CAPT FRANK GIBSON

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Damaged oil barge emptied

The oil barge that spilled thousands of gallons oil into the Mississippi River after a collision near New Orleans on Feb 17 has been emptied and relocated by late Feb 19. Since operations began, 100 bags of oiled debris and 40 bags of oiled sorbents have been collected. A total of 4,700 feet of hard containment boom has been deployed in an effort to minimize environmental damage. The drained barge has been taken to a repair facility in West Wego. The Coast Guard estimated the total of leaked oil at less than 10,000 gallons. The spill started after the barge towed by the "Clarence W. Settoon" ran into a construction barge towed by the tug "Alydar" near Reserve in St. John Parish, west of New Orleans. The oil barge suffered a 10 feet by 5 feet gash above the water line, allowing crude oil to spill out of the 214,000-gallon tank. The river was closed to commercial traffic for several hours on Feb 17 before it was reopened.

Barge in collision with tug

An undetermined amount of oil spilled into the Mississippi River in the early morning of Feb 17, 2012, near New Orleans after an oil barge collided with the tug "Alygar". A five-mile stretch of the Mississippi about 50 miles upriver from New Orleans has been closed to river traffic as pollution investigators and other officials responded. The accident occurred sometime before 2 a.m. The oil barge was being moved along the river by the "Clarence W. Settoon" when the collision occurred. The "Alygar" was pushing a crane barge. The oil barge suffered a 10-by-5-foot gash at its waterline. As of 7:30 a.m. it had been pushed up on a riverbank and was no longer leaking. The barge was carrying sweet crude oil.