PORT HURON, Mich. — The Arthur J Unified Command’s salvage and oil spill clean-up operation made significant progress Sunday, as salvage crews successfully removed the remaining fuel and began raising the dredge Arthur J from its grounded position two miles off the shore of Lakeport, Mich., in Lake Huron.
Fuel clean up operations over the last several days has been successful with the majority of recoverable oil captured.
The Unified Command along with the St. Clair County Health Department has reopened all Lake Huron beaches that were previously closed.
The tug Madison was successfully refloated, cleaned and removed from the salvage scene Saturday evening. During Sunday’s salvage operations crews removed approximately 3,400 gallons of oily water mixture and 625 gallons of diesel fuel from the sunken dredge. Following removal of this remaining fuel, the salvage group commenced refloating the dredge by displacing flooded void tanks with air.
As final cleanup of boom and remaining bottom debris from the site are on-going, the boating public is reminded that there is still a 500-yard safety zone around the salvage site that is being enforced by Coast Guard small boats.
In the unlikely event that debris from the sunken vessels wash ashore, the public should continue to call the public information hotline listed below, so responders can attend to the debris as needed.
For more information, questions or concerns please contact the Incident Command Post public information hotline at (810) 982-3910 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. or email the Incident Command at arthurjresponse@gmail.com.
