This image provided by the U.S. Coast Guard shows the Coast Guard Ice Breaker Healy breaking ice near the city of Nome Alaska Jan. 14, 2012. The Healy is breaking ice near Nome to assist the Russian tanker Renda move into final position for offloading nearly 1.3 million gallons of petroleum products to the city. Russian tanker carrying much-needed fuel to Nome moored less than a half mile from the town's iced-in harbor Saturday evening, Jan. 14, 2012starting final preparations for delivering the diesel fuel and gasoline, the Coast Guard said. (AP Photo/US Coast Guard, Chief Petty Officer Kip Wadlow)
This image provided by the U.S. Coast Guard shows the Coast Guard Ice Breaker Healy breaking ice near the city of Nome Alaska Jan. 14, 2012. The Healy is breaking ice near Nome to assist the Russian tanker Renda move into final position for offloading nearly 1.3 million gallons of petroleum products to the city. Russian tanker carrying much-needed fuel to Nome moored less than a half mile from the town's iced-in harbor Saturday evening, Jan. 14, 2012starting final preparations for delivering the diesel fuel and gasoline, the Coast Guard said. (AP Photo/US Coast Guard, Chief Petty Officer Kip Wadlow)
In this image provided by the U.S. Coast Guard the Coast Guard Ice Breaker Healy guides the Russian tanker Renda closer to the fuel transfer mooring point Saturday Jan. 14, 2012. Russian tanker carrying much-needed fuel to Nome moored less than a half mile from the town's iced-in harbor Saturday evening, starting final preparations for delivering the diesel fuel and gasoline, the Coast Guard said. (AP Photo/US Coast Guard, Petty Officer 2nd Class Charly Hengen)
In this image provided by the U.S. Coast Guard The Coast Guard Ice Breaker Healy breaks ice in the Nome Harbor Jan. 13, 2012. The Healy has been escorting and breaking ice for the Russian tanker Renda since Jan. 3, 2012, on its way to Nome to deliver 1.3 million gallons of fuel. Now comes the tricky part: getting more than a million gallons of diesel and gasoline to shore through a mile-long hose without a spill. Nome and the villages of Noatak and Kobuk face fuel shortages that illustrate the vulnerability of relying solely on deliveries by sea or air, particularly during an especially bitter winter. (AP Photo/US Coast Guard, Petty Officer 2nd Class Charly Hengen)
In this image provided by the U.S. Coast Guard The Kigluaik Mountains can be viewed as the Russian tanker Renda transits toward the Port of Nome Jan. 13, 2012. The Renda has been assisted by the Coast Guard Ice Breaker Healy since the vessels left Dutch Harbor, Alaska. Now comes the tricky part: getting more than a million gallons of diesel and gasoline to shore through a mile-long hose without a spill. Nome and the villages of Noatak and Kobuk face fuel shortages that illustrate the vulnerability of relying solely on deliveries by sea or air, particularly during an especially bitter winter. (AP Photo/US Coast Guard, Petty Officer 2nd Class Charly Hengen)
In this image provided by the U.S. Coast Guard Coast Guard Rear Adm. Tom Ostebo, District 17 commander, along with Forces Valdez personnel assess the fuel transfer safety zone on snow machines in the Nome harbor Friday Jan. 13, 2012. Forces Valdez personnel will enforce a 50 yard zone around fuel delivery hoses and 100 yards from the tanker Renda. Now comes the tricky part: getting more than a million gallons of diesel and gasoline to shore through a mile-long hose without a spill. Nome and the villages of Noatak and Kobuk face fuel shortages that illustrate the vulnerability of relying solely on deliveries by sea or air, particularly during an especially bitter winter. (AP Photo/US Coast Guard, Petty Officer 2nd Class Charly Hengen)
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) ? A Russian tanker with a cargo of much-needed fuel for Nome was moored less than a half mile from the Alaska town's iced-in harbor Sunday morning, holding for disturbed ice to refreeze before crews can finish work to deliver the fuel, the Coast Guard said.
The U.S Coast Guard Cutter Healy, which cleared a path through hundreds of miles of Bering Sea ice for the tanker, was nearby.
"We were able to successfully navigate that last bit of ice," Coast Guard spokesman Kip Wadlow said. "We were able to get it pretty much right on the money, in the position that the industry representatives wanted to start the fuel transfer process."
The crew of the 370-foot tanker Renda was working to ensure the safe transfer of the 1.3-million gallons of fuel through a segmented hose that will be laid on top of the ice to the harbor, located about 2,100 feet from the ship, Wadlow said in a telephone interview from Nome Saturday night.
Wadlow said he doesn't know how long it will be before fuel flows as crews must wait 12 hours, or until about 5 a.m. (6 a.m. PST) Sunday, to ensure that the disturbed ice has refrozen.
At that point, crews must build some sort of road or pathway over the ice for the hose to rest on. Then the hose's segments will have to be bolted together and inspected before the fuel can begin to flow.
There has been a lot of anxious waiting since the ship left Russia in mid-December. It picked up diesel fuel in South Korea before traveling to Dutch Harbor, Alaska, where it took on unleaded gasoline. Late Thursday, the vessels stopped offshore and began planning the transfer.
A fall storm prevented Nome from getting a fuel delivery by barge in November. Without the tanker delivery, supplies of diesel fuel, gasoline and home heating fuel Nome are expected to run out in March and April, well before a barge delivery again in late May or June.
Earlier Saturday, Sitnasuak Native Corp. board chairman Jason Evans provided details of the transfer process.
Once the hose is laid down, he said personnel will walk its entire length every 30 minutes to check it for leaks. Each segment of hose will have its own spill containment area, and extra absorbent boom will be on hand in case of a spill.
Evans said he hopes the crew will begin unloading Sunday.
The state is requiring that the fuel transfer be initiated only in daylight hours, but it can continue in darkness, Betty Schorr, industry preparedness program manager for the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation, has said. Nome has just five hours of daylight this time of year.
The transfer could be finished within 36 hours if everything goes smoothly, but it could take as long as five days, Schorr said.
"It's kind of like a football game, we're on the five yard line and we just want to work into the goal line," said Evans, whose hometown is Nome.
Evans, however, cautioned that delivering the fuel is only half the mission.
"The ships need to transition back through 300 miles of ice," he said. "I say we're not done until the ships are safely back at their home ports (in Seattle and Russia)."
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Online:
Coast Guard webcam, http://bit.ly/wEsemi
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