Barge Company to Pay $6.6M for Mississippi River Oil Spill That Damaged Shoreline Habitat

The American Commercial Barge Line will pay more than $6.6 million in damages for the 2008 oil spill in the Mississippi River that damaged a shoreline habitat in Louisiana, the Associated Press reported.

The $6.6 million covers damages from the Oil Pollution Act, Louisiana Oil Spill Prevention and Response Act and the cost of buying and preserving nearly 650 acres of the habitat in Plaquemines Parish.

In 2008, one of American Commercial's tugboats veered in front of and collided with a tanker ship sailing downriver, according to the Department of Justice, causing a collision that spilled more than 282,800 gallons of oil into the Mississippi River. The oil spread more than 100 miles downriver and over 5,000 acres of the shoreline habitat.

The tugboat, Mel Oliver, was managed by an unlicensed crew, and American Commercial was eventually found responsible for the spill. The Justice Department announced Monday that a settlement had been reached in the lawsuit, preceding Wednesday's announcement.

For more reporting from the Associated Press, see below.

The agreement still requires the approval of a federal judge. If approved, it would be part of a federal consent decree that would settle civil lawsuits brought by the DOJ and the state of Louisiana over the spill, which caused a six-day closure to river traffic in late July 2008. At the time, it was estimated that the river shutdown led to a loss of $1 billion in commerce.

A 2017 ruling also requires American Commercial to reimburse the federal government $20 million for oil removal and damages. That was on top of $70 million spent by the company itself on removal.

Of the damages, $2.1 million will go toward building a marsh in the Pass-a-Loutre State Wildlife Management Area and restoring habitat in the company's newly purchased woodlands parcel.

"This settlement secures full compensation for the damaged resources, including the permanent preservation of 649 acres of critical wildlife habitat along the Mississippi River just a few miles from downtown New Orleans," said Todd Kim, assistant attorney general for the Justice Department's Environment and Natural Resources Division.

"The restoration projects funded by this settlement will restore wildlife and wetlands, and enhance recreational opportunities for Louisiana's residents and visitors."

Some environment advocates contend the penalty comes too late, and that the payout doesn't meet the scale of the damage.

While the Oil Pollution Act leaves more discretion for negotiations, damages under the Clean Water Act start at a fine of $1,100 per barrel spilled, barring any negligence, Healthy Gulf spokesman Dustin Renaud told The Times Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate. Under the Clean Water Act, damages would amount to about $7.4 million.

"This is an abysmally low settlement, and it's 13 years late. How many spills have we seen since then?" Renaud said.