WAFB Channel 9, Baton Rouge, LA |Flight Camera to Check for Chemical Leaks
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BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - A helicopter equipped with a special camera will fly over Louisiana waterways and industrial plants in a search for chemical leaks. The camera -- known as the Hawk -- uses a technique that displays chemical leaks as black, inky clouds.
The state Department of Environmental Quality used the camera last year in the Baton Rouge area to look for leaks suspected to be adding to the areas problem with ozone pollution. Bruce Hammatt, DEQ administrator and technical adviser, says this week's flights are the first of four scheduled for this year. The first will focus on possible leaks and releases from barges and other marine traffic, a follow-up to fly-overs last year. Hammatt says those fly-overs showed material coming from barges on the Mississippi River and led to a plan to reduce the amount of releases.
He says this week's flights will give the department a look into how much improvement there has been so far and possibly outline some areas that still need work. The flights will concentrate on the Mississippi River from Baton Rouge to New Orleans, the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway and along the Calcasieu River.
Although the camera can detect if something is leaking, it cannot quantify how much or what kind of material is leaking. Hammatt says D-E-Q will have ground crews to follow up on any major leaks the flights find.
