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• US Coast Guard: Divers Found Body Near Platform

  November 17, 2012 11:07 PM

  The US Coast Guard confirmed to KATC that an unidentified body has been found in the water near the oil platform that caught fire Friday morning. A Coast Guard spokesperson says divers contracted by Black Elk Energy discovered human remains while inspecting the platform structure Saturday evening. The Coast Guard... more »

• Coast Guard Calls Off Search for Missing Workers After Platform Fire

  November 17, 2012 10:40 PM

  NEW ORLEANS (AP) - The Coast Guard on Saturday evening called off its search for two workers missing after an explosion and fire on an oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico a day earlier. Four others workers were badly burned in the blaze, which evoked memories of the deadly... more »

• Man accused of selling Coast Guard equipment

  May 25, 2012 7:14 AM

  BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - A 47-year-old Denham Springs man faces federal charges of mail fraud and retaining stolen government property for allegedly selling electronic equipment from the U.S. Coast Guard. The Advocate reports an indictment was returned by a federal grand jury Wednesday in Baton Rouge. According to the... more »

• Landrieu: Coast Guard needs more money

  May 10, 2012 6:52 AM

  NEW ORLEANS (AP) - U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu is criticizing the White House for submitting a Coast Guard budget for 2013 that she says is more than 3 percent smaller than what the search and rescue agency now has. The White House has requested $8.4 billion for the Coast Guard... more »

• Landrieu: Coast Guard needs more money

  May 10, 2012 6:52 AM

  NEW ORLEANS (AP) - U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu is criticizing the White House for submitting a Coast Guard budget for 2013 that she says is more than 3 percent smaller than what the search and rescue agency now has. The White House has requested $8.4 billion for the Coast Guard... more »

• Coast Guard steps up inspections of towboats

  May 9, 2012 7:03 AM

  NEW ORLEANS (AP) - A new round of inspections of towboats and tugs is starting in July as part of a nationwide push by the Coast Guard to improve the safety of the nation's rivers and harbors. Since a 2008 collision and oil spill near New Orleans involving an improperly... more »

• Coast Guard checks Shell report of Gulf oil slick

  April 12, 2012 11:29 AM

  NEW ORLEANS (AP) - The Coast Guard was checking reports Thursday of a 10-mile oil sheen in the Gulf of Mexico near wells operated by Shell Oil. A helicopter with a pollution officer on board was headed out to determine the source of the oil, Coast Guard Petty Officer Steve... more »

• Coast Guard Helicopter Crashes in Mobile Bay Alabama

  February 29, 2012 4:44 AM

  The U.S. Coast Guard says three people are missing and one person has been rescued after one of its helicopters crashed in Mobile Bay during a training mission. Spokeswoman Petty Officer 2nd Class Elizabeth Bordelon says an MH-65 Dolphin helicopter crashed Tuesday evening near Point Clear, Ala. She says the... more »

• Coast Guard: Tank barge emptied, moved after wreck

  February 21, 2012 10:52 AM

  NEW ORLEANS (AP) - The Coast Guard says a tank barge involved in a collision on the Mississippi River has been emptied and moved to a repair facility in Westwego. The Coast Guard estimates that less than 10,000 gallons of oil spilled into the river after the barge pushed by... more »

• Coast Guard Suspends Search for Missing Diver in Gulf of Mexico

  July 10, 2011 12:24 PM

  MOBILE, Ala. - The U.S. Coast Guard has suspended its search for a missing diver at approximately 3 p.m., Saturday. Coast Guard crews searched more than 37 hours, covering approximately 1,700 square miles, in an effort to locate a male diver. The Coast Guard launched the search Friday after... more »

• Coast Guard gets a new commander in New Orleans

  June 28, 2011 6:36 AM

  NEW ORLEANS (AP) - A Coast Guard captain who worked on the BP oil spill disaster is taking over the command of the Coast Guard sector in New Orleans. Capt. W. Gautier took over the job Monday from Capt. Edwin M. Stanton at a change-of-command ceremony. The Coast Guard says... more »

• Transocean: Coast Guard report on oil spill flawed

  June 9, 2011 9:35 AM

  The owner of the oil rig that exploded in the Gulf of Mexico last year said Wednesday that a Coast Guard report that faults the company for a poor safety culture and other shortcomings that preceded the disaster is full of errors. Transocean said in a 112-page response submitted to... more »

