Environment
Louisiana paper mill spill causes massive fish kill
(Reuters) – 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.
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.