2008 New Orleans oil spill

The 2008 New Orleans oil spill was an oil spill that occurred on on 23 July 2008 at New Orleans, Louisiana, in which No. 6 fuel oil were spilled into the Mississippi River after a tanker collided with Barge DM932 being pulled by a tugboat upriver near the Crescent City Connection. Although early estimates stated approximately 400,000 gallons (1,514,164 liters) of the fuel oil was spilled into the river, subsequent estimates by the Office of Response and Restoration of the National Ocean Service placed the spill at approximately 280,000 gallons.

Background

At AbOUT 1:30 a.m. local time on July 23, 2008, the Tintomara, a Liberian-flagged tanker being towed by the tug Mel Oliver operated by DRD Towing of Harvey collided with a barge carrying No. 6 fuel oil, picked up from the John W. Stone Oil Distributor in Gretna.

By July 24, the Coast Guard closed the river to all ships from mile marker 97 in New Orleans to the Southwest Pass estuary at the Gulf of Mexico. By midday, the slick had reached as far as Venice, with only of oil contained and removed from the river. Floating, containment booms were utilized in the cleanup with many being placed in strategic locations in order to minimize the impacts of the Delta National Wildlife Refuge.

With clean-up well underway, the barge released an estimated 2,500 gallons of oil into the river on July 30, resulting in its closure to river traffic for a period of six hours. The pumping of the remaining fuel oil would commence shortly thereafter, with the actual removal of the damaged barge underway during the week of August 4, 2008.

Aftermath

The closure resulted a halting of river traffic with many ships being held in New Orleans. The closure resulted in the Port of New Orleans losing an estimated $100,000 in revenue for each day it remained closed. Also, Carnival Cruise Lines diverted its lead Fantasy class ship Carnival Fantasy to Mobile, Alabama through the September 1, 2008 cruise before going its scheduled four week drydock. It returned to New Orleans on October 4, 2008.

See also

• Oil spill

External links

• New Orleans Oil Spill Response
• [http://blog.nola.com/news_impact/2008/08/0802RaisingTheBarge.pdf Illustration by The Times-Picayune on raising the sunken barge