Burning the midnight oil: The Coast Guard says it will likely take until Thursday or later for a pipeline fire in Louisiana to burn itself out. The blaze began Tuesday night when the pipeline was struck by a tugboat and barge. Capt. Jonathan Burton says the barge was carrying 92,000 gallons of oil, but none was believed to be leaking. He says a sheen, which could be from diesel fuel, was spotted in Bayou Perot about 30 miles south of New Orleans. Four people aboard the tugboat were injured, one severely. Burton says investigators hadn’t determined why the vessels hit the pipeline, owned by Chevron.
On the stand: A worker who survived the deadly explosion on the Deepwater Horizon testified today that a flurry of activity on the drilling rig hindered his ability to monitor BP’s well for signs of trouble before the April 2010 blowout. Joseph Keith, the second rig worker to testify in person at a federal trial over the disaster, said he never saw any indications that a blowout was brewing before drilling mud started raining down on the rig floor just before the blast. The full story can be found here.
Red ink: The U.S. federal budget deficit jumped in February from January, though it is still running well below last year’s pace. Higher taxes and an improving economy are expected to hold the deficit below $1 trillion for the first time since President Barack Obama took office. The Treasury Department reports today that the deficit grew in February by $203.5 billion. That followed a surplus of $2.9 billion in January. And February’s gap was $28 billon smaller than the same month a year ago. More details can be found in the full story here.
