Natural wind and wave action pressed the oil against the shoreline, thus containing the oil within the narrow tanker harbor limits.

The HOVIC facility was designed to provide excellent containment and recovery opportunities, given normal weather conditions.

On-site hazmat team

Hess Oil Virgin Islands Corporation (HOVIC) employees had already begun countermeasures to contain the oil.

HOVIC and U.S. Coast Guard Atlantic Area Strike Team (LAST) personnel were employed to the response procedures. They had quickly placed two thousand feet of of 24 inch skirt boom disposed on two layers between the piers at HOVIC's harbor to contain the spill. Then, they tried to use skimming pumps but were not successful. Therefore an alternative clean-up technique was used. Oil-snare absorbent was applied to the boomed oil after which it was recovered by clamshell buckets. The buckets were used to lift the oil into a temporary earthen sump onshore.

Symptoms of distress due to oil exposure, including exaggerated preening behavior and tremors, were observed.

Off-shore (e.g. estuary, sea)

- Approximately 1,000 barrels entered into the water.
- Three miles of sand beaches were heavily oiled as deep as two feet in some places.
- No significant amounts of oil were observed adhering to living coral reefs.
- Localized mortalities were observed in crustaceans and other small animals in the littoral zone.
- Lightly oiled seabirds were observed, which were seen to be capable of flight.
- No dead fish or animals were reported.
- Tarballs have continued to appear to the shoreline four months after the incident.

For humanitarian reasons, prisoners allegedly released and roamed about the island freely, adding to social disruption and posing a physical security threat to response personnel.

- All of the oiled solids, with the exception of the contaminated sands, were transported by barge to
Puerto Rico and disposed of in an authorized landfill.

- The 30,000 cubic yards of contaminated sand were collected in seven temporary storage fields. A plan was approved to remove the oiled sand to an approved St. Croix landfill. The oiled sand would be treated by incineration and made available for use in producing asphalt for road construction.

HOVIC was able to recover the majority of the oil discharged (almost all of the 1,000 barrels) at its facility and return it to one of its oil recovery tanks.

- Skimming pumps were not successful in recovering the oil at HOVIC due to the high pour point of the oil.

- Many island's infrastructure, such as potable water, electricity, and sanitation facilities, were also destroyed by the hurricane and hampered response efforts. Thus, mobile satellite communications were critical to the success of the response.

- HOVIC pollution response personnel took effective measures to contain their oil spill immediately following the passage of the hurricane.

- Based on an overflight of St. Croix by MSO San Juan investigators on Wednesday morning (20 September), it was difficult to distinguish from the air the oil spill from the earthen base around the tank. Later on that day, it was reported by Coast Guard cutters on the scene that a potential major oil spill in Christiansted began reaching the Coast Guard in San Juan.

- For humanitarian reasons, prisoners allegedly released and roamed about the island freely, adding to social disruption and posing a physical security threat to response personnel. Adequate physical security must be provided for pollution responders, with particular care given to potentially vulnerable targets such as contractor finance personnel maintaining large payrolls on the scene.

-The Oil Pollution Act of 1990, signed into law on August 18, 1990, is expected to result in implementing regulations which will enhance federal response capabilities by authorizing the OSC to access the new Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund (Oil Fund) for discharges that, previously, may have been
excluded.

- Industry and government will continue to work toward preventing a super-catastrophic discharge, as worst-case scenarios and contingency planning may be exceeded.

Political pressure to emphasize activities of beach cleanup crews may have interfered with the discharge and containing and recovering all floating oil.

- With Puerto Rico about 1,500 miles away from the Coast Guard AtLantic Area Strike Team (LAST) headquarters in Mobile, an immediate expertise is generally not able to arrive on scene in the Caribbean for about 24 hours. In this particular response, it was just about 24 hours from the time LAST members were requested until they arrived in San Juan in the late afternoon of September 21.

- The expertise and equipment provided by LAST members were essential in securing the source of the discharge, deploying containment booms, recovering much of the floating oil, and supervising the activities of the clean-up contractor.