Crews work on removing fuel tank from Mississippi River at Cape Girardeau

The first step in removing the old oil storage tank stuck in the Mississippi River just north of downtown Cape Girardeau will be an attempt to move it to shallower water, owner Robert Erlbacher said Tuesday.

Crews from Okie Moore Diving & Salvage Co. of St. Charles, Mo., moved barge-mounted cranes into place Tuesday to begin the work of extracting the huge tank. The tank, which washed into the river in a flash flood last week, is lodged in the muddy bottom at the east edge of the shipping channel opposite the Red Star River Access.

Work Tuesday focused on securing heavy chains to the lower end of the tank, Erlbacher said. Clearing the navigation channel is the top priority for moving the tank, which is about 40 feet in diameter and about 50 feet tall.

The plan for a final extrication of the tank hasn't been settled, Erlbacher said.

"This is called salvage work," Erlbacher said. "You have got to have a Plan A, B, C and D. if things go well, one would expect before the end of this week we would be somewhere with this thing where it can be handled."

A call to Okie Moore's offices confirmed the company is doing the work, but an employee declined to give her name and said the company does not talk to the media about its operations.

The work Tuesday began as crane-mounted barges moved into place. A towboat with two barges, each with a crane mounted on the deck, anchored alongside the tank in the morning. A second barge and towboat combination, with two cranes mounted on the barge, moved into place just downstream from the tank shortly after 3 p.m.

The tank, which is about 70 years old, washed into the river early Friday during a flash flood. It was used originally to store fuel for a company called J.D. Street. The most recent use of the tank, Erlbacher said, was to store molasses.

The tank became loose from its moorings during high water on the Mississippi earlier this year. It settled in a creek bed nearby. Erlbacher said last week that he had been waiting for the ground near the tank to dry sufficiently for crews to cut it up for salvage.

A crane mounted on a barge struck the Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge in mid-July while it was moving from the Missouri Dry Dock to the tank's location on a mission to secure it in place. The crane and bridge were damaged, and that attempt had to be scuttled.

Erlbacher said he chose Okie Moore's company because of proximity, reputation and because he knows the company's owners. He declined to discuss the cost of the salvage operation.

A growing group of onlookers sat at picnic tables and on blankets at the Red Star River Access watching the boatmen preparing for an attempt to lift the tank.

Tara Duncan of Cape Girardeau brought Mikey McClard, 15 months, Cody McClard, 5, and Caleb Duncan, 6, with her to observe after the two older children came home from school for the day. "I heard they were going to try to remove it, and it's not something you see every day," she said.

rkeller@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 126