Mississippi Reopening After Big Oil Spill

Shipping traffic on the Mississippi River was partially flowing again in New Orleans Saturday as officials worked to clean up a massive oil spill.

The U.S. Coast Guard began allowing some traffic to pass down the river Friday and said the worst effects of the oil spill were being contained by booms, absorbent collection rings, placed north of the ecologically fragile Mississippi delta wetlands, The New Orleans Times Picayune reported.

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin Friday said the Algiers community’s water supply was not in danger from the spill, which happened Wednesday when a fuel tanker rammed into a barge carrying 400,000 gallons of fuel oil. Nagin told the newspaper that an independent testing firm found no oil contamination had passed through the Algiers water intake system.

The Coast Guard did not reveal any details of its investigation of the crash, but the Times Picayune identified the boat pilot as Chance Gould, who possesses a class of boat license has been the subject of fraud investigations.