NEW ORLEANS — One million gallons of oil have been collected since April 2019 from the site of the nation’s longest oil spill, in the Gulf of Mexico off Louisiana, the Coast Guard and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Tuesday.
The spill began when when Hurricane Ivan caused an underwater mudslide in September 2004, collapsing an oil production platform 11 miles (27 kilometers) from shore. Owner Taylor Energy Co. LLC capped nine wells but said it couldn’t cap the other 16 at Mississippi Canyon Block 20, or MC-20 for short. They have now been leaking for nearly 18 years.
“As of July 12, 2022, 1,016,929 gallons of oil have been collected from the MC-20 site” over more than three years, the Coast Guard said in a news release. That amount — more than 3.8 million liters — would fill about 1.5 Olympic swimming pools.
The Coast Guard said that the containment system it ordered is collecting an average of about 900 gallons (3,400 liters) of oil a day.