Citgo Fined $19.7 Million for 2006 Spill in the Calcasieu River

Our local Citgo refinery will have to pay at $19.7 million fine for an oil spill into the Calcasieu River back in 2006.

The Department of Justice found Citgo was responsible for a discharge of oily wastewater from their wastewater treatment plant. The DOJ said they released untold millions of gallons of the oily wastewater into the Indian Marais waterway, the Calcasieu River, and the Calcasieu Estuary.

They believe it was around 54,000 barrels of slop oil (2,268,000 gallons) but there is no way to get the actual number. Citgo was fined under the Oil Pollution Act and the Louisiana Oil Spill Prevention and Response Act for their negligence.

The discharge contaminated 150 miles of shoreline and waterways. It killed aquatic life, birds, and forced the ship channel to shut down.

The federal court found that, "Citgo does not appear to have recognized the importance of compliance, pollution control, environmental responsibility, and the overall duty imposed on businesses to operate safely."

For more on this story, click here.

LOOK: Here are the 50 best beach towns in America

Every beach town has its share of pluses and minuses, which got us thinking about what makes a beach town the best one to live in. To find out, Stacker consulted data from WalletHub, released June 17, 2020, that compares U.S. beach towns. Ratings are based on six categories: affordability, weather, safety, economy, education and health, and quality of life. The cities ranged in population from 10,000 to 150,000, but they had to have at least one local beach listed on TripAdvisor. Read the full methodology here. From those rankings, we selected the top 50. Readers who live in California and Florida will be unsurprised to learn that many of towns featured here are in one of those two states.

Keep reading to see if your favorite beach town made the cut.

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