Removal and disposal of tugboat, Standard No. 2, from Sevenmile Slough

In September, the Commission removed another abandoned vessel from a state waterway, the Tugboat Standard No. 2. The removal follows official Commission authorization last year (Staff Report 31) for staff to take title to, remove, and dispose of the tugboat Standard No. 2 in Sacramento County before it sank. The Standard No. 2 was removed from a decades-plus mooring in Sevenmile Slough, fully abated to include all asbestos and oily water, placed in drydock, sheared into pieces, and disposed of at a metal recycler.

The Standard No. 2 was a roughly 90-foot-long, 200-gross tonnage, steel-hulled tugboat, originally built and used by Standard Oil Company in the 1940s. The topside superstructure had been partially dismantled and removed. All machinery was inoperable and in a degraded condition. Hull integrity was unknown, though the vessel did not appear to be taking on water. Floor tiles and coatings and thermal system insulation were known to contain asbestos. The tug’s hull paint contained copper, zinc, and other metals; its deck paint contained lead and other metals.

In December 2019, the California Department of Toxic Substances Control removed all loose household hazardous waste from the tug, including barrels of oil sludge. In June 2022, United States Coast Guard personnel removed remaining petroleum product but were unable to clear two tanks containing potentially contaminated water. The Commission then contracted for disposal of the water as hazardous waste, removal of asbestos by a certified asbestos abatement contractor, and the final removal and disposal of the Standard No. 2.

Scroll through the photos below to see the tugboat being removed from navigable waters and properly disposed of. Photos courtesy of Lind Marine, Inc.