SEATTLE — After diesel spilled near the Ballard Locks, it didn't take long to find it at the Ballard Mill Marina: A smelly mess of oil collecting around the boats moored here.
"I just smelled an overwhelming sense of diesel," said Jeff Johnston, who noticed it when he returned home at about 2 a.m. Monday.
But it wasn't until daylight that he and others who live aboard their boats could see it.
"There was just this sludge of, I don't know probably two millimeters of sludge, just, like all over the water," said Johnston. So they called the U.S. Coast Guard. Their investigators estimate the spill is 50-60 gallons of diesel and an oily mixture from inside a ship's hull.
It spilled in Salmon Bay, a vibrant marine area home to several marinas, about a five minute’s boat ride from the popular Ballard Locks. The Coast Guard hired Global Dive and Salvage to clean up the slick. Workers placed absorbent pads along the collection points to soak up the oil.
A Coast Guard spokeswoman was asked if whoever spilled the oil had committed a crime.
"Intentionally dumping hazardous materials into the water, yes, is a crime," said Coast Guard Petty Officer 3rd Class Katelyn Shearer.
"If, through our investigation, we find out someone intentionally dumped hazardous material into the water, we will prosecute to the best of our ability," she said.
Clay Broomfield, who has lived on board his boat for a year and a half insisted it couldn't be a live-aboard who was responsible.
"No, not this quantity of diesel," said Broomfield. "No way. It had to have been a ship traveling down the canal."
Some live-aboards said they remember the moment the oil spilled.
"One of the boat houses over here that said about 10 p.m.(Sunday) night, a big boat came through," said Steve Hansen, who was working on a boat at the Ballard Mill Marina. "And within 10 minutes, that's what they smelled."
Coast Guard investigators said they have not found any environmental damage because of the spill.
Workers expected to return Tuesday morning to continue the cleanup. It could take until mid-week for all the oil to be removed.
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