The Times • 8/22/2013
For decades anyone aboard a boat on the Mystic River or driving along Route 27 has seen a large rotting coal barge behind what was Kitchen Little and is now Twisters Ice Cream.
While it may have been an interesting topic of conversation, more recently it has begun to rapidly deteriorate sending timbers and rusty spikes into the river, posing a danger to both boats and people walking along the shoreline, according to Frances Hoffman, the president of the Clean Up Sound and Harbors.
She said the danger became apparent last year during a large coastal cleanup with Save the Bay and Clean the Bay when timbers and spikes from the barge were found in other areas of the river and along the shore. But the money and permits needed to remove the hulk were not available.
So CUSH embarked on an effort to remove the “menace to navigation and recreation” with the help of several partners.
The nonprofit organization has obtained the necessary permits for the work from the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers but still needs to raise the $10,000 necessary for the removal, which it hopes to do this fall.
CUSH has created the aptly named “Boot the Barge” campaign. Checks made out to CUSH Inc., designated for “Boot the Barge” may be mailed to: CUSH, Inc., P.O. Box 883; Stonington, CT 06378. Contributions through PayPal may also be made via the CUSH website at www.cushinc.org.
Hoffman said little is know about the barge – who owned it or how it got there – but CUSH is trying to learn more. Two local authors are also researching the barge and plan to present their findings at CUSH’s annual meeting next month.
She said one longtime resident told her that a man who lived across Route 27 from the site about 50 years ago brought the coal barge in to serve as a makeshift breakwater, thinking it would protect his home in a storm.
“But very little is known about it,” she said.
Hoffman said the deterioration appears to be accelerating. Just last year, she said a large piece of machinery from the barge was covered by the river bottom but now is exposed. Part of the reason for the increased deterioration may be due to recent storms.
“Over the past year many timbers have been floating away. It’s falling apart pretty rapidly now and we just want to get it out of there,” she said.
Some of the timbers are partially submerged as far as 75 feet from shore.
Hoffman said the permits CUSH has obtained only allow it to remove parts of the barge not covered by river bottom because of environmental concerns about disturbing the sediment. This means that timbers will be cut off underwater just above the river bottom.
CUSH’s partners in the removal include the town of Stonington, which has waived landfill disposal fees for the debris; the Mystic River Harbor Commission and harbor master, Twisters Ice Cream owner Bill Botchis who has made a donation to the effort, and Docko Inc., which prepared the permit applications at no cost. CUSH has also spent $790 on a required survey.
Hoffman said that both the DEEP and Army Corps have been very helpful in quickly approving the permits needed for the work.
