Spill Response Continues on Mississippi River

The unified command in Paducah continues its response to a spill in the Mississippi River at mile marker 937, Wednesday as active recovery efforts are underway to remove the submerged clarified slurry oil spilled as a result of a collision involving two towboats on September 2, 2015, the U.S. Coast Guard reported.

 

According to the Coast Guard, recovery is focused on the two anomalies near the incident site that were detected by high resolution side scan sonar. The two areas were broken down into 24 grids to enable response personnel to target removal of the oil and document the progress. 

 

As of Tuesday afternoon, an environmental clamshell equipped with precision dredge position software was removing moderate to heavily oiled sediment from the river bottom. In addition, Vessel Submerged Oil Recovery Systems (VSORS) pulling snare lines are also being utilized in the recovery of oil in the grids with less concentrated oil deposits. Reassessment of these areas by side scan sonar will determine if the end point recovery criteria for pollution has been met. 

 

Hydrocarbon sampling of the water column and sediment will continue throughout these recovery operations. 

 

The cause of the incident is still being investigated by the Coast Guard and the national Transportation Safety Board.