Barge spills 3,400 gallons of oil in Mississippi

On Saturday, approximately 3,400 gallons (or 3.8 million litres) of oil were spilled from a Kirby Inland Marine Barge near Natchez in Mississippi.

The Lower Mississippi River Sector of the Coast Guard received a notification from Kirby Inland Marine at 10 pm on Saturday reporting a discharge that occurred from one their barges while being transported by the Leviticus on mile marker 339 along the Lower Mississippi River.

To assess the situation, pollution responders from Coast Guard Marine Safety Detachment Vicksburg Sector Lower Mississippi River and Coast Guard Marine Safety Detachment Vicksburg were deployed.

The crew of Leviticus located the source of discharge. They estimated that approximately 3,402 gallon of product were released into the water. An additional 1,000 gallons discharged, but contained on the deck of barge.

Kirby Inland Marine, a barge operator, is working with two Oil Spill Removal Organizations to clean up the discharged products.

On Sunday, an estimated 1,000 feet (or sorbent and hard boom) of boom was deployed to contain the product.

As of Monday, an estimated 800 gallons (or oily water) mixture had been recovered.

No reports have been made of any wildlife impacts.

Capt. Rhodes, Commander of Sector Lower Mississippi River and Federal On-Scene Coordinator for the incident said: “The Coast Guard works diligently with Kirby Inland Marine to ensure an effective and timely cleanup to minimize any environmental impacts.” Ryan S. Rhodes is the Commander of Sector Lower Mississippi River, and Federal On-Scene coordinator for this incident. “Responders of each organization work tirelessly to remove the product and assess the shoreline.”