Tagged: oil spill

As southeast Louisiana grapples with the lasting impact of hurricanes and the toll of the oil disaster, Options for Independence is helping people in coastal communities cope with the changes and challenges.

The Shell oil company says an oil sheen it reported in the Gulf of Mexico is breaking up. Federal officials will continue searching for the source.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Authorities say there are no signs of shoreline or wildlife being affected by the discharge of fuel oil from a tanker on the Mississippi River.

The Coast Guard said the discharge from a ballast pipe on the tanker Overseas Beryl was reported shortly after 10 p.m. Monday and it was plugged around 4 a.m. Tuesday.

Cleanup has begun at the site downriver from New Orleans. The amount of fuel oil spilled remained unclear at midmorning.

Plaquemines Parish's homeland security director says drinking water intakes are being monitored but there currently is no effect on the safety or supply for the parish drinking water system. The Coast Guard lists Overseas Shipholding Group Inc. as the responsible party.

The attorney handling damage claims from the BP oil spill is no longer in charge of deciding compensation. A federal court is taking over jurisdiction.

BP has won a ruling that bars some references to earlier accidents from a trial over its 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The federal judge hearing the case feared opening a “trial within a trial.”