Oil burn not successful in cleanup
Advocate staff report
January 21, 2013
BAYOU SORREL — A controlled burn Saturday of oil that leaked from a ruptured pipeline at the Frog Lake Bayou Sorrel facility in Iberville Parish was not successful in burning all of the oil, a U.S. Coast Guard spokesman said.
Personnel performed three separate burns Saturday with the first one starting around 1 p.m., said Keith Watters, a federal on-scene coordinator representative for the Coast Guard.
The oil was not thick enough for the burns to last more than about 15 minutes each, Watters said.
“We’re calling it an unsuccessful burn,” he said.
Cleanup crews will no longer try to burn the oil and instead will remove it manually, Watters said.
Coast Guard officials and members from the Louisiana Oil Spill Coordinator’s Office are supervising oil cleanup operations, Coast Guard spokeswoman Lt. Victoria Saxon has said.
The Coast Guard Marine Safety Unit in Baton Rouge received a tip on Jan. 9 about a ruptured pipeline near the Bayou Sorrel facility that leaked about 5,000 gallons of oil product before facility officials halted the leak, Saxon has said.
About 80 barrels, or 3,360 gallons, of oil have been recovered so far, in addition to “30 yards of oily debris,” Watters said Saturday.
Anyone who has general questions or questions about smoke inhalation is asked to contact the Poison Control Center at (800) 222-1222.