5,300 Gallon Oil Spill Cleanup Underway on Louisiana Coast

oil-slick-ap
AP Photo

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana – An oil spill of roughly 5,300 gallons on the Louisiana coast was contained near the Bay Long region over Labor Day weekend.

The U.S. Coast Guard in New Orleans was notified of the oil spill coming from the Harvest Pipeline Company on Labor Day, according to the Associated Press.

The AP reported that the “pipeline was struck by a Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Company vessel that was doing excavation.”

Despite the oil spill being contained already, ECM Maritime Services will be handling the clean-up efforts.

“About 3,000 feet of hard boom have been put out, and sorbent material and skimmers are collecting the oil,” the AP reported. “The Coast Guard and Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries are also helping supervise the response.”

The oil spill is the second disaster, though not natural, to hit the state in just a month’s time. Baton Rouge and surrounding areas were devastated with floodwaters a month ago, leaving 60,000 homes destroyed and hundreds of thousands of Louisiana residents displaced.

Most recently, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has been criticized for its poor response to the flooding devastation, as Breitbart Texas reported.

With more than 100,000 damaged and about 60,000 destroyed from the unprecedented flooding in the state, FEMA has only set up one “manufactured housing unit” thus far.

A spokesman with FEMA said the agency was working to get residents back into their homes as quickly as possible, noting there are 50 to 60 more FEMA trailers ready to be set up, though they have yet to be.

A large number of residents did not carry flood insurance–as their area had never flooded in the past–and therefore their assistance is limited to FEMA, donations and personal savings.

John Binder is a contributor for Breitbart Texas. Follow him on Twitter at @JxhnBinder.

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