Oil cleanup ongoing on Mississippi River following barge wreck, spill

Cleanup crews with booms skimmed oily water from the Mississippi River this morning, a day after a barge with more than 80,000 gallons of oil struck a railroad bridge near Vicksburg, Miss., spreading a sheen of light crude that kept part of the waterway closed to ship traffic today. The spill backed up at least 21 tugboats, barges and other vessels on the normally bustling corridor, Coast Guard spokesman Lt. Ryan Gomez says, adding that he didn’t know when the shutdown order would be lifted. Tugs were holding the barge near shore on the Louisiana side of the river, south of the bridge it hit and directly across from Vicksburg’s Riverwalk Casino. Orange containment boom was stretched across part of the river downstream from the barge, and a small boat appeared to patrol the area. At least 11 northbound vessels and 10 southbound vessels were waiting to pass Monday, according to Gomez. “They’re still trying to determine how much [oil] leaked, how much was gone from the tank,” Gomez says. He notes that details remain unclear, though investigators have reported a tugboat was pushing two tank barges when the collision occurred about 1:30 a.m. Sunday. The second barge was damaged, Gomez said, and authorities inspected and cleared the railroad bridge afterward. Along with doing cleanup work, he says, crews are in the process of working to transfer the remaining oil. The Associated Press has the full story here.