Oil Spill Information News

Representatives of the Unified Command responding to a March 22 oil spill will join community leaders in an informational session on Thursday, April 3, at 6:30 p.m. The event will take place at Port O’Connor Elementary School, 508 Monroe Avenue. Officials from the United States Coast Guard, Texas General Land Office, Kirby Inland Marine, Texas Parks and Wildlife, U.S. Fish and Wildlife, NOAA, and Texas Department of Health Services will join representatives from Calhoun County government and the Chamber of Commerce in updating the community. “We are pleased to be invited to meet with local residents and business owners and appreciate the opportunity to answer any questions or concerns they may have,” said Incident Commander Randal S. Ogryzdiak. texascityyresponse.com

The unified command is continuing its clean up efforts today in response to the undetermined amount of oil that was spilled into the Delaware River by the ATHOS I on November 27th. Barges are being used to offload the ships oil cargo in order to lighten the ship for salvage operations. The barges have offloaded 2.52 million gallons of product so far. Transfer operations are expected to be completed early this week. The cause of the incident is still under investigation. More than 1,400 responders are working in the command center and out in the field. 16 vessels are employed in the clean-up efforts and an additional 124 vessels are assisting in the response. 10,918 gallons of oil/water mixture has been recovered. 6,720 pounds of oily solids (cleanup materials and oil) have been collected.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration scientific support team has projected that tar balls and scattered patches of oil could be washing ashore at anytime along the northern Atlantic shoreline of Delaware and the southern Atlantic shoreline of New Jersey. Patches of oil have been seen from the Tacony Palymyra Bridge to south of Smyrna River on the Delaware River. Tar balls were also found yesterday in the C&D Canal in Maryland. Residents of these areas can expect to see tar balls, but not in high numbers. The ATHOS I has been temporarily moved to the Marcus Hook Anchorage. It's next destination will be a graving dock at the Naval Shipyard in Philadelphia to repair the holes in the hull.

The unified command is continuing its clean up efforts today in response to the undetermined amount of oil that was spilled into the Delaware River by the ATHOS I on November 27. Barges are being used to offload the ships oil cargo in order to lighten the ship for salvage operations. The barges have offloaded 5 million gallons of product so far. Transfer operations are expected to be completed this week. The cause of the incident is still under investigation. More than 1,600 responders are working in the command center and out in the field. 145 vessels are employed in the response effort. 10,918 gallons of oil/water mixture has been recovered. 318,960 pounds of oily solids (cleanup materials and oil) have been collected.

The Unified Command continues oil clean-up and recovery efforts, but inclement weather may affect operations, delaying or halting them in some instances to ensure the safety of clean-up workers. The incident is still under investigation and the final results of that investigation are not expected to be released for several months. Over 1,700 responders are working in the command center and along the Delaware River. 130 vessels are deployed in the response effort. 35,799 gallons of oil and oily liquid and 1,817 gallons of submerged oil have been recovered. 2,008 tons of oily solids (cleanup materials and oil) have been collected. Eleven waterfront facilities have been decontaminated thus far.