Texas City "Y" incident: Latest Update
The Coast Guard informs that it continues clean up operations in the Port of Houston/Galveston after having authorized limited marine traffic in the safety zone for commercial ship traffic, Tuesday. The Port Coordination Team is prioritizing ships for transit through the channel. Barges are being allowed to transit through the Houston Ship Channel and on the Intracoastal Waterway, after assessment teams deemed the channel clear.
Cleanup efforts focused heavily on the environmentally sensitive lagoon area of East Beach Tuesday. Other areas where significant amounts of oil were recovered include Big Reef, Pelican Island and the Texas City Dike.
Weather conditions in the Port of Houston/Galveston pushed oil 12 miles out into the Gulf of Mexico, and into a southwesterly direction along the coast. The Unified Command has begun preparations to prevent potential environmental impact in the Matagorda area, as Wednesday’s weather forecast may push some of the contaminant to the shore. Response personnel, wildlife resources and protective equipment are being deployed out of Port Lavaca in accordance with the tactics outlined in the Area Contingency Plan.
A vessel decontamination plan has been formulated to assist vessels that may have been impacted by oil. The sites of the stations are Pelican Cut, Galveston and Bolivar. To schedule a vessel decontamination call (832)-244-1870.
The Galveston Bolivar ferry is running and will be operating between 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Details from the response efforts are as follows:
- Total nonconsecutive shoreline impacted – 18.9 miles
- Recovered gallons of oily-water – 175,098 gallons
- Recovered bags of solid waste – 1,799 bags
- Total gallons of oil evaporated – 18,480 gallons
- Natural dispersion rate of oil – 2,100 gallons
- Total containment boom deployed – 69,268 feet
- Total containment boom staged – 253,300 feet
- Additional containment boom ordered – 5,400 feet
- Response vessels assigned – 70 vessels
- Total personnel in the field – 940
- Total personnel in the Incident Command Post - 324
For those interested in volunteering, a list is being developed. Please call (713)-435-1562.