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Oil Spill Snarls Mississippi

Workers racing river to clean up gigantic slick near New Orleans

By Rob Quinn, Newser Staff

Posted Jul 25, 2008 7:28 AM CDT

(Newser) – An oil spill stretching nearly 100 miles along the Mississippi is causing river traffic to pile up, AP reports. Dozens of vessels are stuck in New Orleans waiting to head upriver. Others are waiting to carry cargos of grain downriver from the heartland. Officials say it will be days before traffic is moving again, and weeks before the huge spill is cleaned up.

America's worst spill in nearly a decade happened Wednesday when a collision split open a barge, sending nearly 400,000 gallons of industrial fuel into the river. Only a small fraction has been cleaned up so far, but hundreds of workers are scrambling to put down containment booms to stop the oil from spreading further along the fast-flowing river.

[Images (4)]

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A worker pauses as they use absorbent mops to soak up fuel oil on a bank of the Mississippi River in Jesuit Bend, La., yesterday. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

A worker carries absorbent mops soaked with fuel oil on a bank of the Mississippi River in Jesuit Bend, La., yesterday. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Workers place containment booms to contain fuel oil after a ship hit a oil barge spilling 9,000 barrels of fuel oil in the Mississippi River Wednesday. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

A US Coast Guard patrol boat has fuel oil on its bow after a ship collided with an oil barge spilling 9,000 barrels of oil in the Mississippi River at New Orleans Wednesday. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

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Crews work to clean up an oil slick along the Mississippi. (CoastGuardNews)

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Oil Spill Snarls Mississippi