Oil Spill in Mississippi River

In a recent news story, two tank barges collided into a bridge in the Mississippi River early Sunday morning.  The incident happened near Vicksburg, Mississippi and due to the collision, one of the tank barges started to leak.  It is still unknown how much oil may have been spilled into the river, but the tank contained 80,000 gallons of oil.  Fortunately, a Coast Guard team has stopped the source of the spill and no one was injured in the accident.  Another similar incident happened last year in February when a tanker barge spilled 10,000 gallons of oil into the Mississippi after a collision near New Orleans.

I realize that oil is a valuable resource but oil spills damage the surrounding environment and leave lasting impressions.  Oil spills are too common and oil industries need to take steps to avoid these catastrophes.  Many people can relate to the largest oil spill in U.S. history when a BP well released oil into the Gulf of Mexico.  This oil spill killed wildlife, damaged beaches, hurt local businesses, etc.  Hopefully, oil industries realize the severity of consequences of oil spills and take more caution to prevent these type of catastrophes.  

For more on oil spills, click on these links:
http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/27/us/mississippi-river-oil-spill/index.html?hpt=hp_t2
http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2012-04-19/business/35453515_1_oil-spill-peter-roopnarine-transocean