(3) The grounding of the Librian tanker Aeolus in Ambrose 

 Channel, N. Y., in August 1974. Strike team assistance was requested 

 at midnight on August 24. Seven team members with their 

 equipment departed Elizabeth City, N.C., 3 hours later. Before noon, 

 the men and their equipment were on board the grounded vessel. 

 Transfer of the tanker's cargo to tank barges commenced 4 hours 

 later, and pumping continued for almost 48 hours. At the conclusion 

 of the ADAPTS pumping operation, 71,600 barrels of cargo had been 

 transferred with none spilled. 



Recognition of USCG cleanup capability was reflected in requests 

 from foreign governments. The USCG aided in handling massive 

 spills during September 1974 caused by the August 1974 grounding 

 of the supertanker, MetuJa, in the Straits of Magellan and the 

 January 1975 grounding of the Showa Maru in the Singapore Straits. 



The USCG National Response Center and the USGS Accident 

 Alert System are interconnected. In the areas of offshore oil 

 development, however, industry maintains capable response and 

 prevention forces; spill incidents have generally been small to 

 negligible; and as a result the USCG National Strike Force has not 

 yet been called on for participation in cleanup operations. 



The Maritime Administration (MARAD) of the Department of 

 Commerce conducts numerous operational and design studies to 

 increase the safety of oil transport by tankers and reduce oil 

 discharges from ships, port installations, and offshore platforms. 

 Current efforts include contract support for the development of an 

 efficient and compact oil/water separator that will limit discharges 

 to acceptable national and international levels; completion of design 

 studies for an oil/water seaparator test facility at Galveston, Tex.; 

 and the acquisition of greater testing capability for the evaluation of 

 oil-in-water monitors. 



In anticipation of possible future oil production from beneath the 

 Arctic Ocean, MARAD has undertaken studies of economic and 

 technical constraints on the development of submarine tankers, 

 nuclear-powered Arctic ships, and Arctic crude-oil carriers. A 

 general evaluation of economic and operational factors associated 

 with a technically feasible commercial Arctic submarine for oil 

 transport was completed in 1974, and efforts are now being devoted 

 to investigation of oil-water miscibility to determine the effect on 

 design of ballast water systems for the underseas craft. Studies of 

 surface Arctic shipping are closely coordinated with and comple- 

 ment a program for the extension of the Great Lakes ore-carrier 

 season. A market analysis of needs for the water transport of drilling 

 supplies and oil products, completed by the Arctic Institute in 1973, 

 forms the basis for a current evaluation of proposed Arctic surface 



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