ORSANCO Ohio River Barge Incident at McAlpine Lock & Dam Update

Update

On Tuesday, March 28th, ten out of eleven barges came loose from a tugboat on the Ohio River near Louisville, Kentucky. Seven of the barges contained loads of corn, two of the barges contained the residue of soybean oil, and one of the barges contained a load of methanol.

There was no methanol release from the barge reported by the US Coast Guard. The methanol tank barge was successfully removed from the McAlpine Dam on April 7th. Transfer of the methanol cargo to a receiver barge was completed on April 8th.

Air and water samples were collected throughout the recovery process. All samples were non-detect for methanol and showed no indication of any product released into the Ohio River. The now-empty barge involved in the incident will be transported to a shipyard for repairs.

This is the final update for this event as the potential threat has been successfully eliminated.

Additional Resources:

McAlpine Info 

Louisville Kentucky Government Press Releases

Louisville-Jefferson County Metro Government Updates