Marine

23.7, collision, oil spill

US: the Coast Guard closed 29 miles of the Mississippi River at New Orleans for six days after combined chemical and oil tank Tintomara and a barge loaded with fuel oil (under tow of tug Mel Oliver) collided, breaking the barge in half. Nobody was injured, but more than 419,000 gallons of heavy fuel oil spilled from the barge, forming a slick 12 miles long. Tintomara was loaded with about 4.2 million gallons of biodiesel and nearly 1.3 million gallons of styrene, but these did not leak into the Mississippi. The collision occurred just upriver from the Crescent City Connection. Tugs were holding the halves of the barge in place. Tintomara sustained only minor damage. The styrene, taken on at Carville, and some of the biodiesel taken on at St. Rose, were bound for Rotterdam and the rest of the biodiesel was going to Hamburg. The barge’s owner, American Commercial Lines, immediately took responsibility for the spill which a spokesman said it is obligated to do according to federal law. The fresh water intake for New Orleans’ west bank was below the spill. The state Department of Environmental Quality made sure that all water intakes and sensitive environmental areas downriver from the spill were boomed off to keep the fuel oil out.