Mess In The Mississippi - Consequences
Mississippi River closed to Gulf of Mexico
Workers along the Mississippi River try to contain the hundreds of thousands of gallons of fuel oil from a barge and ship collision on Wednesday. The river is now closed to the Gulf of Mexico.
The massive oil spill that remains a major threat to the area’s fragile delta ecosystem now stretches from New Orleans to the mouth of the Mississippi River — a distance of 100 miles, Coast Guard officials said early Thursday.
The Coast Guard has closed the river from mile marker 97 in New Orleans to Southwest Pass –where the river empties into the Gulf of Mexico. The closure of the busy commercial waterway is meant to help crews corral the spill and curb its threats.
The port loses about $100,000 in revenue each day the river is closed. That does not include the losses to terminal operators, stevedores, tug boat operators and other private businesses.
The catastrophic spill occurred early Wednesday after an outbound 600-foot Liberian-flagged tanker named The Tintomara collided with a barge being pulled by a tugboat near the Harvey Locks. The barge — which was carrying 400,000 gallons of thick, tar-like No. 6 fuel oil — was split in half, sending its contents into the river.
Ships blocked after US oil spill
Commercial shipping has been severely disrupted following an oil spill on the Mississippi River, a busy shipping waterway in the United States.
Dozens of cargo ships and tankers are stuck in a stretch of water between the Gulf of Mexico and New Orleans - one of the world’s busiest ports.
A barge and tanker collided, spilling more than 400,000 gallons (1.5m litres) of fuel oil into the river.
Nearly 100 miles (160km) of the river has been closed due to the spill and efforts to clean up the oily sheen left by largest oil spill on the river since 2000 could take weeks.
Between 55 and 65% of all US corn, soybean and wheat exports leave from the Gulf of Mexico. Chris Bonura, spokesman for the Port of New Orleans said the port could lose about $100,000 (£50,285) in fee revenues each day the river stretch remains closed.
Authorities have deployed a fleet of ships to help with cleaning up the fuel oil, which is threatening to contaminate the area’s drinking water. Wildlife officials reported spotting only a few ducks and one egret coated with oil.
The 61-foot barge that has been leaking heavy fuel oil for nearly two days could be seen underneath the mammoth Crescent City Connection bridge. It was carrying 419,000 gallons of the heavy fuel it had just picked up from an oil distributor when it collided with a 600-foot tanker ship around 1:30 a.m., just off this city’s Uptown neighborhoods. The tanker did not leak.
Coast Guard officials said the tugboat operator pushing the barge, from the local DRD Towing Company, was improperly licensed, possessing only the equivalent of an apprentice certificate. They said the incident was being closely investigated, though no blame had yet been assigned.
The Coast Guard has confirmed that none of the tug’s crew had the licenses that are required to operate on the river.
NEW ORLEANS — A tugboat without a properly licensed pilot was pushing the barge that collided with the tanker Tintomara early Wednesday, resulting in an oil spill from the barge that closed a stretch of the Mississippi River at New Orleans, the Coast Guard said.
The person operating the boat had an apprentice mate’s license, and there was no one else on the vessel properly licensed to guide it, said Lt. Cmdr. Cheri Ben-Iesau of the Coast Guard in New Orleans. The operator’s name wasn’t immediately released.
The Coast Guard is working with Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality, the Louisiana Oil Spill Coordination Office, oil spill response organizations, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to address the spill.
Licensing and accountability are another part of America’s crumbling infrastructure. As ships collide, bridges fail, and water is wasted, America has neglected its responsibility to its own people. The past 8 years have been responsible for the decline in America’s ability to take care of itself. With all resources and attention focused on external ambitions, little to none is left to repair an aging infrastructure. Volunteers and charities have tried to keep up … but with the economy in tatters, fewer donations are made. Charities are also drying up.
… A smell that many people thought was diesel was noticeable in the French Quarter and parts of New Orleans’ central business district.
The smell of decay permeates the remains of this country. Where is the clean up crew? Who can salvage the consequences of 8 years of bad management and no accountability. Voices of desperation have filled the air for 8 years … that is but background noise for the Bush Administration. After all, its all about oil … and now its floating on the surface of America’s greatest river.
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July 25th, 2008 at 2:06 pm
We have got to put tighter restrictions on river traffic. And anothe r thing is where is the emergency containment center for something like this? To have a barge leaking for days like that seems like federal management was no where to be found. That is exactly WHY we need a jack flash response team to handle oil spills like this on the Mississippi.