BRUNSWICK, Ga. – The Brunswick East River Mystery Sheen Unified Command has completed emergency response efforts and transitioned jurisdiction for remedial oversight, Friday, to the Georgia Environmental Protection Division.
The Brunswick East River Mystery Sheen has been an active pollution site since 2019. The UC was established in May 2024 to coordinate response efforts.
Operations conducted by the Coast Guard include: 12 high-vacuum recovery events using powerful industrial vacuums to remove oil from the BERMS site, monitoring and maintenance of non-absorbent and absorbent boom around the property waterfront, ground penetrating radar and magnetometer surveys and soil sampling to identify the source of the oil contamination. Air monitoring conducted during all HVR events did not identify any exceedances of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency risk-based standards.
In addition to the response efforts, ground penetrating radar and magnetometry scans of the properties were conducted. Based on the results, the UC has identified the source of the discharge as the Ocean Petroleum property at 1025 Bay St.
The UC will be transitioning from the emergency response phase to the recovery and mitigation phase. Oversight of any regulatory or remediation activity will be transitioned to the GA EPD. The UC, comprised of the EPA, USCG and GA EPD, will go back to their statutory missions, but the EPA and USCG will be available to GA EPD in a consultation role moving forward.
The media is requested to email Sara.Lips@DNR.GA.GOV or call 470-524-0732 for response inquiries and interviews.
For any reports of pollution, please contact the National Response Center at 800-424-8802.
Previous BERMS response press releases can be found below:
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