Anchorage Weather
Renda To Begin Pumping FuelA storm prevented fuel delivery to Nome by barge in November, and without the russian tanker, Nome's 3500 residents expected to run out of diesel fuel, gasoline and home heating fuel by March and April--long before a barge delivery could arrive in late May. Crews worked in freezing temperatures for about a week to prepare a path for Russian Tanker Renda, in order to offload fuel through a hose, powering the Arctic community of Nome. "This is pretty historic for us, you know, to have Russians come and deliver fuel. I mean, these are people that, during the cold war, we were afraid of, so it's really interesting and great that they're helping us in some way," said Nome resident Marilyn Koezuna-Irelan. The Renda set into the ice about half a mile from Nome's harbor Saturday, after U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Healy cleared a path through hundreds of miles of thick ice in the Bering Sea. After ice froze the Renda into place-- to make a safe transfer-- workers created a pathway to lay a hose set to deliver 1.3 million gallons of fuel from tanker to harbor. Although Nome is close to receiving it's delivery, the Coast Guard says the mission is still underway. "It's not over until the Renda is back out of the ice, and heading back to Russia, and Healy's safely back in Seattle, and all the product is safely up in the fuel farm. So we have a long way to go, and we're keeping a keen eye toward safety and mission success at this point," said Rear Admiral Thomas Ostebo of the U.S. Coast Guard. U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski, along with Lieutenant Governor Mead Treadwell, flew into Nome on Sunday. They eluded to the community grabbing the nation's attention and pressed for the neccessity of resources in the Arctic. "It's not just Nome that is an Arctic community, it's not just Alaska that is an Arctic state, we are an Arctic nation. And in order to move around in an Arctic nation, we might need some icebreaking capacity, and the Healy has demonstrated exactly what that means to a community of 3500 people and the region," said Senator Murkowski. "Alaskans certainly aren't gonna try to put themselves into a pinch, like we are right now, but i think we need to have the same kind of quality and level of support for commerce in this part of the world, as you do in other parts of the United States," said Lt. Gov. Treadwell. The crew of the Renda, along with the Coast Guard and all the federal, state and local partners are working to ensure a safe transfer of fuel through the segmented hose. Once the hose is ready, the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation says the transfer could be finished within 36 hours to 5 days depending on conditions. Russian Tanker Renda has traveled an estimated total of 5000 miles, going from Russia to South Korea to pick up the fuel, and then going to Japan and Dutch Harbor and finally setting in the ice, just outside Nome. |
This content requires the latest Adobe Flash Player and a browser with JavaScript enabled.
Click here for a free download of the latest Adobe Flash Player.
Poll |
Add a comment
Most Popular