Cleanup of river, wildlife continues
by Glynn Wilson and Denise Trowbridge, The Dallas Morning News, December 2000
FORT JACKSON, La. — The faint odor of crude oil rising from the Mississippi River remained in the air.
It was a reminder of last week's oil spill, when a tanker called the Westchester ran aground, dumping more than 500,000 gallons of crude oil.
But if there is such a thing as a good spill, residents here say this may have been it. The time of year even allowed local residents to let the good times roll: The weekend Plaquemines Parish Fair and Orange Festival went on as scheduled.
Dale "Bear" Benoit, a local newspaper publisher and this year's fair manager, said he was concerned Wednesday and Thursday that the "strong odor in the air would be disruptive. ..."
"Fortunately, the spill happened far enough in advance."
The Coast Guard-led cleanup effort continued through the weekend, a battle against what was left of the crude oil that spilled into the river Tuesday night from the 890-foot, single-hulled tanker. It lost power when an engine exploded, causing it to run aground near Port Sulphur, upriver from important oyster grounds near Empire and Fort Jackson.
Contract workers in protective suits sucked oil from the river's surface into two pumping trucks and stuffed oil-soaked polypropylene into trash bags.
Downriver at Venice, wildlife officials chased, trapped and cleaned up oil-covered animals — mostly cormorants, egrets and pelicans.
While Florida and California are traditional orange growing spots, the citrus is the largest cash crop and major industry in the southeast comer of Louisiana, along with fishing and the oil and gas industry. The fairgrounds, where the orange is feted, was a battleground between the French and British in the War of 1812. It was held by the Confederacy for much of the Civil War. During World War II, spotters watched for German U-boats trying to sneak into the lower Mississippi.
The land was abandoned by the government and inundated by the surrounding swamp. Parish officials restored it in 1961 and began using it as a fairgrounds.
A spokeswoman for the oil recovery effort said the timing and conditions couldn't have helped workers more. "You couldn't have asked for better weather for a cleanup," Ann Schiffman said. Daytime temperatures in the 60s were perfect for workers. Cooler temperatures at night caused oil floating on the river's surface to coagulate, making it easy to soak up.
The east bank across from the spill is an important waterfowl migration destination, and fall is a critical time of year, when 300,000 geese and ducks settle in the bayous and marshes of eastern Plaquemines Parish. "It could have been really bad if it had been on the other side," Ms. Schiffinan said.
The Westchester was built in 1981 by a shipyard in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is registered in Nassau, Bahamas, and owned by a Liberian oil trading company, The Associated Press reported.
Under federal and state laws enacted in the aftermath of the Exxon Valdez spill, companies moving potentially damaging products through major waterways must have environmental response companies on call in the event of a spill.
The requirement for preparation seemed to work. "You never want to have a spill, but we've been really lucky on this one," Mr. Benoit said. "The wind kept the oil on the west bank, and the Coast Guard acted really fast and good at cleaning it up."
Erica Miller, a veterinarian with the tri-state bird rescue service, rubbed her sore arms after helping to clean up the last of the birds rescued Saturday. It was a juvenile white pelican, no more than 2 years old, which appeared to be fine after three baths.
State and federal wildlife agents shot off fireworks around spill areas to chase birds away. Officials trapped at least seven soiled animals, including five cormorants, one white pelican, and one red slider turtle.
Some species, such as the gulls and terns, seem to know how to avoid the oily areas, Miss Miller said. The diving birds get into it the worst. But as long as the birds are rescued and cleaned up so they can breathe, swallow and protect themselves against the weather, they should be able to live and breed successfully.
"These birds are coming through strong," she said. "We don't believe there will be long-term effects. We lucked out."
