U.S. crews to seek petroleum leak near sunken barge in Lake Erie
TOLEDO, Ohio – The U.S. Coast Guard says underwater contractors sent to Lake Erie will search for the source of what appears to be a petroleum leak from a barge than sank eight decades ago.
Guard officials were expecting divers to start Monday exploring wreckage near the U.S.-Canadian border.
They warn boaters to stay away.
Shipwreck hunters think the leaking solvent is from a tanker barge that went down near Ohio’s Kelleys Island during a 1937 storm.
The Argo is among 87 shipwrecks on the federal registry created two years ago to identify the most serious pollution threats to U.S. waters.
The Coast Guard says divers face a challenge in trying to find and seal the leak, which appears to involve a colourless, petroleum-based solvent that evaporates quickly at the surface.
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