Story by John Burton – Photos by Tina Colello
SANDY HOOK – What is now a 1-mile-long by 50-yard slick appearing in Sandy Hook Bay Thursday is under a U.S. Coast Guard and state investigation.
The Coast Guard is calling the appearance of theoily substance a “sheen” as opposed to a “spill,” and the source of which “is still under investigation,” on Friday said Coast Guard Petty Officer Frank Iannazzo-Simmons.
The slick is located approximately a mile offshore in the bay, about halfway between the Coast Guard station at Gateway National Recreation Area at Sandy Hook’s Fort Hancock area and U.S. Naval Weapons Station Earle, Leonardo, according to Iannazzo-Simmons.
The sheen was first reported at approximately 2:24 p.m. Thursday by U.S. Park Police who informed the Coast Guard. At that time the slick was about 2 miles long and 300 yards wide, Iannazzo-Simmons said.
An aerial inspection of the site Friday noted the sheen has changed from its initial rainbow color to a silver/metallic one, Iannazzo-Simmons said, but was unable to comment to what that may mean, if anything.
Members of the Coast Guard’s Sandy Hook station joined those from the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and National Park Service set up about 20 feet of hard–boom near the environmentally sensitive Horse Shoe Cove area in the vicinity as a precaution, according to the Coast Guard.
The DEP and other local agencies are working with the Coast Guard on the investigation to determine the source, according to a Coast Guard statement.
