Back-to-school road safety tips for children and parents
August 19, 2010
Mearl Galloway
August 20, 2010
Coastal skimmers gathered 6,846 gallons of oil from the coastal parishes, according to a report on skimming operations issued Aug. 6 by the state of Louisiana.
The report surveyed the amount of skimmers and oil collected in gallons from six parishes: Terrebonne, Lafourche, Jefferson, Plaquemines, St. Bernard and St. Tammany.
Three parishes – Terrebonne, Jefferson and Plaquemines – held 98.9 percent of the skimmed oil, according to the report. Terrebonne Parish, where 73 skimmers gathered 3,150 gallons, had the highest total.
Not one gallon of pooled oil was skimmed from the Lafourche area. Instead, crews have found weathered, thicker oil such as tar balls and mousse, which is an oil and water mixture that occurs with enough wave action.
“We just haven’t found any skimmable oil [in Lafourche Parish],” said Commander Richard Schultz of the Coast Guard. “There are a number of reasons, whether it is natural processes or dispersants and other responses.”
Oil sheens have been visible in Lafourche Parish, but that is not skimmable oil. A thimble full of oil can cause a sheen for a mile or two, Schultz said.
“It’s been sporadic, the reports,” said Brennan Matherne, Lafourche Parish public information director. “We’ve seen sheen here or there coming off the coast.”
Skimmers collected 2,265 gallons in Plaquemines and 1,356 gallons in Jefferson. In addition to the oil, crews gathered 65 cubic yards of debris, according to the report.
Most of the skimming is taking place near-shore, Schultz said.
“The off-shore element for all intents and purposes has been shut down,” he said. “Most of the skimming is now being conducted near-shore.”
At the height of the crisis, there was 639 miles of shoreline oil. That number is now down to 375, said Kim Colburn, vice president of transportation and operations at BP.
There were reports of more than 10 trucks of boom being removed from Plaquemines Parish. Schultz said the only boom removed was oil-absorbed, damaged or stranded.
“We have not removed boom from Plaquemines parish,” Schultz said. “We remove oil-absorbed boom and replace it with fresh boom. If hard containment boom becomes damaged, we replace it. Any boom that is out there, free-floating, we are trying to make sure that boom is removed because it can cause more damage [to the marshes].”
Terrebonne Parish yielded the most gallons of oil from the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill skimming operation – 3,150 gallons. No oil was able to be drawn from water in Lafourche Parish. ERIC BESSON
