GALVESTON, Texas (Reuters) – An oil spill that occurred in the waters surrounding Galveston, Texas when a tugboat lost control of a barge carrying fuel and it crashed into a bridge might have leaked around 2,000 gallons of oil into the water according to initial estimates by the Coast Guard.
According to him, the vessel collided with one of the pillars located on the Pelican Island Causeway on Wednesday thereby causing this bridge to fall partially. This means that its collapse led to disconnection of Galveston from Pelican Island which is the only route connected these two regions as stated by US Coast Guard’s report.
Video shows patches of oil spilling from the barge into Galveston Bay. According to Jeff Davis of Texas General Land Office during his address on Thursday no wildlife has been found yet affected by first cleanup efforts.
It can contain 30000 barrels but was loaded with 23000 barrels or close to 966000 gallons when it hit against it; “The complete risk” Rick Freed declared at Martin Marine vice president’s conference in response. He also mentioned that during collision about 160000 gallons had vanished due to opened tanks.
“We are fairly sure there was not as much oil sprayed out over water as we previously estimated,” Keith Donohue has said in an interview.
“From environment we have collected over 605 gal’ oily water mixture plus additional 5640 gal’ oil product from top deck where none went into environment” Donohue added speaking with reporters.
A boom was put up by Coast Guard for containment purposes after shutting down approximately ten miles (10.5 kilometers) long sectioofn alongthe way earlier stated
The statement read: “Pelican Island Bridge outage continues changing fast; therefore, all Texas A&M Pelican Island residents will be relocated.” It also said they were relocating them through at least Sunday due to uncertainties stemming from the Pelican Island Bridge outage.
The barge remained where it had come to rest on Wednesday beside the bridge after the crash with debris that included fallen rail lines weighing it down.
The bridge, which is Galveston’s sole line of road connection to Pelican Island, was shut for incoming but open to pedestrians in both directions and outgoing cars from Pelican Island.
Staff and faculty were told to leave and Texas A&M University at Galveston said the campus would be closed, although essential personnel will remain. “
Around 200 university-related people were trapped on the island when this barge ran into this bridge spokesperson Shantelle Patterson-Swanson added explaining that while transportation would be provided those who did not want to leave housing costs would also have to be borne by them but emphasized that the institution has not issued a mandatory evacuation order.”
Dr. Maria Burns of Houston University says aside from environmental impact resulting from oil spillage; businesses and homes in this area are not likely affected much.”
The Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, a channel for barges, is several miles away from the affected area. There’s also the Houston Ship Channel, a big channel where large ships pass through.
This accident happened weeks after another one in which a cargo ship struck the support column of the Francis Key Bridge on March 26th in Baltimore killing six construction workers.
