Tri-Ram #2 Spill; Portland, CT
NOAA initial notification: “The SSC was notified by the USCG Sector LIS at 0820 of a #2 oil release into the Connecticut River near Portland, CT at the Tr-Ramp facility. The release came from a storage tank that had a faulty check valve on a pump. Approximately 6,000 gallons of oil leaked into the […]”[1]
Latest included source report
Posted 2 Feb 2009
Latest source report
“SITUATION: At 1200 D1CC conducted a conference call with LTJG LaMorte (on scene), Mr. Neil Torres of DEP, and Mr. Scott Lundgren to provide an update on the TRI-RAM Facility Fuel Oil Spill. Oil recovery operations continue with a total of 1500 gallons of product recovered from the CT River via vacuum truck and 2100 Gallons of product recovered from within the secondary […]” Current outcome is not independently verified by seahazards.[7]
NOAA report chronology
7 dated source records · 30 Jan 2009 to 2 Feb 2009NOAA incident record opened
Initial notification excerpt: “The SSC was notified by the USCG Sector LIS at 0820 of a #2 oil release into the Connecticut River near Portland, CT at the Tr-Ramp facility. The release came from a storage tank that had a faulty check valve on a pump. Approximately 6,000 gallons of oil leaked into the secondary containment. Of that, an estimated half made its way into the CT River through a storm drain. The release may have started over a week ago and was not noticed until today. The operator noticed that they went through about a months worth of oil in 10 days. That's when they went to inspect the tank and discovered the oil pool. There is snow covering the ground and the river is frozen solid. The USCG requested […]”
NOAA approximate incident area; not a vessel track
Initial incident area only. Dates are NOAA postings, not a vessel track. Playback advances every 5 seconds.
Milestone 1 of 7: 30 Jan 2009. NOAA incident record opened. NOAA approximate incident area; not a vessel track
NOAA incident record opened
Initial notification excerpt: “The SSC was notified by the USCG Sector LIS at 0820 of a #2 oil release into the Connecticut River near Portland, CT at the Tr-Ramp facility. The release came from a storage tank that had a faulty check valve on a pump. Approximately 6,000 gallons of oil leaked into the secondary containment. Of that, an estimated half made its way into the CT River through a storm drain. The release may have started over a week ago and was not noticed until today. The operator noticed that they went through about a months worth of oil in 10 days. That's when they went to inspect the tank and discovered the oil pool. There is snow covering the ground and the river is frozen solid. The USCG requested […]”
NOAA approximate incident area; not a vessel track (41.573°, -72.647°)
Morning Update
Source report excerpt: “At this time USCG report on scene is that the ice is doing a very good job at trapping the oil and they are seeing virtually no oil downstream. The contractor is vacuuming out the oil at the shoreline in two places and monitoring the flow downstream to prevent any further oil spread.”
Afternoon Update
Source report excerpt: “Subject: MARINE INCIDENT - NR2 DIESEL FUEL OIL SPILL - CT RIVER - IVO PORTLAND, CT - MISLE: 440280 - UPDATE 1 Importance: High Situation: TRI-RAM facility reported that on Jan 14th they filled the above ground storage tank to 7,500 Gal NR2 Diesel Fuel Oil (Home heating oil). Tank was burned down to 1,000 Gal and refilled to 7,500 Gal on Monday, Jan 26th. Facility workers recognized that the tank was burning fuel too quickly and responded. The tank has approximately 1,500 Gal remaining. It is estimated that approximately 60% of 12,500 Gal (5,800-7,800 Gal) was released into the secondary containment area. A valve located between the tank and the boiler was identified as the source of the […]”
Oil Leaks From Fuel Terminal Into CT River
Source report excerpt: “WFSB.com http://www.wfsb.com/news/18603447/detail.html Video: DEP: Oil Spill Cleanup Could Take Weeks Oil Leaks From Fuel Terminal Into CT River More Than 1,000 Gallons Leak In Portland POSTED: 10:30 am EST January 30, 2009 UPDATED: 3:22 pm EST January 30, 2009 PORTLAND, Conn. -- Department of Environmental workers were working to clean an oil spill in the Connecticut River Friday morning. Officials said more than 1,000 gallons of heating oil had leaked from a Tri-Ram Ramp fuel terminal near the Arigoni Bridge on Brownstone Avenue. "I would never think that one of my tanks would drop fuel into the river," said David Fletcher of Tri- Ram. Fletcher said he has worked in the fuel industry for […]”
Ice Saves Oil Spill From Reaching Sound
