Unified Command Coordinates Spill Response Near Bayou Perot
The Unified Command has reopened the Intracoastal Waterway near Bayou Perot, La., after a portion of ICW was closed due to a damaged oil wellhead that started spilling sweet crude oil into the bayou early Sunday. The ICW was closed early Sunday between mile markers 19 and 21 when oil from the damaged wellhead entered a portion of the ICW. Cleanup crews have contained and removed the oil from the ICW, and the unified command has reopened the waterway to all vessel traffic. More than 25,000 feet of oil containment boom has been deployed around the wellhead in Bayou Perot and along the neighboring shoreline. Most of the oil from the wellhead has been contained within Bayou Perot and Little Lake, and oil has been removed from the ICW and Lake Salvador.
Coast Guard Responds to Damaged Oil Wellhead in Bayou Report
A ruptured oil wellhead here discharges a 90-ft. stream of sweet-medium crude oil Sunday, Jan. 21, 2007. The Coast Guard is working with contractors and local, state and federal agencies to contain and cleanup the spill. U.S. Coast Guard photograph courtesy of Air Station New Orleans personnel. The Coast Guard is working with local, state and federal agencies today to respond to an oil spill in Bayou Perot La. The oil spill is the result of a damaged sweet medium crude oil wellhead near mile marker 20 of the Gulf Intercoastal Waterway, which was discovered shortly after midnight Saturday. Crews from Coast Guard Sector New Orleans, and Marine Safety Units Morgan City, La., and Houma, La., are responding to the spill.
