A fuel barge that began operations this month on San Diego Bay is being challenged by environmentalists, government agencies that oversee activity on the bay and fuel dock operators who denounce the service as unfair competition.

Laura Hunter of the Environmental Health Coalition said the movable fueling source should not be allowed without an environmental study and the setting of rules for its operation.

Even a moderate spill could cause heavy damage to plant and marine life in South Bay waters, including the Sweetwater River Channel, she said.

"We are vehemently opposed to its operation," said Hunter, adding that more small fuel barges will follow if this one is allowed. "It's one of the most significant threats to San Diego Bay I've seen in a while."

Todd Roberts, general manager of the South Bay Boat Yard, which operates the barge out of Chula Vista, said the threat is exaggerated.

The barge carries about 10,000 gallons of fuel and is as safe as any other vessel on the bay, Roberts said. The daily on-call service is needed in the South Bay, which has no fuel docks, he said.

"There's an inherent risk in the transfer of fuel to a vessel -- whether you do it at a dock or from a barge," Roberts said. "We fuel only one vessel at a time, and we offer a controlled environment."

Several currents run through the barge dispute, which is a snapshot of boating life on the bay.

The San Diego Unified Port District is investigating whether the service is allowed under the district's lease with the boatyard and whether the agency can require an environmental study of the operation.

Private fuel dock operators have complained that the barge does not have to pay the port a percentage of each gallon it sells, a requirement stationary fuel dock operators have under their port leases.

Richard Luther, an attorney for three fuel dock operators, said his clients are being undercut by the barge operation.

"The boatyard's barge is anchoring on the bay, so I believe the port has jurisdiction over it," Luther said. "The port has the ability to shut it down and should do so."

Concerns about the barge were raised this week at a meeting of the San Diego Harbor Safety Committee. The group is a state- created advisory board that monitors navigational safety issues on the bay and advises the state Department of Fish and Game.

After a debate between Roberts and environmentalists, the committee decided to form a group to investigate environmental and other questions that were raised.

The barge, which is 36 feet long and 14 feet wide, has been loaded with fuel only one time at the South Bay Boat Yard, which has a lease with the port that began in 1985 and expires in 2020. On Jan. 15, the port sent a letter notifying company officials that fueling the barge is not permitted under its lease and advising them to stop.

Roberts said the company will comply and begin buying its fuel from a dock operator at the Port District's 10th Avenue Marine Terminal. The port will be compensated for the fuel loaded into the barge because the dock operator at the terminal pays a percentage of sales to the port, he said.

Port officials are looking into whether refueling away from the Chula Vista property will bring the boatyard in compliance with its lease.

"I understand that there are concerns," said Jeff Gabriel, the port's assistant director of real estate. "We're trying to get our arms around it."

The barge, staffed by one attendant, is moved around the bay by a tugboat as it awaits calls from boaters wanting fuel. Most of the calls have come from Coronado.

The fuel costs slightly more than at a fuel dock, Roberts said. Fuel docks charge about $2.60 a gallon for gasoline and about $2.10 a gallon for diesel when boaters buy up to 50 gallons.

"It seems to me that this is not a safe way to work," said Jim Peugh of the San Diego Audubon Society and a San Diego Safety Harbor Committee member. "You've got one man on it. It seems an awfully risk-prone way to do this."

Roberts said the company is considering placing a second worker on the vessel.

Peugh also is concerned that the barge may stir up contaminated sediment each time it anchors. Two poles are inserted into the sediment from the barge to steady it during refueling.

LaVerne Josey, oil spill prevention specialist with the Department of Fish and Game, said he has been aboard the barge and that "it is one of the safest operations I've seen." The barge is properly insured and equipped, he said.

U.S. Coast Guard Cmdr. Stephen Metruck, the officer in charge of inspections on the bay, said all the barge operator has to do under federal law is conduct the fueling safely and comply with environmental laws.

While the Coast Guard monitors the fueling of large vessels on the bay, Metruck said it cannot be present each time the boatyard's fuel barge services small recreational vessels.

Metruck said he intends to do a risk assessment of the fuel barge, looking at the track record of similar operations at other ports.

Copyright 2004 Union-Tribune Publishing Company. Used by Permission