Oregon Public Broadcasting

Friday, efforts continue to free a barge that's stuck on the Columbia River near the mouth of Hood River. April Baer reports.

Several different agencies are collaborating to try to get the barge moving again. Coast Guard investigators still aren't saying what might have caused it to run aground, but most theories involve a build-up of silt.

Thursday night, crews were unsuccessful pulling the barge free.

Friday, they may try to lighten the barge's load by transferring part of its million-gallon load of gasoline. Then they would try to float it away.

The Coast Guard is involved in the project, as well as DEQ, and the Washington Department of Ecology.

Questions about the silt build-up  that could have caused the barge to run aground remain unanswered.

The Army Corps of Engineers has never had to dredge that part the Columbia's shipping channel. Sounds were last taken near Hood River in 2007.