In a dramatic, all-hands-on-deck effort, the wooden schooner Tangier was hauled off a sandbar in Vineyard Haven harbor Tuesday morning after she went aground in gale-force winds during the weekend blizzard that lashed the Island.

A massive project to redevelop the Tisbury Marine Terminal on Beach Road flew through its public hearing process at the Martha’s Vineyard Commission Thursday, seeing no opposition.

The MVC is reviewing a large, complicated project to redevelop the Tisbury Marine Terminal into a vessel staging facility for Vineyard Wind.

With gas pumps once again locked and in violation of environmental regulations, R.M. Packer Co. and the town of Edgartown have come to a short-term agreement.

Two waterfront Vineyard Haven companies owned by Ralph M. Packer have been ordered by a federal judge to pay $1.3 million in fines.

Federal Agency Cites Packer Firm For Violations of Clean Air Act; Investigation Charges Release Of Tons of Toxic Pollutants

R.M. Packer Co., the 23-year-old gas and oil concern headquartered in Vineyard Haven, was cited by the federal Environmental Protection Agency this month for a long list of violations to the Clean Air Act.

The Environmental Protection Agency announced this week that it has
reached an agreement with R.M. Packer Co. for fines and compliance after
the company violated the Clean Air Act by releasing literally tons of
harmful pollutants into the air, both in Vineyard Haven and in New
Bedford.

The Packer company will now spend $300,000 to install emissions
control equipment at its Vineyard Haven terminal, and the company will
pay a penalty of $200,000 to the EPA over the next three years.

R.M. Packer Co. of Vineyard Haven, the Vineyard’s major oil supplier, has agreed to pay a $78,000 fine for violating the federal Clean Water Act and Oil Pollution Prevention rules.

According to a release from the federal Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday, the Packer company failed to adequately implement a spill prevention, control and countermeasure plan. The EPA also said the company did not sufficiently maintain proper containment for its tanks and loading rack.

Troubles in the Middle East and a sour national economy are not far from the minds of Vineyarders trying to make it through this cold winter. Home heating oil and propane prices went through the roof this week.

Yesterday the retail price for home heating oil was $4.199 a gallon, up 23 cents from Tuesday when the price was $3.969.