TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Surveillance aircraft sent to possible oil spill reported in wake of Ida
The aircraft dispatched from Texas will gather data on the Phillips 66 refinery and other priority sites, an EPA spokesman told Reuters.
Change Size
This National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration(NOAA)/GOES satellite handout image shows Hurricane Ida at 21:01UTC, on August 28, 2021. Residents evacuated high-risk areas and lined up to buy supplies on August 27 as Louisiana braced for Ida, expected to strengthen to an (AFP/NOAA)
T
he US Environmental Protection Agency said on Thursday it has dispatched a surveillance aircraft to an area in Louisiana hard hit by Hurricane Ida that includes a refinery where an apparent oil spill has been reported.
The aircraft dispatched from Texas will gather data on the Phillips 66 refinery and other priority sites, an EPA spokesman told Reuters.
"EPA's ASPECT aircraft – the Agency's airborne real-time chemical and radiological detection, infrared and photographic imagery platform – has been activated to support the state of Louisiana," the spokesman said.
Phillips 66 said earlier that flooding had occurred at its Alliance Refinery and a sheen of unknown origin in some flooded areas of the refinery had been discovered.
"At this time, the sheen appears to be secured and contained within refinery grounds. Clean-up crews are on site. The incident was reported to the appropriate regulatory agencies upon discovery", the company said.
"A full post-storm assessment remains underway at the refinery. An investigation into the cause/origin of the sheen will be conducted. The refinery remains shut down", it added.
The Associated Press has also reported a possible spill near an offshore rig in the Gulf of Mexico after a review of aerial images of the disaster zone taken by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The photographs appeared to show a miles-long brownish-black slick in the waters south of Port Fourchon, Louisiana.
The rig had Enterprise Offshore Drilling marked on its helipad. Enterprise Offshore Drilling said in a statement on its website that its rig had not suffered any damage or failure and that "no environmental discharges had occurred from our facility".
The US Coast Guard told the AP it also had an aircraft fly over the refinery as well as to the Gulf of Mexico. The Coast Guard did not immediately respond to a request for comment late on Thursday.
Ida, one of the most powerful hurricanes ever to strike the U.S. Gulf Coast, made landfall on Sunday in Louisiana, destroying entire communities.
The Louisiana Oil Spill Coordinator's Office said that state regulators were still in the very early stages of responding to the environmental hazards brought by Ida
