Murphy Oil tank in Louisiana spills (85,000 gal. - evacuations)

[donsu]

http://www.nola.com/newsflash/national/index.ssf?/base/news-18/1125868441206524.xml&storylist=hurricane

An 85,000-barrel crude oil tank owned by Murphy Oil Corp. has spilled into the flood waters because of damage from Hurricane Katrina, the company announced Sunday.

It was not immediately known how much oil spilled at the Meraux, La., refinery, but the El Dorado-based company said in a release that some of the oil has been contained within the refinery grounds. The spill was found Saturday, the company said.

Each oil tank is surrounded by a retaining wall to keep the oil back in case of a spill, but at the time of the leak the walls were filled with flood water, Murphy Oil spokesman Kevin Fitzgerald said.

That retaining wall has since been repaired, the company said. Murphy Oil officials notified the National Response Center, the U.S. Coast Guard and the Environmental Protection Agency about the spill.

Limited accessibility is hampering efforts from spill responders, who are on site trying to assess the damage, the company said. Much of the area around the spill had already been evacuated, company officials said.
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