The Coast Guard and local agencies responded Monday to an oil discharge at mile marker 57 on the Lower Mississippi River near Belle Chasse, La.
Coast Guard Sector New Orleans received a report of a discharge of approximately 20 gals. of oil when the steel towboat Haley Brooke began taking on water. The vessel has approximately 6,000 gals. of diesel onboard.
Built in 1975, the 62.4'x24'x8.6' Haley Brooke is owned by International Marine Terminals Partnership, Port Sulphur, La.
Sector New Orleans incident management division deployed Coast Guard pollution responders. The vessel’s oil spill removal organization, OMI, deployed approximately 500' of containment boom around the vessel and applied sorbent pads to clean up the oil.
There is no reported shoreline impact, and the cause of the spill is under investigation. No additional information was available as of Tuesday afternoon as to whether efforts to keep the boat afloat were successful or if the boat sank.
