Barge Buckles, Spills Oil-Laced Water Into River

About 100,000 gallons of oil-tainted water spilled Friday into a river feeding the lush Atchafalaya Basin as a barge was being unloaded at a waste disposal site, authorities said.

The barge, carrying waste water from an Exxon plant in Houston, buckled in the middle after an estimated 280,000 gallons had been siphoned into tanker trucks, spokesman Bobby Mayweather of GSX Land Treatment said.

“It looked like a giant had stepped on the barge smack in the middle,” state police Lt. Ronnie Jones said. No one was injured.

The waste, according to Exxon, was 90% water, 7% alcohol and 3% light oil, Jones said.

The spill occurred at a remote area about 35 miles southwest of Baton Rouge on the edge of the Atchafalaya Basin, a vast hardwood swamp and marshland that is a breeding ground for a variety of fish and wildlife.

Iberville Parish Sheriff Freddie Pitre said he believed that the tanker truck crew had siphoned the waste from the front and rear of the 300-foot-long barge, leaving most of the weight in the middle.

“Oil-absorbing booms were in place shortly after the spill and we believe most of the waste was confined to the immediate area of Grand River,” Jones said. “We may not know tomorrow or even the next day if we got it all because there is no visible slick.”