Coast Guard reports one of its vessels spilled hydraulic oil in Kodiak

A Coast Guard ship spilled oil Saturday in Womens Bay near Kodiak, the Coast Guard said.

The Coast Guard “responded to a report of a discharge of hydraulic oil from Coast Guard Cutter SPAR,” a 180-foot buoy tender boat, at around 9:40 a.m. Saturday, the Coast Guard said in an online statement. It wasn’t immediately clear how much oil had spilled, but the tank had a maximum capacity of about 914 gallons, the Coast Guard wrote.

Crews from the Marine Safety Detachment in Kodiak are working with the Coast Guard Sector Anchorage Incident Management Division to monitor the cleanup, which the Coast Guard said is contracted to Choctaw Defense Services.

At the scene, crews deployed absorbent pads, deployed a boom system to stop the spill from spreading and used a skimmer that is pumping the oil to a vacuum truck, the Coast Guard said.

“Our primary focus is on mitigating potential impacts to the environment,” said Petty Officer 2nd Class Joshua Thorne, a pollution responder from Marine Safety Detachment in Kodiak.