A MAJOR OIL BARGE POLLUTION INCIDENT ON THE ARKANSAS RIVER

Abstract

ABSTRACT When the towboat Girard Lewis lost power on the Arkansas River Navigation System, it drifted into a railroad bridge near Pine Bluff, Arkansas. Upon impact, it lost the two oil barges it was pushing; one barge floated downstream and was impaled by icebreakers on U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Lock and Dam No. 4. The resulting damage to the barge caused a major discharge (8,000 barrels) of No. 6 fuel oil, which affected industrial and recreational uses of the river and threatened sensitive environmental areas, including the White River National Wildlife Refuge. The discharger accepted responsibility for salvage of the damaged barge but not for containment and cleanup of the spilled oil. Consequently, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency initiated a federal removal project using the oil pollution response fund authorized under the Clean Water Act. A coordinated effort among at least seven federal and state agency representatives on site was carried out over 25 days. Special problems were encountered and resolved involving unusually high river flow, large amounts of debris, use and effectiveness of various oil recovery devices, barge salvage operations, closure of the navigation system to traffic, protection of environmentally sensitive areas, and levels of cleanup of shorelines and locks and dams. The project was effectively carried out over 60 miles of affected river at a cost of $372,000, with a minimum of environmental and real property damages. It was the worst pollution incident that has occurred on the Arkansas River Navigation System.