Ecology.
“We’ve got about 13,000 gallons of product from the two tanks that are easiest to get to,” said Ecology’s project manager, Jim Sachet. “As we move farther into the ship, it gets much more difficult to access the oil.”
The work began in early August when the construction team cleared away sand dunes to expose a road through the peninsula in Damon Point State Park. That allowed the heavy construction equipment access to the site.
A sheet pile wall was then built around three-quarters of the derelict ship, and sand and sediment were cleared so workers could get to the tanks.
All of the oil has been removed from the forward deep tank, and the team is currently working on another tank.
The total amount of petroleum remaining is unknown, but the Catala could hold up to 60,000 gallons.
The oil is pumped into 3,000 gallon tanker trucks. The speed of the pumping depends on the fluidity of the oil. Project supervisor Jim Givan said it “varies at different points in the tanks. Sometimes the oil is very fluid, but other times the product is mixed with sediment or has become too thick.”
“Considering the oil’s been down there for 40 years, it was still pretty fluid,” Sachet said of the oil removed from the first tank.
Givan said he wasn’t concerned about the speed of the pumping. “It’s not a race. We don’t want to have a hose burst or a spill or anything like that,” he said.
The 18-member construction team is wary of an accident, considering the environmentally sensitive location of the wreck. Damon Point State Park is an important habitat for several species of birds. It is one of the few remaining nesting sites for the snowy plover and the streaked horned lark.
“We’re sort of picking at it like a puzzle, trying to be as careful as possible,” said Sandy Howard, spokesperson for the Department of Ecology.
So far, the work has gone off without a major problem. But “a couple of days ago, we found an old salvage attempt from 1980 where holes had been cut into the hull, and we had to fill those in … That’s been the only issue thus far,” Sachet said.
Ecology has installed oil containment booms around the site as a safety precaution. “It’s not an active oil spill and it’s not an active leak, but there is always danger when we’re dealing with this much oil,” the project manager said.
The oil is being taken to a treatment and storage facility in Kent, and will be processed and reblended into usable petroleum products.
As the team advances through the other tanks, Givan is expecting the oil to be more solid – and more difficult to pump.
“We’ll pump out any liquid that we can, then bring in hot water heat exchangers to thin it out. We’ll place the pump right by the heat exchangers and work from there,” he said. The heating system is due to arrive at the site next week.
Once the oil is completely removed from all the tanks, workers will begin the final phase of the project – cutting larger holes in the ship’s hull in order to steam clean the interior of the tanks.
Ecology’s goal is to have the project completed by the beginning of September.
The future of the shipwreck itself is unknown. “The Department of Natural Resources is the land manager here,” Sachet said, “and they still have a decision to make with respect to the wreck. But in order to get to the tanks that are lower and more covered, we may have to cut out the last 40 feet or so of the ship. At this point, it’s all up in the air.”
According to the project manager, the $1 million required for the work comes entirely from the state’s Oil Spill Response Account, which is fueled by a tax on oil refined within the state.
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