[StBernard] Sunken barge belches more oil, closing river for 6 hours

[Westley Annis]

Sunken barge belches more oil, closing river for 6 hours
by Chris Kirkham and Jen DeGregorio, The Times-Picayune 
Wednesday July 30, 2008, 9:55 PM
Local government agencies got another scare Wednesday as 2,500 gallons of
oil still inside a wrecked barge near the Crescent City Connection bubbled
to the surface, halting river traffic through New Orleans for six hours and
forcing officials in three parishes to again stop drawing water from the
Mississippi River.

Although shipping and water intake resumed by late afternoon, Coast Guard
officials did not rule out the possibility of additional fuel leaks in
upcoming days as the barge remains in the river, prompting criticism from
port officials.

"These burps may happen again, " said Coast Guard Capt. Lincoln Stroh, who
oversees the Port of New Orleans. "Only until we secure that barge and pump
out or suck the fuel out of that barge will it stop."

Officials attributed Wednesday's new leak to a three-foot drop in the river
in the past week, which allowed the broken barge to shift and disrupt the
oil still inside. Removing the barge from the river is still days away,
according to the Coast Guard, as divers inspecting the barge have run into
setbacks because of strong currents and poor visibility near the river
bottom.

The slow salvage process has drawn criticism from some local officials,
including the head of the Port of New Orleans, who called it "the slowest
process I've ever seen in my life."

"I don't know why it's not been executed faster, " said Gary LaGrange, the
port's president and chief executive.

Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser, whose parish has more miles of
the tainted river than any other, questioned whether there were enough
cleanup resources on hand immediately after the spill.

"I think the Coast Guard is moving quickly to contain it, but I don't know
if they had all the latest and greatest equipment to put out there, " he
said. "I hope after this is over we'll have a seat at the table and look at
it and have an assessment to see if we should have had more equipment on
hand sooner."

Meanwhile, residents in Algiers, St. Bernard and Plaquemines parishes again
were questioning the safety of their drinking water after the leak forced
officials to temporarily close intake systems.

Robert Jackson of the New Orleans Sewerage & Water Board said the department
performed in-house tests and found no contaminants in the water samples. The
department has put out its own protective booms in addition to the ones
provided by cleanup crews.

"From time to time you can get a fuel leak, a chemical leak, " Jackson said.
"We're accustomed to those situations. Those are emergency procedures we've
followed for many years."

Some residents aren't taking chances. Breaux Mart in Chalmette is still
selling a lot of bottled water.

Tony Wertz, manager of the Breaux Mart in Chalmette, said many people are
still not drinking tap water.

"You talk to a lot of people in the parish, and most of them have been
saying they've been buying bottled water, " he said.

Crews weld bolts to barge

The spill happened more than a week ago after a barge and a tanker collided,
pouring more than 400,000 gallons of thick industrial fuel oil into the
river, officials believe. The crew of the Mel Oliver, the tugboat pulling
the barge, was improperly licensed, according to the Coast Guard, but few
other details about the investigation have been released.

Stroh confirmed Wednesday that the Coast Guard has been in discussions with
the U.S. attorney's office, though he would not elaborate. The Justice
Department typically prosecutes oil spill cases, and in the past has brought
civil and criminal charges against parties involved in such incidents.

As the investigation continues, the Coast Guard has shied away from a
specific timeline on removing the barge, saying it is still days away.

Despite Wednesday's shifting, Stroh said the vessel is secure against the
bridge piling and will not move downriver.

"You either secure it completely or you don't secure it at all, " he said.

On Wednesday night, crews on scaffolding welded two massive industrial bolts
to the sides of the barge in preparation for cranes to attach lines. Divers
must still drill holes into two fuel tanks and remove remaining oil before
the mangled barge can be lifted to the shore.

Neither the Coast Guard nor American Commercial Lines, the barge's owner,
have an estimate of how much oil remains inside.

Wetlands health a concern

Farther downriver, the Army Corps of Engineers expects test results today
from sediment found to contain oil during dredging near the mouth of the
river. The corps has ceased dredging in Southwest Pass, a major thoroughfare
for ships to and from the Gulf of Mexico.

The discovery of oil in sediment near the mouth of the river has sparked
concerns from environmental groups. Much of the dredged material from
Southwest Pass normally is deposited in Pass a Loutre, where it can be
redistributed into adjacent wetlands to rebuild marsh.

"The biggest question right now is, 'What is the magnitude of this material
in the sediments?' " said Carleton Dufrechou, executive director of the Lake
Pontchartrain Basin Foundation. "If there's a lot of it and it's pretty
dense, the idea of using the sediments as has been done to replenish the
wetlands that are lost -- that's out of the question."

Jeff Dauzat, a scientist with the state Department of Environmental Quality,
said sampling results from the dredges will determine whether the
concentrations of oil are so high that the corps must dispose of the mud in
another way to avoid running afoul of environmental laws. But Dauzat expects
that most of the oil will not be a long-term concern in the sediment near
the mouth of the river.

"Water is going to find its easiest route out to the Gulf, " Dauzat said.
"Very likely the oil is going to find that main channel and that main
channel is going to continue to go out to the Gulf."

Cruise ship going to Mobile

The river's second shutdown threw the maritime community for a loop,
although it did not appear to cause major commercial disruptions on par with
the six-day closure after the first spill.

But the Carnival Fantasy cruise ship, scheduled to return passengers to New
Orleans this morning from a five-day trip to Mexico, instead will take
travelers to Mobile, Ala.

By port estimates, every cruise that goes through New Orleans means a $1
million economic impact for the region, a sum that comes from spending by
the cruise line and passengers.

About 100 barges were halted in the river and the Gulf Intracoastal
Waterway, most of them carrying chemicals and fuel, said Raymond Butler,
executive director of the Gulf Intracoastal Canal Association, which
represents barge companies and other users of the intracoastal waterway.

Robert Scafidel, executive director of the St. Bernard Port Harbor and
Terminal District, called the second closure "just a setback" that would not
cause "any additional problems."