Oil less visible on Petaluma River but tugboat still a problem

<p>A salvage crew struggled Wednesday morning with cutting the remains of an old rusty tugboat in half, trying to split it so it could be hauled away from the Petaluma River.</p><p>Earlier in the week the boat had leaked hundreds of gallons of heavy gear oil into the river as it was being dismantled for scrap.</p><p>Moving the remains of the boat was one of the last major elements of the cleanup work.</p><p>“There's something holding it together. They can't get it split in half,” said Petaluma Fire Battalion Chief Jeff Holden, who was watching the effort.</p><p>“They have a couple of tractors in there pushing and pulling. They expect to get it out of here this morning,” Holden said.</p><p>The leak, discovered Monday, spread across about two miles of the river from downtown Petaluma to Highway 101.</p><p>State Fish and Game officials have put a temporary moratorium on fishing but boating is allowed.</p><p>Things were looking better on sections of the river Wednesday.</p><p>“There's no more oil visible on the water or in the mud,” Holden said. “There are a couple of light sheens, a little in the turning basin.”</p><p>A crew was going to work on cleaning that up Wednesday with absorbent pads.</p><p>As of Wednesday morning, there still were no reports of wildlife damage from the spill, Holden said.</p>