• Coast Guard may reopen river to barge traffic

  May 23, 2011 10:23 AM

  BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - The Coast Guard may partially reopen a nine-mile segment of the Mississippi River to barge traffic as it reviews a plan to remove three barges that sank in the waterway in Baton Rouge last week. Petty Officer Stephen Lehmann said the Coast Guard expects to... more »

• Coast Guard reopens part of Mississippi River

  May 18, 2011 5:47 AM

  JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - The Coast Guard is reopening a part of the swollen Mississippi that had been closed to help reduce the damage from the floodwaters. The Coast Guard said Tuesday night that one tow vessel at a time would be allowed to pass a 15-mile area near Natchez,... more »

• Coast Guard: Oil cleanup should be scaled back

  February 11, 2011 8:06 PM

  NEW ORLEANS (AP) - The cleanup of oiled beaches along the Gulf of Mexico has reached a point where crews, heavy equipment and thorough scrubbing can cause more damage to the ecosystem than good, the Coast Guard said Friday. Birds, sea turtles, fish and other species are more likely to... more »

• Coast Guard: Extra Tugs to Meet Stricken Cruise Ship

  November 11, 2010 7:31 AM

  SAN DIEGO (AP) - The Coast Guard says the stricken cruise ship carrying thousands of passengers is on course to rendezvous with several more tug boats off the coast of California. Petty officer Rachel Polish says the ship is being pulled by tugs and should reach the meeting site about... more »

• Coast Guard searches for N.O. bridge jumper

  October 6, 2010 9:54 PM

  NEW ORLEANS (AP) - The U.S. Coast Guard and New Orleans Harbor Police are searching the Mississippi River for a woman who reportedly jumped from the bridge connecting the river's east and west banks. The Coast Guard received a call just before 1 p.m. Wednesday from an off-duty Coast Guard... more »

• U.S. Coast Guard -Rig Explosion Evacuation Effort

  October 4, 2010 12:01 PM

  METAIRIE, La. (AP) - A U.S. Coast Guard official says the fact that more than 100 people escaped the Gulf of Mexico rig explosion alive is a sign that the evacuation effort went fairly well. Capt. James Hanzalik, chief of incident response for the Coast Guard's 8th District, told a... more »

• Coast Guard: Sheen not likely from active oil leak

  September 3, 2010 9:35 PM

  NEW ORLEANS (AP) - A day after a fire on an offshore oil platform off the central Louisiana coast, federal investigators went aboard to make sure no oil is leaking from the site. The Coast Guard said Friday that no oil is believed to be leaking from the platform, which... more »

• Coast Guard Backing Off Its Earlier Report of Oil Sheen Spreading

  September 2, 2010 5:17 PM

  NEW ORLEANS, La. (AP) - The Coast Guard is backing off its earlier report that an oil sheen about a mile long was spreading following a platform explosion in the Gulf of Mexico. Coast Guard Cmdr. Cheri Ben-Iesau said Thursday afternoon that crews was unable to confirm the oil sheen.... more »

• Oil beneath the surface? Thousands of boats in Gulf

  August 26, 2010 7:00 PM

  More than a thousand Vessels of Opportunity are still scanning the Gulf of Mexico for traces of oil, but where are crews looking? Four months after BP's oil disaster, there are no signs of crude from the air. "We saw no large concentrations of oil," said Lt. Regina Caffrey... more »

• Coast Guard is Investigating an Oil Spill in Locust Bayou

  July 29, 2010 6:43 PM

  MORGAN CITY, La. (AP) - The Coast Guard is investigating an oil spill in Locust Bayou. It says about 2,400 gallons of light crude oil spilled from an above-ground storage facility owned by Energy 21, and about 500 gallons got into the water. The spill was reported Thursday near Point... more »

• Coast Guard Lifts Ban on News Coverage Near Booms

  July 13, 2010 10:28 AM

  NEW ORLEANS (AP) - The Coast Guard has modified a policy on safety zones around boom deployed on oiled coastlines, a policy news organizations had said unnecessarily restricted coverage of the impact of the BP oil spill and efforts to clean it up. In a statement Monday night, the government's... more »

