Cleanup continues for Bayou Lafourche oil spill

An aerial photograph shows a long slick of crude oil on Bayou Lafourche near Raceland. Cleanup crews will continue work Monday, July 29, 2024, to limit damage to the area’s water supply and wildlife. (Photo courtesy Lafourche Parish Government)

More than 100 workers spent Sunday continuing the cleanup of a crude oil spill in Bayou Lafourche near Raceland, hoping to protect the drinking water supply and wildlife.

So far, the drinking water quality has not been compromised, Lafourche Parish President Archie Chaisson said. Still, residences and businesses from south of Louisiana Highway 182 to Port Fourchon have been advised to conserve water as a precaution.

In Sunday evening update, Chaisson said cleanup crews reported recovering 20 dead animals from the bayou — 17 salamanders, two turtles and one crawfish. Four ducks and three alligators were also seen covered with oil, but none were able to be captured.

The public is asked to call (832) 514-9663 to report any oil-covered animals rather than try to catch and clean them on their own.     

Any residents or businesses that want to report personal or property damage from the oil should call 833-812-0877.

The source of the oil leak was a tank at the Crescent Midstream Crude Oil Facility at the intersection of LA 182 and Highway 308 in Raceland. An still-undetermined amount of oil leaked into a stormwater canal and then flowed into the bayou. The leak was contained Saturday, a company spokesman told reporters. 

A dark sheen of crude could still be seen Sunday along a long stretch of the bayou between the Highway 182 and the U.S. 90 overpass. 

There were 117 workers, 28 boats, seven vacuum trucks, five drum skimmers and three wash pumps being used to clean and contain the spill, in addition to 4,300 feet of containment boom, Chaisson said. Crews are pumping water from the bayou to flush oil from vegetation on the banks into the containment boom so it can be recovered with skimmers for disposal. 

Cleanup work has paused at nightfall out of safety concerns and will resume at daybreak.

Bayou Lafourche remains closed to boat traffic from the Highway 182 bridge to the Salt Water Control Structure in Lockport. 

Officials have also placed the area from LA 182 to Highway 654 off limits to aircraft, one mile in either direction from Bayou Lafourche. The airspace precautions are being taken so helicopters and drones can safely monitor the spill from overhead.

WVUE-TV Fox 8 reported residents near the spill can smell the oil. Air quality in the area is being monitored out of an abundance of caution, Chaisson said. 

“Results have been well below actionable levels,” he said.