At least 1.1 million gallons of oil has leaked into the Gulf of Mexico the United States Coast Guard detected on Friday. Officials said the leak might be from the Main Pass Oil Gathering Company’s (MPOG) pipeline system off the coast of New Orleans.
MPOG carries about 80,000 barrels of oil per day from offshore wells to the coast of Plaquemines Parish.
“The Coast Guard continues to oversee the coordinated effort to mitigate the impact of the oil discharge. The Unified Command is coordinating with federal, state and local agencies to ensure the safety of the public, protect the environment, and respond to the incident. There have been no reports of injuries or shoreline impacts at this time.”
Coast Guard officials are determining if Third Coast Infrastructure, which owns MPOG, is responsible for the spill a few miles offshore, Causes.com reported.
“The Coast Guard continues to oversee the coordinated effort to mitigate the impact of the oil discharge. The Unified Command is coordinating with federal, state and local agencies to ensure the safety of the public, protect the environment, and respond to the incident. There have been no reports of injuries or shoreline impacts at this time.”
Plaquemines Parish officials said they are working with state and federal partners and oil is no longer leaking from the MPOG pipeline system.
While previous spills have had an adverse impact on local wildlife, fisheries, and coastal populations, authorities at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said they are most concerned about sea turtles and whales.
“There are endangered and threatened species in Louisiana waters,” Doug Helton, emergency operations coordinator at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said. “Most of coastal Louisiana is wetlands and marshes, and that’s typically considered really sensitive to oil.”
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