Hi all,

For those of you not on board MISS LIS, we had a big scare yesterday.
Paul had just signed off the tug, and I was driving Dave from New Orleans to join the tug and at 9:10 am we pulled up to the RMG yard.

While we were showing the guard our TWIC cards, a truck came barrelling out of the yard and the driver screamed for us to get out, to evacuate, that there was an ammonia leak. THen we smelled it. We drove a mile away, all the while calling Dominique who I knew was on board waiting for us. Brody and Joseph, our newest addition, were on a grub run.

Dominique was on the other line but answered his calls from us after a long scary minute, and we told him to get out ASAP. He ran to the truck, and even that short distance he was getting light-headed and was momentarily affected by the toxic fumes. He was among the last wave out of the yard as we understand, and over 120 people ended up being treated for ammonia inhalation, triage centers were set up at the gas station at the nearest intersection with ambulances from all over the county.
Mercifully no casualties but several people are still in intensive care. Frankie and Damian of Resolve were hospitalized (minor injury, exhaustion) as they were among last to leave, trying to get people out.

Had we not phoned Dominique he might not have found out until concentrations were higher. We later learned that RMG's yard had the highest concentrations of ammonia of all the surrounding area, even more than the chicken flash-freezing plant which released the gas (300 gal) due to drift pattern. MISS LIS was the closest of the many BP vessels to the source. We wondered for a long time how the other crew in the other boats fared. The leak was stopped in the afternoon and people were allowed to return that evening, though our crew opted to spend the night at a motel just in case.

No sirens were issued until an hour after the leak started yesterday, and the emergency response that we saw was very weak and got off to a late start. The concerns I had were that when berthed near a tank farm, the tug crew while inside the cabins don't necessarily hear loud noises/sirens from outside, and may not know about an explosive or toxic leak. It takes a long
time for air from outside to filter inside.

While yesterday's situation may have been a "once in a lifetime" occurrence, we can't know that for sure, and the issue still feels very real in our minds. We will want to discuss how to incorporate such scenarios into our safety training and develop lessons learned from the situation, as well as purchasing more 5-minute emergency airpacks.

Regards,
Rachel

Read a USA Today article about the ammonia leak

Summary of Our Efforts

Congratulations and THANK YOU to all who helped us educate our elected officials on the dangers associated with the location for the cold storage plant. Our emails, phone calls, yard signs and banners made such an impression that our federal, state and local elected officials along with the Port of New Orleans and Ports America worked together to find a better suited location for this important local industry.

We would like to specifically thank Senator Mary Landrieu for answering our call to find the necessary federal money for this relocation. Also, we would like to thank State Representative Jared Brossett for publicly stating his opposition to this location. Additionally, we would like to thank all our elected officials that worked behind the scenes to make this relocation a reality.

We are very proud of our residents for coming together to protect our neighborhood. We are also very thankful for our friends in the Bywater and French Quarter who joined us in our cause as well as our friends throughout the city and nation who answered our call. Working together we proved nothing is a done deal.

It is impossible to thank all the individuals who helped make our campaign a success. We would be remiss, however, if I did not thank Barbara Katz, Frank Valls, David Peltier, Jesse St. Croix and Daniel Bugg for working with us in the very beginning to raise awareness of this issue in their respective neighborhoods. Thank you!

We have postponed our fundraiser so we can make it a celebration party. Be on the lookout for more details. If you would like to make a donation to offset the cost you may make a secure payment at here or send a check to FMIA Cold Storage, 535 Mandeville St, New Orleans, LA 70117 with Cold Storage in the memo field.

If you have a sign or banner you can either keep them up until the celebration or drop them off at United Hardware or 535 Mandeville Street for recycling.

Thank you again for your support.

Chris Costello, President