A rotten stench hung over a 60-mile stretch of Louisiana's Pearl River as boats trawled through thick layers of hundreds of thousands of dead fish, and sweating workers bent to scoop the carcasses from the water. The fish, including federally protected Gulf sturgeon as well as catfish and flounder, died after a paper mill in Bogalusa, Louisiana, released a high concentration of waste material into the river on August 9. "This is really sickening," said St. Tammany Parish President Kevin Davis, unable to hide his disgust at the view from Crawford Landing, 40 miles northeast of New Orleans. The liquid material, which mill owner Temple-Inland Inc. refers to as "black liquor," effectively sucked the oxygen from a large section of the river, killing every breathing organism within its reach, including the fish. Davis put the number of fish killed at hundreds of thousands. More than 400 people worked from boats and the river banks over the weekend to clean up the river in 90-degree heat. By Monday, the water was nearly clear of carcasses, but a ban on fishing and swimming remained in place pending water testing.
A rotten stench hung over a 60-mile stretch of Louisiana's Pearl River as boats trawled through thick layers of hundreds of thousands of dead fish, and sweating workers bent to scoop the carcasses from the water.
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The fish, including federally protected Gulf sturgeon as well as catfish and flounder, died after a paper mill in Bogalusa, Louisiana, released a high concentration of waste material into the river on August 9.
"This is really sickening," said St. Tammany Parish President Kevin Davis, unable to hide his disgust at the view from Crawford Landing, 40 miles northeast of New Orleans.
The liquid material, which mill owner Temple-Inland Inc. refers to as "black liquor," effectively sucked the oxygen from a large section of the river, killing every breathing organism within its reach, including the fish. Davis put the number of fish killed at hundreds of thousands.
More than 400 people worked from boats and the river banks over the weekend to clean up the river in 90-degree heat. By Monday, the water was nearly clear of carcasses, but a ban on fishing and swimming remained in place pending water testing.
Preliminary test results show water quality in the river had "improved dramatically" in the last few days, and there was no evidence toxins were released into the water, a state Department of Environmental Quality spokesman said on Friday.
"This was a biological problem, and not a chemical or toxic problem, which is encouraging," the department's environmental scientist Jeff Dauzat said, adding workers were still tallying the toll on fish and other river life.
But the wildlife damage was severe from a situation made worse by recent drought conditions. In addition to Gulf sturgeon, ringed sawback turtles and heelsplitter mussels were among the dead.
The department said in a statement that Temple-Inland could face fines for violations including failure to notify officials of the spill in a timely manner. It also asked the company to submit a plan for changes to prevent a recurrence.
Photo credit: Louisiana Sportsman
Article continues: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/22/us-louisiana-fishkill-idUSTRE77L6BL20110822
