Major oil spill spotted on Mississippi River

[bloom]

The Associated Press

September 02, 2005

State officials said Friday they have spotted a huge oil spill near two storage tanks at the town of Venice, on the Mississippi River downstream from New Orleans.

A flyover by the Department of Environmental Quality revealed what was described as a major oil spill.

"Two tanks with the capacity of holding 2 million barrels appear to be leaking," the statement said.

No further details were given.

http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050902/APN/509020930&cachetime=3&template=dateline

[aquart]

1. Well, it just keeps getting better, doesn't it?

[rustydad]

2. Can it get worse?

Yes. Bob

[expatriot]

3. I remember Mayor Nagin Nagin speaking of an oil spill from a tanker

days ago. I wonder if this is the same one.

[bloom]

6. It doesn't come up much in google - but there is a team going from Texas

So somebody knew.... (On edit - sounds like they are doing general recovery - NOT oil spill recovery)
--

http://www.kwtx.com/home/headlines/1715791.html

A team of Texas oil spill experts from the Texas General Land Office is headed to Louisiana to help in the massive recovery effort in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

“We’re just happy to help,” Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson said.

“We know that Louisiana would do the same thing for us if we were in similar circumstances.”

The 16-member team has an array of equipment including seven boats, a bird rehabilitation shelter that will provide sleeping quarters for team members, a mobile command post, ten trucks, and an equipment trailer.

The first team members were scheduled to arrive in Louisiana Thursday evening.

-------
http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/ts_comments.php?id=P66855_0_10_0

September 2, 2005 — Raymond Oliveira, Mike Janskowski and Juan Salgado with the Texas General Land Office were minutes away from leaving their north Brownsville office for Louisiana when they got a call from their supervisor.

The three oil spill and emergency specialists planned to take an airboat and tanker trailer with 300 gallons of fuel to help with the search and rescue efforts in New Orleans, but were put on standby out of concern for their safety.

[classysassy]

17. Black gold

recover that black gold,but screw the black people.

[Eloriel]

7. It said "storage tank," not "tanker." n/t

[Supersedeas]

4. but Haley Barber said....and if Haley is confortable wit it...shouldn't u?

[killbotfactory]

5. What's next, an asteroid impact?

[bloom]

8. "The spill is not accessible because the waterway is silted."

"A major oil spill was reported near Venice, La., near the mouth of the Mississippi. The spill is not accessible because the waterway is silted."


http://www.investors.com/breakingnews.asp?journalid=31354163&brk=1

[Roland99]

9. What about UPRIVER? Is it Clear? Could the river have been used to...

send food/water down on barges/rafts?!?

[ellie]

10. Quick! Someone

get smirky a paper towel so he can pretend to wash off a duck and show the world that he "cares."

[Roland99]

11. Time to buy some oil stocks

DOW +27.07 10,486.70

[WoodyD]

12. And Dubya springs into action:

Halliburton received a bazillion-dollar no-bid contract today to mop up the oil that has spilled into the waters near New Orleans. When criticized for this policy when so many storm victims are still suffering in dangerous situations without the basic necessities, Dubya responded: "Save the oil! We can always get more poor people, but oil's precious."

[gmoney]

13. I was wondering about that...

We'll see how many big fat clean-up/reconstruction contracts Hallibribem gets out of the $10 Billion appropriation... a lot more profitable than paying the Army Corps a lousy $230M to reinforce the levee years ago...

[Rose Siding]

14. Tank capacity est 160,000 barrels, Exxon Valdez was 250,000 barrels

A “major oil spill” has been spotted near two storage tanks southeast of New Orleans, the state Department of Environmental Quality said Friday.

The spill was first spotted Thursday during a flyover, department spokeswoman Jean Kelly told MSNBC.com, “but we still don’t have access to the area.”

The spill was just north of Venice, a town in the Mississippi River Delta, and 65 miles southeast of New Orleans.
...
Each tank is 20 feet tall and 200 feet in diameter, she said. The department initially estimated that total capacity could be 1 million barrels each but later reduced that to 80,000 each. A barrel of oil is 42 gallons.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9175553/

[KamaAina]

15. At least it's downstream from N.O.

in fact, from what I hear, it's damn near at the new mouth of the river.

Guess what? N.O. gets its drinking water from the Mississippi. A spill like that upstream and you can tack on a few more months to the Exodus. :(

[Chicago Democrat]

16. Yum Crude covered Shrimp!

Tasty Oysters with Tar Sause!

[Sgent]

18. This will devestate

the LA Redfish population -- which is just now becoming open to sportsmen after overfishing stopped it completely.

Venice is the heart of the bayou, with some of the most ecologically diverse land/marsh in the country. This will destroy huge amounts of wetlands and associated creatures (crawfish, redfish, crabs, etc) if not contained.