Problems
Oil spill
In August 2005, during Hurricane Katrina, an oil storage tank at the Murphy Oil refinery in Mero, Louisiana, went off the foundation and spilled over a million gallons of crude oil into Mero and Chalmette. When the oil spilled out, it mixed with floodwaters and flowed east to west. About 1,700 homes in neighboring residential neighborhoods in Chalmette were affected by the tainted water over an area of about 1 square mile (2.6 km2). Several canals were also affected, including Canal 20 Arpent, Canal 40 Arpent, Mero Canal, Corinne Canal, DeLaRonde Canal, and various unnamed interceptor canals.
Health Hazards
Crude oil contains several substances that pose short- and long-term risks to humans, including benzene and chemicals called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, or PAHs. Short-term exposure to benzene causes dizziness and nausea, while long-term exposure has been linked to leukemia and other diseases, according to the EPA.
Response to the Murphy oil spill
As part of the Hurricane Katrina Response, and pursuant to FEMA Mission Assignment, US EPA and the US Coast Guard (USCG) have responded to an oil spill from the Murphy Oil facility. US EPA and the USCG have agreed to divide responsibility for overseeing Murphy’s cleanup of the spill. The USCG is overseeing Murphy's removal of free oil in the canals, tank farm containment area, neighborhood streets, and storm drains. To date, approximately 18,000 barrels of oil have been recovered. US EPA is working closely with the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ) to oversee Murphy's oil cleanup in residential areas accessible to the public (e.g., parks, school yards, roads, highway median strips, sidewalks). US EPA is also overseeing Murphy’s ongoing sampling activities of residential and other properties. Ten percent of the samples Murphy collects are split, and US EPA sends the split samples for an independent analysis. Thus far, Murphy has collected 8808 sediment samples from 5440 properties. Of the 8808 sediment samples collected, US EPA has sent 909 split samples for separate analyses. US EPA has received, evaluated, and is posting the results of the first 881 samples.
Data Assessment
The significant contaminants detected in the sediments were polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), organic chemicals of the diesel and petroleum series, and arsenic. Screening-level risk assessment was performed by comparing sample results to the LDEQ Screening Standards for Risk Assessment/Recorrective Action (RECAP) for soil. The RECAP Screening Standards are designed for protective levels based on long-term (i.e., 30-year) exposure to children and adults in residential settings. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) PAHs, such as benzopyrene, are commonly detected in liquid fuels and crude oil and were detected above LDEQ screening levels for residential soil in about 2.5% of the sediment samples separated by Murphy. The oily nature of some examples resulted in elevated detection limits. Thus, while some other instances may be reported as undetectable, actual PAH levels may also be above screening levels. Diesel and oil organic chemicals Diesel organic chemical levels exceeded LDEQ screening levels for residential soils in about 29% of samples; while oil range organic chemical levels exceeded residential screening levels in about 21% of samples.
Gallery
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Timelines
2019
April 01
That case was settled in April 2019. But there has been no official accountability for the 1 million-plus gallon oil spill that occurred in 2005.
2009
January 01
A class-action lawsuit against Murphy Oil ended in a settlement in 2009; the company was required to pay $330 million to 6,200 claimants, including owners of about 1,800 affected residential properties in St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana.
2007
January 01
In 2007, following a benzene leak in Louisiana, Murphy Oil was fined $395,313 in civil penalties plus $1.5 million for cleanup costs by the US EPA.
2005
December 22
On Dec. 22, the EPA released test results that show that soil around some homes is still contaminated. The agency says residents should continue to avoid contact with oil-contaminated sediment, and that it is still too early to determine whether some homes can be re-inhabited.
December 09
On Dec. 9, the CDC issued a second report analyzing samples from more than 800 homes. It concluded that most of the houses did not contain dangerous levels of oil-based contaminants.
November 08
On Nov. 8, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry released an assessment of the health hazards of the Murphy spill. The eight-page report reiterated warnings about short-term exposure that EPA and state officials had given nearly two months earlier. The report concluded that people should not reoccupy their homes before their properties were cleaned of oil, and recommended keeping children and pets away from contaminated areas. It did not address long-term health concerns.
October 24
On Oct. 24, Mr. Hulse, Murphy Oil's president, sent a letter to residents that was posted on the parish's government Web site. The letter said that the company had reported to the Coast Guard that "nearly all of the oil spilled has now been recovered or evaporated." The letter added that the cleanup of public property by the company's contractor was "nearing completion." In a question-and-answer attachment, the company said the crude oil "will not present short-term or long-term health or safety concerns" after residual oil had been cleaned from homes and lots. It offered to clean oil from all homes and lawns, if owners granted permission and first emptied their homes of furniture, clothing and debris.
October 13
According to a Coast Guard report dated Oct. 13, about 110,000 gallons of oil, as much as 10% of the spill, still remained on the ground.
September 01
The U.S. Coast Guard took charge of the first phase of the cleanup, overseeing emergency responders working for Murphy Oil. The company's workers repaired the damaged tank and tried to contain the crude, skimming as much as they could from the receding water. After the water had drained, a thick, oily muck remained across a one-square-mile area. National Guard units cordoned off the area. Departing vehicles were sprayed with decontaminants. Responsibility for supervising the cleanup on land fell to the EPA, which worked with the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality. Most large oil spills occur on water, where oil generally floats to the surface and can be vacuumed up. In St. Bernard Parish, the oil seeped into homes and the soil. That made the cleanup "much harder," says the EPA's Mr. Dunne.
August 30
The Murphy Oil USA refinery spill was an oil spill that resulted from the failure of a storage tank at the Murphy Oil USA petroleum refinery in the residential areas of Chalmette and Meraux, Louisiana, United States, on August 30, 2005, the day after Hurricane Katrina made landfall on the U.S. Gulf Coast. According to the U.S. Coast Guard, there were about 44 oil spills in the area affected by Hurricane Katrina, though most occurred in areas of Plaquemines Parish which do not have large populations. The Murphy Oil USA spill was the exception.
August 29
On August 29, 2005 the storm surge from the hurricane caused massive failure in the levees along the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet Canal, inundating St. Bernard Parish with 4 to 14 feet (1.2 to 4.3 m) of water. The Murphy Oil refinery was flooded with 6 to 18 feet (1.8 to 5.5 m) of water, and a 250,000-barrel (40,000 m3) above-ground storage tank at the refinery was dislodged from its moorings and damaged in the flooding. At the time, the tank contained approximately 65,000 barrels (10,300 m3) of mixed crude oil; a breach in the tank's side wall released up to 25,110 barrels (1,055,000 US gal), though the pressure from the floodwaters kept the oil inside of the tank until the waters had receded to about 4 feet (1.2 m), five days after the storm had passed.