Broken Barge Spills 5-Mile Ribbon of Oil Into Galveston Bay
GALVESTON, Texas — A barge carrying 714,000 gallons of crude oil broke open Monday just outside the Houston Ship Channel, spilling a ribbon of oil at least 5 miles long into Galveston Bay.
The heavy intermediate fuel oil began streaming from the Buffalo Marine Service Inc. barge into an area between Pelican Island and Bolivar Peninsula about 1 p.m., the Coast Guard said. By late evening, the current had pulled the oil south along the coast.
The Coast Guard refused to speculate on what caused the barge to buckle and rupture its hull. The vessel was sunk in the middle and appeared on the verge of breaking into two pieces.
About 176,400 gallons of the No. 2 crude oil had spilled by evening from two of the barge’s 12 tanks.
Coast Guard Cmdr. Dean Kutz said the rest of the tanks were intact.
Texas Land Commissioner Garry Mauro said the thick oil won’t evaporate easily.
He said winds up to 45 mph, rough seas and the heavy oil would complicate the cleanup. No animals were immediately affected.
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