Tanker Moored Off Nome, Gearing Up Fuel Delivery

Published January 15, 2012 4:27AM (EST)

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — The Coast Guard says a Russian tanker carrying much-needed fuel of the Alaskan city of Nome has moored just off shore and is set to start the key phases of delivering the diesel fuel and gasoline.

Coast Guard spokesman Kip Wadlow says the 370-foot tanker Renda moored slightly less than a half-mile from the city's harbor Saturday evening.

The U.S Coast Guard Cutter Healy that cleared a path through hundreds of miles of Bering Sea ice for the tanker is moored nearby.

Wadlow says that now crews are making preparations to ensure the safe delivery of the 1.3-million gallons of fuel through a hose laid on top of the ice to the harbor.

He says he doesn't know how long that will take, but they will have to wait 12 hours to ensure that all the disturbed ice has refrozen.

At that point, Wadlow says teams will have to build some sort of road or pathway over the ice for the hoses to rest on.


By Salon Staff

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