Vinton Drainage Canal; Vinton, Louisiana

Vinton, Louisiana | 1990-Dec-28

Initial Notification: During the evening news of December 28, 1990, a Vinton-area television station ran a story about an oil spill in the Vinton Canal approximately 5 miles south of Vinton, Louisiana. The program did not identify the source of the spill, but showed birds, including a blue heron, fishing the area. The news report indicated that the spill was large, possibly major. U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) personnel tried to verify the story, without success, beyond identifying the general area of the spill as the Vinton Canal near where it enters the Intracoastal Waterway. Public interest in the spill was intense. The USCG Marine Safety Office (MSO) Port Arthur, Texas continued to receive telephone calls about a spill on the canal covering an area as large as 2 miles long and shore-to-shore in the approximately 100-foot wide cut. USCG investigators from the Marine Safety Detachment (MSD) Lake Charles, Louisiana were unable to verify the spill. A second investigative team from MSO Port Arthur arrived at the canal near midnight and discovered a yellow and green patchy substance but reported that it did not appear to be oil. Results of samples forwarded to a local oil company laboratory were confused and did not specifically identify the sample as oil. Strike team members were called out because of the interest generated by the news stories. USCG district 8.