14 DAY TRIAL // This past Sunday, it was announced that a recent oil spill in Louisiana had killed several dozen animals and that, judging by how far the oil had spread, it would take at least a few months for cleanup crews and regulatory agencies to finish restoring the area.
According to the US Environmental Protection Agency, the 1,000-mile (1,600-kilometer) pipeline behind this spill is operated by Sunoco Logistics. It serves to carry oil from the city of Longview in Texas to refineries in Ohio and Michigan.
How it all happened
Sunoco Logistics claims that workers first realized that something was off last Monday, at about 8 in the morning. At that time, they documented a drop in pressure in the pipeline and realized that oil was working its way out of it and into the environment.
In just 20 minutes after this drop in pressure was reported, the pipeline was shut down. However, it appears that, by that time, some 4,000 barrels of crude oil had already spilled into Louisiana's Tete Bayou, Think Progress informs.
The somewhat good news is that the spill was reported and the pipeline was shut down before the oil flowing from it managed to make it all the way to Caddo Lake, which sits on the border between Texas and Louisiana and which is a source of drinking water.
Still, this does not mean that the spill was one of little to no importance. “I would call it a significant size spill,” Bill Rhotenberry with the US Environmental Protection Agency commented on this incident in a recent interview with the press.
The aftermath of the spill
It is understood that, of the 4,000 barrels of crude oil that spilled from this pipeline operated by Sunoco Logistics, just 2,400 barrels have until now been recovered. What's more, it is expected that cleanup operations will last for several months to come.
Cleanup crews and regulatory agencies say that the bodies of 84 animals killed by this spill have so far been discovered. By the looks of it, the majority of these animals were either fish or reptiles populating the affected area.
Specialists with the Environmental Protection Agency say that, presently, the air in the area of the spill does not contain enough volatile contaminants to constitute a threat to the general public. Hence, it's been decided that there is no need to evacuate people.
“The only risk of VOCs [volatile organic contaminants] is in the immediate area of the oil,” Bill Rhotenberry said in a statement. “Out of the spill’s pathway it’s not as much of an issue,” he goes on to stress.
Still, word has it that, in the aftermath of this incident, three families voluntarily left the area on the grounds that they could not handle the strong fumes coming their way from the affected natural ecosystems. Sunoco Logistics is ready and willing to pay for these people's living expenses until they return to their homes.
Despite the fact that it's been a week since the spill was documented and reported, Sunoco Logistics is yet to figure out what caused it. The company promises that, as soon as it figures out why it was that oil spilled from its pipeline, it will hold a press conference and present the details of this incident.