USCG Harbor Hazmat_video3.wmv - length 2:04

Slate:
Witnesses reported that the tsunami of September 29, washed vehicles into Pago Pago Harbor, where they could pollute the water.

Slate:
FEMA assigned the U.S. Coast Guard to take care of the problem. Pacific Environmental Corp. (PENCO) was hired and began work in mid October. The task took three weeks to complete.

Overlay:
Chief Petty Officer 
Jason Walker, USCG
Marine Science Technician

(Scene: CG enlisted man standing at map on wall)

"My name is Chief Jason Walker. I'm with the U.S. Coast Guard. I'm a marine science technician by rate." 

Overlay:
Pago Pago, AS, November 5, 2009

"And my job here was to take care of the operations in Pago Pago Harbor.
We removed all the oil and hazmat, as per the picture, from this area, within this area."

Slate:
As work began, Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Joe Herrador gave a tour to explain how PENCO divers would find hazardous materials and bring them to the surface.
 
(Scene: CG officer near a large fishing boat)

Overlay:
Lt. Cmdr. Joe Herrador, United States Coast Guard

"Again we don't know exactly how many we have but we suspect that there's a few in there, so it's going to take a few days of diving evolutions to number one, identify and send the divers there, and identify the vehicles and the hazmat that's below the surface of the water and then develop a plan to try to recover it."

(Scene: Oil sheen on water followed by Herrador walking the shoreline.
"We've got to stop the oil from bubbling up and remove the vehicles from under the water."

(Scene: Lt. Cmdr Herrador standing on side of large fishing boat)
"The further away from the coastline, the floor bottom sinks even further down, so it makes it a little tricky to try to dive around these fishing vessels. These fishing vessels aren't going away."

(Scene: Stern of American Islander, crewman hauls in a diver by his hoses)

Overlay: Aboard PENCO vessel American Islander

Overlay: Voice of diver Shane (Will) Cline
"Today we're doing a grid search for the debris, hazardous material that was washed offshore. 
We're fortunate to have some fairly good visibility 15 to 20 feet. That's a big plus." 

Overlay: Cline's dive ends
"Basically what we do is we swim a grid.The first diver this morning recovered some items that we found yesterday afternoon and I pretty much just picked up where he left off."


Slate:
A video camera and microphone inside tghe diver's helmet feeds a monitor aboard the ship."

(Scene: Underwater view on monitor from unidentified diver's helmet-mounted TV camera. Portions of an upside down car are visible. Diver's breathing is audible.

Voice of Chief Walker:

"We had five divers on board and they went through within the grid system here, systematically searching and reviewing each of these grids to make sure that there's no oil and hazmat on the bottom. We recovered about five vehicles ranging from a bus that they use here for local transport all the way down to a small personal car, four-door sedan."

Slate:
For more information go to www.fema.gov or www.americasamoa.gov