Mississippi River Delta News

The U.S. Coast Guard said on Wednesday it was responding to an oil discharge near the Main Pass Oil Gathering (MPOG) Co's pipeline system in the Gulf of Mexico, while the main pipeline and several surrounding ones remained shut in."The reported sheen is being investigated and has not been confirmed to be associated with the November 16 observed initial discharge," the Coast Guard said.The Coast Guard had not yet identified any damage or indication of a leak after surveying the entire length of the pipeline along with 22.16 miles (36 km) of surrounding pipelines.

Around 61,165 barrels of daily oil output from at least six producers, making up about 3% of crude oil production in the Gulf of Mexico, has been shut in by Third Coast Infrastructure's underwater pipeline leak, the U.S. Coast Guard said on Wednesday.The oil producers whose facilities are impacted include W&T Energy, Occidental Petroleum, Walter Oil and Gas, Cantium, Arena Offshore and Talos Energy Ventures, the Coast Guard said, citing the U.S. Interior Department's Bureau of…

The U.S. Coast Guard on Monday said it was still looking for the source of a leak from an underwater pipeline off the Louisiana coast in the Gulf of Mexico that it estimated had released more than a million gallons of crude oil.The 67-mile long pipeline was closed by Main Pass Oil Gathering Co (MPOG) on Thursday morning, after crude oil was spotted around 19 miles offshore of the Mississippi River Delta, near Plaquemines Parish, southeast of New Orleans."Overflight teams observed visible oil Friday moving southwest away from the Louisiana shore…

The draft for the Southwest Pass on the Mississippi River has been increased from 45 to 47 feet following dredging, Inchcape Shipping Services (ISS) is advising. In early August, heavy silt deposits in the Mississippi River Delta caused by recent high upstream river levels reduced the maximum recommended draft for vessels using the pass from 47 to 45 feet. The Southwest Pass is the primary shipping channel on the Mississippi River, with a wide variety of cargoes entering and leaving the Mississippi River. It is the only channel that can be used by deep draft vessels. The latest guidance update was issued by the Louisiana Maritime Association (LaMA).

Heavy silt deposits in the Mississippi River Delta caused by recent high upstream river levels have led to a reduction from 47 to 45 feet for the maximum recommended draft for vessels using the Southwest Pass, Inchcape Shipping Services (ISS) advised. The Southwest Pass is the primary shipping channel on the Mississippi River, with a variety of cargos entering and leaving the river. It is the only channel that can be used by deep draft vessels. The guidance, issued by the Louisiana Maritime Association, is effective immediately.

Dr. Jason Jolliff is an oceanographer with the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL). "The emphasis here," he says, "is on developing models of the ocean environment to help the naval warfighter." His most recent paper, published in Ocean Modeling (March 2014), shows NRL can also forecast where oil will go following a major spill. "If you're going to do forecasting," he says, "you have to get the ocean circulation correct. It's fundamental to all else." Jolliff plugged the distribution…

Today, Governor Bobby Jindal, officials from the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority (CPRA), Department of Economic Development and the Baton Rouge Area Foundation (BRAF) joined leaders from the City of Baton Rouge, The Water Institute of the Gulf, Louisiana State University and other coastal research institutes to unveil plans for the establishment of The Water Campus in Baton Rouge. The Baton Rouge Area Foundation has taken the leadership role in master planning a world-class Water Campus to be built just south of the Mississippi River Bridge in downtown Baton Rouge.

The Coast Guard Cutter Pamlico, a 160 ft inland construction tender, homeported in New Orleans, transits Baptiste Collette Bayou, while working aids to navigation in the Mississippi River Delta near Venice, La., Wednesday April 29, 2009. The Pamlico is manned by 16 crewmembers, who construct fixed aids to navigation from Baton Rouge to the Southwest Pass o the Mississippi River and its surrounding waterways. U.S. Coast Guard photograph / Petty Officer 3rd Class Tom Atkeson

— Flying in National Guard Black Hawk helicopters 500 feet above the bayous and marshes along the Mississippi River delta last week, officials tried to show visiting state lawmakers the benefits of offshore drilling for oil and gas. The $70 billion industry employs more than 320,000 people in the state. Unemployment rates in some coastal parishes hover around 3.5 percent, compared to 5.5 percent nationally. And the oil industry supports both the only deep-sea oil port in the and a Gulf of Mexico port that handles more vessels than even the . While states on the east and west coasts debate whether to drill for offshore oil and natural gas…

Federal and Louisiana agencies settled with Marine Oil Trader 3, Ltd. and Ermis Maritime Corp. for the November 2000 T/V Westchester oil spill into the Mississippi River in Plaquemines Parish, La. With oversight from the Commerce Department’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), U.S. Department of the Interior’s U.S. restoration projects to address the resources injured by the spill. On Nov. 28, 2000, the T/V Westchester grounded in the Mississippi River at River Mile 38, discharging approximately 500,000 gallons of crude oil into the Mississippi River downstream from New Orleans in Plaquemines Parish, La. hunting opportunities. to conduct a natural resource damage assessment to identify and restore injured natural resources.

Spectrum Sciences & Software Holdings Corp. announced today that its wholly owned subsidiary, Coast Engine and Equipment Company (CEECO), has been helping the U.S. Coast Guard rebuild portions of the waterway navigation system in the Mississippi River Delta damaged by Hurricane Katrina. This work, which has a total contract value of approximately $1.3 million, is expected to be completed in January 2006. CEECO has been building the mechanical structures for twenty-five ATON (aid to navigation) devices that house electronic equipment used to mark navigable channels and hazards. Without ATON devices, cargo, naval, and recreational vessels cannot safely move through the waters. CEECO's work has been part of the emergency effort to restore the ATON system to pre-hurricane conditions.