Crews Fight to Contain New Leak Near Gulf of Mexico Updated: 1 hour 16 minutes ago
Carl Franzen Contributor AOL News Surge Desk
(July 27) -- Not again! A new oil leak has hit the Gulf Coast today after a small boat collided with a wellhead in Bayou St. Dennis, just north of ecologically diverse Barataria Bay, La. There were no reported injuries, but morale in nearby Jefferson Parish, where oil from BP's well has already caused extensive environmental and commercial damage, is unsurprisingly not good.
"We cannot catch a break," Jefferson Parish Emergency Management Director Deano Bonano said in a message to fellow officials, reports WDSU. "We have no estimate at this time of the volume of oil [of the new leak]."
The collision reportedly took place overnight, but local and federal emergency workers are still struggling to control a geyser of oil and/or natural gas said to be spewing 20 feet into the air, according to Fox News. The area has been evacuated save for response crews. Other boats attempting to use the waterway are being diverted a mile away from the site, reports WWLTV.
Jefferson Parish officials have not yet identified which company owns the wellhead, but a BP spokesman tells Surge Desk that he is "not aware of any connection" between the new leak and his company, as all of the BP developments in the gulf are in deep water, and the new incident took place closer to shore. A parish spokesperson declined to comment for this story, but a press conference on the situation has been scheduled for 2:30 p.m. local time.
UPDATE 5:30 pm: Jefferson Parish Public Information Officer Patricia Borne issued a statement identifying the owner of the well as Cedyco Corp. out of Houston. The wellhead is leaking "mostly natural gas with light oil mixed in," and the resulting geyser is a whopping 100 feet high, not 20 as previously reported. The Coast Guard has taken control of the situation and is monitoring the air for "dangerous levels of contamination." Both Jefferson Parish and Surge Desk have attempted to contact Cedyco to no avail.
More: Check out images of the 100-ft. tall plume and the new oil slick.
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