Oil Spill Contained but Taking a Toll on Wildlife in Louisiana

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(TNS) – Emergency officials continued cleanup efforts Sunday of a large oil spill in Bayou Lafourche that was first detected early Saturday and traced to a leaking fuel tank at the Crescent Midstream pumping station in Raceland.

But more than 24 hours after detecting the spill, officials were unable to say what caused the accident or how much inky black oil spilled into the bayou before they were able to bring it under control.

Aerial photos taken by drone Sunday morning showed a giant slick stretching for miles along the bayou and contained by some 4,300 feet of boom.

The Coast Guard National Response Center, which received a report on the spill, refused to release it without a public records request, citing potential confidentiality concerns. The Louisiana State Police also would not immediately release a report made to its emergency hotline until a public records request was filed.

Public water sourced from the bayou remains safe to drink, according to a statement from the multiagency Unified Command task force monitoring and cleaning up the spill, though the Lafourche Parish Water District No. 1 continued to advise residents to conserve water “out of an abundance of caution while the parish awaits any specific requirements from the Louisiana Department of Health.” The advisory covers customers south of the La. 182 bridge in Lafourche Parish.

No injuries have been reported, officials said.

But late Sunday, officials provided their first update of the impact on the spill on local wildlife. So far, 17 aquatic salamanders, two turtles and one crawfish have been found dead as a result of the spill and recovered. Additionally, four ducks and three alligators covered with oil were observed but could not be captured. Officials are urging the public to report any oiled wildlife to (832) 514-9663, and are advising residents not to try to capture or treat any oiled wildlife themselves.

The Coast Guard closed the bayou to mariners from the La. 182 bridge in Raceland to the Saltwater Control Structure in Lockport, and the right, north bound lane of La. 1 remains closed to vehicular traffic.

A no-fly zone over the spill is in effect from La. 182 to La. 654, one mile in either direction of Bayou Lafourche. The zone is specifically targeted at aerial drones.

‘As long as it takes to make it right’

The leak was detected shortly before 8 a.m. Saturday, after oil was seen entering the bayou from a storm water canal near the intersection La. 308 and La. 182 in Raceland. It was traced to a hole in a secondary tank system at the Crescent Midstream pump station.

Crescent Midstream operates 1,200 miles of onshore and offshore pipelines in the Gulf of Mexico, southeast Louisiana and part of Texas. The Raceland pump station handles oil coming from the Gulf through Grand Isle and southern tip of Lafourche Parish and then moves the crude north.

In the wake of the spill, federal, state and local officials began deploying resources to the area. As of Sunday night, nearly 120 workers were on site with 28 vessels.

Clean-up operations, which were paused at nightfall and scheduled to resume at daybreak, consist of containment booming, skimming, and water-flushing operations. In their Sunday night statement, unified command said flushing operations are using water pumped from the bayou and flushing oil from the vegetation into the containment boom so that it can be recovered by skimmers and collected for disposal.

Seven vacuum trucks also were onsite and more equipment was on the way for a cleanup that officials said will continue for “as long as it takes to make it right.”

They could not say whether that means days, weeks or months.

Officials have also been monitoring local air quality on both sides of the bayou in the affected area since the spill was detected. Results have been well below actionable levels but monitoring will continue out of an abundance of caution, they said.

The unified command includes federal, state, local and company officials from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, parish government, Crescent Midstream and the Louisiana Oil Spill Coordinator’s Office.

Lafourche Parish President Archie Chaisson III has issued a state of emergency.

Residents who want to report personal or property damages because of the spill are asked to call (833) 812-0877.

(Editor’s Note: This story has been updated from an earlier version to include information about dead and oiled wildlife and additional resources that have been deployed to the cleanup.)

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