Oil Spill Closes Port of New Orleans, 65-Mile Stretch of Mississippi River

Story by the Associated Press; curated by Dave Urbanski

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A 65-mile stretch of the Mississippi River, including the Port of New Orleans, was closed to all water traffic Sunday as crews cleaned up oil that spilled from a barge after it ran into a towboat between Baton Rouge and New Orleans, the Coast Guard said.

A paddleboat is docked on the Mississippi River in New Orleans. (Image source: Getty Images/Marianna Massey)

Officials don't know how much oil spilled, but only a sheen was reported on the river following the collision, which happened Saturday afternoon near Vacherie, 47 miles west of New Orleans by land, said Coast Guard Petty Officer Bill Colclough.

No one was hurt and all barges were secured, Colclough said.

By late Sunday afternoon, 16 vessels were waiting to go downriver and 10 vessels were waiting in an upriver queue, he said. He could not estimate when the river would reopen. The cause of the collision was under investigation.

Public drinking water intakes on the river were closed as a precaution in nearby St. Charles Parish, officials said. "The water supply in St. Charles Parish remains safe," parish officials said in a news release Sunday afternoon.

The barge, one of two loaded with light crude and being pushed by the Hannah C. Settoon, hit the Lindsay Ann Erickson, which was pushing grain barges, Colclough said.

He said the rest of the oil on the damaged barge had been pumped into another barge by early Sunday. He did not know if the Lindsay Ann Erickson was damaged.