Oil Spill near New Orleans
It’s a dark day for Mississippi River locals and wildlife. A terrifying collision between a fuel barge and a chemical tanker has sent around 420,000 gallons of dense fuel into the nation’s second longest river. Reportedly, the oil spill occurred thanks to a massive accident in which a chemical tanker severed a fuel barge in two - yes, it was cut in half, Yahoo! News featured pictures. Thankfully the local, state and Coast Guard environmental teams instantly began the cleanup process by bringing out the booms and skimmers, ensuring the mess did not spread out even more. There are no injuries reported so far.
Perhaps the most distressing thing about this whole happening is that the drivers of the tugboats in this case were not properly licensed and they had no authorization to be operating the boats. The river will be closed for several days and lots of people are working hard to clean up the mess. It’s unfortunate that so many people, and the environment, have to suffer due to the carelessness of others.