• Coast Guard Names New On-Scene Coordinator

  July 10, 2010 11:11 PM

  NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Rear Adm. Paul Zukunft (zoo-KUHNFT) will relieve Rear Adm. James Watson as federal on-scene coordinator for the Gulf oil spill. National Incident Commander Thad Allen said Saturday that Zukunft will take over the job Monday. Zukunft is the Coast Guard's assistant commandant for marine safety, security... more »

• Coast Guard Trains Spotters for Gulf Blimp Duty

  July 10, 2010 3:31 PM

  MOBILE, Ala. (AP) - The Coast Guard has begun training spotters to work aboard a slow-moving, 178-foot-long Navy blimp that will add another airborne tool to the search for petroleum slicks and distressed wildlife from the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The Coast Guard's observers aboard the MZ-3A... more »

• Boom Vandalism

  June 23, 2010 6:35 PM

  What's supposed to be being used to protect Louisiana's coast from the oil, is instead being vandalized. After several reports of boom vandalism,a Public Service Announcement was released in hopes of preventing further damage. The PSA urges residents to help protect the State's shoreline and marshes by not cutting,... more »

• Coast Guard Seizes Shrimp From 2 Boats in Gulf

  June 21, 2010 10:31 PM

  NEW ORLEANS, La. (AP) - The Coast Guard says it seized 30,000 pounds of brown shrimp after being tipped that boats were trawling an area closed because of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. The Lady Monica and La Borrachita were boarded Sunday about 35 nautical miles south of Terrebonne... more »

• Coast Guard, On Tip, Finds Trawler in Closed Water

  June 15, 2010 10:05 AM

  GRAND ISLE, La. (AP) - The Coast Guard says it found a shrimper working in an area closed because of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, confiscated 19,000 pounds of white shrimp and put it all back in the water. Petty Officer Casey Ranel says the shrimp were live when... more »

• Coast Guard Adm. Allen in Hot Seat Over Oil Spill

  June 11, 2010 2:20 PM

  WASHINGTON (AP) - The oil spoiling the teeming marshes and white-sand beaches of the Gulf Coast is also threatening the pristine image of the burly, take-charge leader who has become the federal government's go-to guy in a disaster. Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, one of the few federal officials whose... more »

• Coast Guard Adds Staff to Eastern Gulf For Spill

  June 2, 2010 9:44 PM

  COVINGTON, La. (AP) - The Coast Guard admiral in charge of the oil spill response says he's moving more staff and resources to the Gulf Coast as the slick continues to move east toward Florida. Adm. Thad Allen says a cutter arrived in Mobile Bay, Ala., on Wednesday. He says... more »

• Staging Area in Vermilion Parish

  June 2, 2010 7:13 PM

  Bulldozers are laying the groundwork for what will soon be a staging area in Intracoastal City. Jerod Regan, supervisor at Newpark Environment, said “they just started construction, so I’m not even sure if people are even aware that they are here.” Five trailers will be used... more »

• Coast Guard Decisions to Remove Oil Barriers Angers Alabama Gov.

  June 2, 2010 3:34 PM

  MOBILE, Ala. (AP) - Alabama Gov. Bob Riley is angry about U.S. Coast Guard decisions he says have left parts of the northern Gulf Coast vulnerable to pollution from the Gulf oil spill. Riley says the Coast Guard wrongly decided to remove oil barriers from the Alabama and Mississippi coasts... more »

• Coast Guard Rescue

  June 1, 2010 8:34 PM

  Leaving dock on a sunny Saturday afternoon, the crew of the coast guard cutter pompano doesn't have to rush. But on the night of April 20th, just after 10 o'clock,they responded to a distress call from the oil rig deep water horizon: 40 miles off the southern tip of Louisiana.... more »

• Bird's Eye Look of the Gulf

  May 31, 2010 7:20 PM

  It's hard to see the oil resting on Louisiana’s shore 5,000 feet in the air, but fly 50 miles into the gulf and the oil stretches into the horizon. Lieutenant Michael Patterson of the U.S. Coast Guard said, "you do see this patchwork of sheen, emulsified oil and... more »

• Rescued Animal Count From Oil Spill

  May 31, 2010 5:39 PM

  NEW ORLEANS (AP) - The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says 69 oiled birds have been brought to rescue centers along the Gulf of Mexico, with 53 treated in Louisiana. It says crews have found a total of 494 dead birds, but at least 348... more »

