Opinion ID: 4552011
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Discharge

Text: On January 6, 2014, the defendant Barge B. No. 280, in the course of being towed by the M/V Ellen S. Bouchard through Long Island Sound, dropped anchor. Shortly thereafter, Submarine Cable No. 3 experienced an electrical fault; at the same time, the system’s monitors reported a sudden pressure drop in the cable, which indicated a leak of dielectric fluid was underway. The Authority alerted local and federal authorities, while also working with Con 7 Edison and the Long Island Power Authority to initiate a response. Over the next several weeks, these entities, along with the Authority’s environmental response contractor, Miller Environmental Group, took efforts to contain and then clean up the spill, in consultation with the U.S. Coast Guard and New York officials. Among the required containment steps was the continued pumping of dielectric fluid into Cable No. 3, to maintain pressure and prevent water from entering the cable and potentially destroying it. Because of this ongoing need to pump fluid into the cable, the total discharge from Cable No. 3 was well above the cable’s capacity of 2500 gallons. On February 27, 2014, the cable was finally capped and set back on to the sea floor. The Authority claims that it paid $9,848,087.12 for the costs of the remediation.