Oil spill by Louisiana energy company prompts water notice, kills wildlife, as diesel odor permeates bayou
An oil spill that leaked out in a southern Louisiana bayou over the weekend has already killed wildlife and prompted a water conservation order for people in the area. The oil spill happened in Bayou Lafourche, about a half-hour drive northeast of Houma.
The Lafourche Parish Government was made aware of the crude oil spill in the bayou on Saturday morning, finding that it was stemming from a stormwater canal near a highway intersection in Raceland. The source of the release was identified as the Crescent Midstream Crude Oil Facility, which government officials said was "following its approved incident response plan."
"The source is secured, the crude oil is contained, and all appropriate federal, state and local agencies have been notified," the incident's unified command said on Saturday.
The energy company said on its website that it "provides safe, reliable crude oil services in the Gulf of Mexico and Louisiana." During a press conference on Saturday, the company's public information officer Michael Smith said "no spill is acceptable to our company" and that an investigation is underway. CBS News has reached out to Smith for further comment.
Parish president Archie Chaisson said at the press conference that this spill is unprecedented in the area," CBS affiliate WWL-TV reported.
"It's the first time we've ever seen this sort of release in Bayou Lafourche at this southern juncture," he said, adding that four parishes get their drinking water from the impacted bayou. "...We've never been through this before, so we're working with [the Louisiana Department of Health], our partners here to figure out what exactly other requirements they may put on us because water is still flowing as the crude oil sits on top of it."
In the latest update provided by unified command on Sunday evening, officials said no injuries have been reported as a result of the oil spill, but that more than a dozen animals have already been found dead. Among them are 17 aquatic salamanders, two turtles and one crawfish, officials said, while four ducks and three alligators are covered in oil, although none of those animals "were able to be captured."
The amount of crude oil released remains "undetermined at this time," officials said on Sunday.
The Lafourche Parish Water District No. 1 issued a water conservation notice on Sunday saying, "the cleanup process is ongoing" and that water district officials were working with authorities "to obtain resources needed to prevent the oil from entering the treatment process."
As of 2:15 p.m. locally on Sunday, "the oil has not entered the treatment plant and water continues to be treated," the notice says. "If this changes, customers will be notified immediately."
In the meantime, residents have been asked to conserve water and refrain from non-essential use.
"Public water continues to be safe to drink," the unified command officials said, saying the advisory was issued "out of an abundance of caution."
Local seafood restaurant owner Lionel Harris told WWL-TV that the area "was smelling real bad."
"There was lots of oil all over, the bayou smell like diesel," he said. "...I hope it don't mess up the fishing industry, but it doesn't look real good as of right now."
Watermelon salesman Johnny Foret told WWL that people fish in the area every day, but now, "that's pretty much over."
"The smell, it really turns your stomach," he said. "It's really bad."
Officials are continuing to monitor air quality, and so far say that results are "well below actionable levels." Clean-up operations were paused Sunday night out of worker safety concerns but were expected to pick back up at dawn on Monday. Officials are using containment booming, skimming and water flushing to clean up the area.