Exxon Barge Ruptures, Spills Waste Into River in Louisiana

An Exxon barge ruptured as it was being unloaded on the Grand River Friday, spilling up to 400,000 gallons of waste oil into the waterway, a state police spokesman said.

“For some reason . . . the tank (in the barge) buckled and Exxon lost 300,000 to 400,000 gallons of combustible material,” Lt. Ronnie Jones said. “The material is about 90% water, so it’s going to dissipate. The other 10% is oil and alcohol.”

Jones said the company immediately placed booms in the river to contain the spill and sent cleanup crews from New Orleans to the swampy site, about 70 miles west of the city.

“We believe the majority has been contained,” he said. “A good deal of that spill will evaporate once the sun comes up.”

Jones said he was unsure of the environmental impact of the waste oil, but said: “Things certainly could have been a lot worse if this had been oil. This is not oil, this is an oil-based material.

“Any time you dump anything into a river, there’s going to be an effect on the ecology of the river,” he said.

The spill from the barge being unloaded came less than 24 hours after Exxon had been fined $135,000 by the state Department of Environmental Quality for a 1-million-gallon spill in the Mississippi River in September.