The Coast Guard was still operating late Monday afternoon under a worst-case scenario of presumably 15,000 gallons of diesel spilled over the weekend from an Army vessel into the Buskin River area, a significant salmon fishery in the Kodiak-Aleutian Islands region.
Coast Guard Petty Officer 3rd Class Grant DeVuyst told Alaska Dispatch it's as-yet unknown how much diesel was released into the area. The crew of the Monterrey began transferring diesel from the ship as soon as they suspected a hull breach; the total amount of diesel spilled depends partially on the success of these efforts.
However, the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation on Monday revised downward its estimate of the amount of fuel spilled from the Monterrey, according to Alaska Public Radio News Network. State officials told APRN they now believe somewhere between 8,000 and 12,000 gallons of diesel was spilled and that no harm to wildlife had been seen from the spill.
The 174-foot Monterrey, operated by the Army's 311th Expeditionary Sustainment Command, was traveling from California to Bethel to deliver construction equipment to relocate a Western Alaska village. It struck the rock near Puffin Island in Chiniak Bay shortly after departing Kodiak late Friday.