Source report excerpt: “Ice Saves Oil Spill From Reaching Sound http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28930652/ By Debra Alfarone, Jeff Stoecker, LeAnne Gendreau NBCConnecticut.com updated 11:17 p.m. ET, Sun., Feb. 1, 2009 Thousands of gallons of diesel oil have leaked near the Connecticut River, and officials are saying they are lucky that there's a lot of ice out there or the oil could have spread into Long Island Sound. Friday morning, officials said 5,000 to 6,000 gallons of oil leaked from oil tanks on Brownstone Avenue managed by Triram Connecticut. A couple thousand gallons of oil might have leaked into the Connecticut River. By Friday afternoon, there was no official word on how much had spilled, but crews had […]”
Crews clean up oil spill
Source report excerpt: “Crews clean up oil spill http://www.middletownpress.com/articles/2009/01/30/news/doc4983ce6c7340d778792057.txt Friday, January 30, 2009 11:11 PM EST By JEFF MILL Press Staff PORTLAND — Crews worked into the evening Friday to contain a spill at a Brownstone Avenue oil- storage facility. The spill was reported by company officials at the TriRam Connecticut storage facility, which is located at 171 Brownstone Ave., along the Connecticut River. Crews from CT Tank Removal, an environmental cleanup company with offices in Bridgeport and Westport, were hard at work Friday cleaning up the after-affects of the leak, which was first spotted on Thursday afternoon. CTR crews deployed white booms along […]”
Subject: DIESEL SPILL - CT RIVER - IVO PORTLAND, CT - MISLE: 440280 - UPDATE 5
Source report excerpt: “SITUATION: At 1200 D1CC conducted a conference call with LTJG LaMorte (on scene), Mr. Neil Torres of DEP, and Mr. Scott Lundgren to provide an update on the TRI-RAM Facility Fuel Oil Spill. Oil recovery operations continue with a total of 1500 gallons of product recovered from the CT River via vacuum truck and 2100 Gallons of product recovered from within the secondary containment zone. Additionally, 40 tons of contaminated snow and ice and 252 Tons of contaminated soil have been removed to date. Connecticut Tank has 3 skiffs, 3 Vacuum Trucks and 3 personnel on scene in addition to CT DEP and Sector Incident Management personnel. Waterside recovery has been slowed due to the remaining oil […]”
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Details in the record
- Source record
- NOAA IncidentNews 7963[1]
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Automatically assembled from NOAA's incident record and substantive Public Affairs or Situation Update posts. Dates are NOAA posting dates, which can differ from when events happened or original reports were published. Excerpts retain the source's wording and uncertainty. This account does not independently establish the cause, current outcome or safety of the area. NOAA coverage is selective; missing updates do not mean nothing happened. The map shows one approximate incident area, not a vessel track.
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Original sources
Timeline updated 25 Sept 2026. New reports and changes to this NOAA incident are incorporated automatically; this is not a live incident feed.
- 1.Tri-Ram #2 Spill; Portland, CT ↗NOAA Office of Response and Restoration · 30 Jan 2009
- 2.Morning Update ↗NOAA IncidentNews · source report archive · 30 Jan 2009
- 3.Afternoon Update ↗NOAA IncidentNews · source report archive · 31 Jan 2009
- 4.Oil Leaks From Fuel Terminal Into CT River ↗NOAA IncidentNews · source report archive · 2 Feb 2009
- 5.Ice Saves Oil Spill From Reaching Sound ↗NOAA IncidentNews · source report archive · 2 Feb 2009
- 6.Crews clean up oil spill ↗NOAA IncidentNews · source report archive · 2 Feb 2009
- 7.Subject: DIESEL SPILL - CT RIVER - IVO PORTLAND, CT - MISLE: 440280 - UPDATE 5 ↗NOAA IncidentNews · source report archive · 2 Feb 2009
Related records in our archive
Original source text, preserved separately from this account.
NOAAORR-7963 NOAA response record
Tri-Ram #2 Spill; Portland, CT. Portland, CT. 1. The SSC was notified by the USCG Sector LIS at 0820 of a #2 oil release into the Connecticut River near Portland, CT at the Tr-Ramp facility. The release came from a storage tank that had a faulty check valve on a pump. Approximately 6,000 gallons of oil leaked into the secondary containment. Of that, an estimated half made its way into the CT River through a storm drain. The release may have started over a week ago and was not noticed until today. The operator noticed that they went through about a months worth of oil in 10 days. That's when they went to inspect the tank and discovered the oil pool. There is snow covering the ground and the river is frozen solid. The USCG requested trajectory information and recommendations on oil under ice response actions. 2. THREAT: OIL. COMMODITY: #2 OIL. MAXIMUM POTENTIAL RELEASE: 6000 GALLONS. 3. POSITION 41.573N 072.647W. NOAA INCIDENTNEWS 7963: https://incidentnews.noaa.gov/incident/7963Open record and warning history →
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