De-Oiling the Delta: Video of the DM932 Oil Spill Response
On July 23, 2008, the 600-foot chemical tanker Tintomara and the 200-foot fuel barge DM932 collided near downtown New Orleans, Louisiana. Within hours, NOAA's Office of Response and Restoration (OR&R) was on-scene, providing support for the clean-up and assessment of 270,000 gallons of oil. The video (available for download at page bottom) chronicles OR&R's efforts during the spill, the impacts to the Mississippi River, and the continuing restoration efforts.
OR&R draws on three decades of experience in responding with the U.S. Coast Guard to spill emergencies, and resolving the sometimes long-term problems presented by major oil spills. The Emergency Response Division (ERD) of OR&R provides scientific and technical support to assist the U.S. Coast Guard in its responses to oil and chemical releases in coastal waters. Among the services that OR&R provides are trajectory analyses to estimate where spilled pollutants may move; information about the fate and effects of the different types of oil; and environmental assessments, including clean-up assessment surveys and resources-at-risk surveys.
|
Oil sampling, as part of a Shoreline Clean-up Assessment Team (SCAT) operation
|
When spill responders are assessing shorelines impacted by a spill, they conduct SCAT (or Shoreline Clean-up Assessment Team) surveys. In the photo above, OR&R personnel gather oil samples as part of a SCAT operation along the west shore of the Mississippi River. Observations and data from SCAT surveys are critical to the decision-making process for shoreline clean-up at oil spills.
More Information
|
- Incident News: Barge DM932 OR&R's IncidentNews Web site provides publicly available information related to oil and hazardous material spills. [leaves OR&R site]
|
|
|