Inland Oil Spill News

Oil spills, trash, debris, sediment, chemicals: how do we keep our waterways clean? If an oil spill happens on water, the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA90) has very clear rules on who is responsible for paying for cleanup costs. Most oil spills can be traced to the spiller – a pipeline owner, oil tanker, shipper, railroad or trucking company. “Pointing a finger” at the alleged party may be why this type of pollution is referred to as “point source.” If the oil spill is ruled an accident and the polluter is not legally responsible…

The Elastec Inlander river utility boat (RUB) is a unique concept. But, Elastec already manufactures many other response and utility craft for this market. What prompted the internal effort to create such a craft was that while on oil spill deployments with customers, Elastec personnel began to notice quite a few response organizations using “reconfigured” recreational watercraft (fishing boats) to perform tasks. Those boats, according to Elastec, were not well suited to the tasks they were doing, both in terms of safety and operational utility.

Credit: U.S. Coast Guard photographs The Coast Guard is responding to an inland oil spill at mile marker 32 of the Ouachita/Black River. These Aug. 22 photographs show the location where the motor vessel Tulsa, a dredge, sank in the middle of the channel Monday, spilling an estimated 840 gallons of diesel fuel, hydraulic oil and lube oil. All four crewmembers were safely rescued from the water and the waterway was closed to maritime traffic to facilitate the cleanup and salvage operations. Leading the cleanup and investigation of the incident are personnel from Coast Guard Marine Safety Unit Baton Rouge, La. Also assisting are personnel from the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, Louisiana State Police and Army Corps of Engineers.