Oil Tanker Spills 420,000 Gallons into Mississippi River

HOUSTON – Coast Guard officials have had to act quickly to close down twenty-nine miles of the Mississippi River near New Orleans due to an oil spill Wednesday morning, Reuters reports. When a fuel barge collided with a chemical tanker, nearly half a million gallons of thick, shiny oil leaked into the river.

The Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality is working to limit damage to the air and water supply, as well as wildlife. Cleanup crews are installing “floating boundaries”, in efforts to contain the spill. Some residents have limited access to drinking water; others have no access at all.

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Source: Reuters