Vintage ship sinking, leaking oil into San Joaquin Delta to be removed
A former Royal Canadian Navy Minesweeper, sent to a salvage yard in the San Joaquin Delta and later abandoned, is sinking.
The U.S. Coast Guard said the over 140-foot ship, the Chaluer, will be dismantled and removed this week. Officials said it has spilled over 2,500 gallons of oil into the delta.
"Abandoned and derelict vessels in the delta are ticking timebombs. A lot of these boats are 50, 60, even 100 years old," said Rep. Josh Harder.
Built in the 1950s, the Chauler has been in the waters for decades, but just a few years ago, it started leaking oil.
To date, Harder said it's spilled over 2,500 gallons of hazardous material into the delta, threatening the water supply.
"This particular boat is less than half a mile from one of the main intake pipes that supplies the entire city of Stockton. This is a big deal," he said.
The ship is halfway underwater at this point, with equipment surrounding it like that yellow buoy from the U.S. Coast Guard, to keep any more oil from leaking out.
This area is almost exactly where the Aurora, another former warship, was leaking oil, too.
"Make sure we don't have any more Auroras, Chaluers, leaking oil into the delta," Harder said.
Harder has introduced a new bill pushing for boat owners of over 40-year-old ships longer than 35-feet to have insurance and be responsible for any sinking and cleanup costs.
Harder said that for the Chaluer's cleanup, no local taxpayer dollars have been spent.
"We have to fix this from preventing these boats from getting derelict in the first place," Harder said. "There are a very small amount of boat owners who are ruining this for everybody else."
The Chaluer is set to be cut up into four separate pieces and dismantled.
The whole demolition is expected to take three to four weeks.
