Oils Well That Ends Well?
This is Passport to Texas
At the end of January, two vessels collided in the port of Port Arthur; one was an oil tanker carrying crude, the other a barge towing ships.
This is the largest spill that Port Arthur’s seen in a very long time.
Winston Denton is a Texas Parks and Wildlife biologist who was at the site of the January 23 incident.
The Eagle Otome is an oil tanker; it was coming into Port Arthur [when the accident occurred]. Okay, we’re looking at the barge that was involved in the collision with the ship. The barge just hit it and went right inside the ship.
It’s estimated that 450-thousand gallons of crude spilled into the water… which translates to approximately 11-thousand barrels of oil.
Prior to this, what we considered a large spill was two to three thousand barrels; and this is, like, four times that.
Hundreds of people, including from parks and wildlife and the US coast guard, mobilized to mitigate damages and clean the spill. Booms stopped oil from migrating down the intercostal waterway into sensitive wetlands. More than a dozen animals died from the spill, but others were trapped, cleaned and saved.
That’s one more…I think he’ll make it.
At the time we recorded this show, oil sheen remained on the water.
That’s our show…with support from the Sport Fish Restoration Program… For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.
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