• Coast Guard, BP Say Gulf Top Kill Effort Continues

  May 27, 2010 10:37 AM

  COVINGTON, La. (AP) - The Coast Guard says BP is having some success slowing the Gulf of Mexico oil leak by injecting mud but the fix isn't done yet. Coast Guard Lt. Commander Tony Russell said Thursday reports that Admiral Thad Allen, who is overseeing the operation, had called the... more »

• BP to Meet With Commerical Fishermen

  May 24, 2010 7:27 PM

  Officials from BP will be in Acadiana Tuesday to answer questions about the oil spill. It's the first time a meeting like these is being held in Acadiana. "There's been several other meetings in New Orleans and Belle Chase area, but our fisherman over here are impacted by what's going... more »

• Coast Guard Says Crews May Set Fires to Burn Off Oil

  April 27, 2010 5:20 PM

  NEW ORLEANS (AP) - The Coast Guard says crews may set fires to burn off oil leaking into the Gulf of Mexico from a wrecked offshore drilling platform. Coast Guard Rear Adm. Mary Landry says the burn would be done far offshore and could happen as soon as Wednesday. She... more »

• Leaked Oil Creeps Toward Coast

  April 26, 2010 7:27 PM

  An oil slick is sluggishly moving toward the coast. It's seeping out of a wrecked deep-water drilling platform spewing 42-thousand gallons a day. The oil sheen is now 600-square miles in the Gulf of Mexico. As of Monday, it was about 30 miles out, but creeping towards the coast at... more »

• Coast Guard Calls Off Search For 11 Missing

  April 23, 2010 6:20 PM

  PORT FOURCHON, La. (AP) - The Coast Guard is calling off its search for 11 workers missing since an explosion on an oil rig off the Louisiana coast. Rear Adm. Mary Landry calls it a very difficult decision. The Coast Guard said Friday crews had spent three days searching a... more »

• Oil Rig Sinks in the Gulf of Mexico

  April 22, 2010 7:29 PM

  The Deepwater Horizon oil rig that exploded and began burning Tuesday is now sunk in the Gulf of Mexico. The rig is roughly twice the size of a football field, and a potential major environmental disaster. It could unleash more than 300,000 of gallons of crude a day into the... more »

• New U.S. Coast Guard Patrol Boats

  April 9, 2010 5:41 PM

  LOCKPORT, La. (AP) - Major construction officially began Friday on the first in a series of new U.S. Coast Guard patrol boats with a combined tribute to a Coast Guard hero, the service's lifesaving role after Hurricane Katrina and the Louisiana shipbuilding industry that employs thousands. The $88 million USCGC... more »

• Crews Continue Cleaning After Oil Spill

  April 8, 2010 3:22 PM

  NEW ORLEANS (AP) - The Coast Guard says crews have laid more than two miles of floats to keep spilled oil out of sensitive marshlands in and near a remote national wildlife refuge. Lt. Stephen Nutting says that as of midmorning Thursday, 12,500 feet of... more »

• Coast Guard Rescues Man

  March 29, 2010 4:34 PM

  VENICE, La. (AP) - The Coast Guard has evacuated a 69-year-old man from a tugboat in Southwest Pass near Venice. The Eighth Coast Guard District command center received a call at approximately 9 a.m. Monday from Trevor Weeks, a crewman aboard the tugboat. The Coast Guard says Weeks said the... more »

• Coast Guard Rescue in Terrebone Bay

  March 22, 2010 12:14 PM

  COCODRIE, La. (AP) - The Coast Guard has rescued four people from a 47-foot towing vessel that ran aground in Terrebonne Bay, about 12 miles south of Cocodrie. The Coast Guard received a call about 3:30 p.m. Sunday from a crew member aboard the vessel, Captain Monk. The crew member... more »

• Coast Guard extinguish offshore fire in Gulf

  February 24, 2010 10:40 AM

  The U.S. Coast Guard has confirmed that a fire offshore early this morning has been extinguished. Officials stationed in Morgan City say the fire started after a vessel struck a pipeline off the south central coast of Louisiana. There are no reports of injuries at this time and the incident... more »

• Agencies responding to La oil spill

  October 24, 2009 11:50 PM

  The Coast Guard says it's helping coordinate cleanup of a 200-gallon oil spill in a marsh near the Port Sulfur High School. The spill was reported Friday, and the Coast Guard says an investigation team responding found the spilled crude along about 3,000 feet of shoreline. The Coast Guard... more »