NEW ORLEANS — Federal authorities are seeking to contain and clean up the damage from a decades-old oil well in southeast Louisiana that spewed crude and natural gas for more than a week.
Upwards of 79,000 gallons of “oily water mixture” have been recovered near Garden Island Bay in Plaquemines Parish at the edge of the Mississippi River Delta Basin, the Coast Guard said Monday. The region is still recovering from the effects of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill 15 years ago.
“Gaining control of the discharge is a vital milestone, but it marks only the beginning of our work,” U.S. Coast Guard Capt. Greg Callaghan, who is coordinating the federal response, said in an emailed statement.
“The Unified Command is fully committed to an exhaustive cleanup effort and will remain on site for as long as necessary to ensure the removal of oil and the safety of both the community and the ecosystem,” Callaghan added.
Authorities say they have deployed more than 20,000 feet of containment booms. The cause of the leak remains under investigation, officials said.
The U.S. Coast Guard said it has “successfully secured” the well that’s responsible for the leakage, owned by the firm Spectrum OpCo, LLC. But the total amount of discharged oil remained “unknown.”
“Spectrum OpCo sincerely regrets the incident and its potential impact on our neighbors and remains fully engaged and resolutely committed to assisting with the cleanup,” the company said in an emailed statement.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, stated it is “providing on-scene scientific support” such as tracking the spread of the spill and identifying natural resources at risk.
So far, only one bird covered in oil has been reported by federal authorities.
Plaquemines Parish has 20 pending lawsuits against oil and gas companies for failing to clean up infrastructure and surrounding coastal wetlands. Last month, a jury ordered Chevron to pay more than $740 million in damages to the parish.
Louisiana U.S. Rep. Troy Carter said that the spill called attention to the “clear and present danger” posed by cutting federal employees at agencies like NOAA who have experience handling oil spills.
“We owe it to our communities, our environment, and our future generations to safeguard Louisiana’s coast — before it’s too late,” Carter said.
