Texas City oil spill

On March 22, 2014, at more or less 12:30 pm, the 585 foot bulk provider M/V Summer Wind collided utilizing the oil tank-barge Kirby 27706. The incident occurred in Galveston Bay near Texas City, Texas. The barge contained about 1, 000, 000 gallons of intermediate fuel oil in multiple tanks.

The no. 2 starboard container ended up being punctured, spilling about 168, 000 gallons of oil. The barge is currently aground therefore the staying oil had been lightered (eliminated) late Sunday. The M/V Summer Wind is stable rather than dripping oil. As of March 23, the Houston Ship Channel and Intracoastal Waterway was shut to traffic, including ferries and cruise lines. U.S. Coast Guard, NOAA, U.S. Fish and Wildlife provider, the Tx General land-office along with other agencies are responding.

NOAA provides scientific support towards the U.S. coast-guard, including forecasts associated with floating oil activity, shoreline assessment, information management, overflight tracking regarding the oil, climate forecasts, and normal and economic sources in danger. Marine mammal and turtle stranding system workers are also standing by. The NOAA Weather provider Incident Meteorologist is on-scene, since tend to be extra NOAA personnel. Normal resource harm assessment workers should be at Galveston Bay to start scientific studies that could be regularly identify injured resource and repair needs.