Oil Slick Reported near Venice, Lousiana
We just saw this news story (video) about an oil slick possibly several miles long sighted off Plaquemines Parish in Louisiana. According to Parish President Billy Nungesser the slick is located about 2 miles east-southeast of Baptiste Collette, across the Mississippi River from Venice. That would put it in Buras Bayou, on the edge of the Delta National Wildlife Refuge where a Chevron/BP pipeline spilled 18,000 gallons of crude oil in early April 2010, causing widespread contamination. There is no word yet on the possible source of the latest oil slick.
Two pollution reports were submitted to the National Response Center at 10:17 am on June 6 (report #978778) and again at 10:58 am yesterday morning (report #978893) indicating small amounts of oil spilled from a platform operated by Helis Oil and Gas Company about 20 miles to the northwest. We don’t know if this is the source of the slick being reported today near Venice. Yesterday afternoon’s low-resolution MODIS satellite imagery doesn’t indicate anything unusual in that area. We’ll keep looking.