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Countermeasures/ Mitigation

Dispersant was applied under the approval of the Caribbean Regional Response Team (CRRT).
The French Navy supplied the water-based dispersant FINASOL OSR-7, which is on the EPA
product schedule.  During March 9-15, personnel aboard French and Dutch Navy vessels
applied the dispersant using onboard firefighting systems since dispersant application
equipment was unavailable.  The use of FINASOL OSR-7 was discontinued on March 15 due to
its ineffectiveness on the No. 6 fuel oil.  FINASOL OSR-52 was considered as a
replacement, but was not applied.\\Cleanup personnel deployed boom at St. Barthelemy.
Snarebooms were placed along oiled shoreline and across creek mouths to protect mangroves
in the area.\\Removal of oily debris on Haulover Bay, Mennebeck Bay, Leinster Point, and
Threadneedle Point began on March 27.  Early cleanup consisted of oily debris removal and
manual reworking of the oiled swash line.  Pom-poms placed in the surf below reworked
sections of swash line were effective in picking up the loosened oil.  Bagged oily debris
from the beaches of St. Johns was stored temporarily at a facility in St. Johns and later
permanently landfilled in Puerto Rico.\\Shoreline cleanup was extensive, along the
populated tourist beaches of Puerto Rico.  Bilingual shoreline assessment forms were
prepared.  Prison work crews contributed to the beach cleanup under the incentive of
reduced sentences.  On less-used recreational beaches, seagrass wrack was left to act as a
natural sorbent for a period of time before being removed.\\Skimming operations, scheduled
to begin on April 12 were delayed until the late arrival of a third vessel.  Skimming
began on April 16, but was discontinued on April 25 due to the inability of the skimmers
to recover oil.  On April 21, seven hundred feet of boom parted in 6-8 foot seas.
Additional damages to cleanup equipment due to high seas included 250-350 feet of boom, a
Zodiac, and a support vessel's transmission.  High sea conditions, inappropriate
equipment, and engine problems all contributed to the unsuccessful booming operation at
the source of the spill.