Estimated read time: Less than a minute
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
McALLEN, Texas (AP) — Crews in Texas are trying to contain a major oil spill in Galveston Bay.
A barge carrying nearly a million gallons of especially thick, sticky oil collided with a ship in Galveston Bay on Saturday, leaking an unknown amount of the fuel into the popular bird habitat as the peak of the migratory shorebird season was approaching.
Booms have been brought in to try to contain the spill, which the Coast Guard says was reported at around 12:30 p.m. by the captain of the 585-foot ship, Summer Wind.
The Coast Guard says the ship collided with a barge carrying 924,000 gallons of marine fuel oil, also known as special bunker, that was being towed by the vessel Miss Susan. The agency hasn't given an estimate of how much fuel has spilled into the bay, but there's a visible sheen of oil at the scene.
Officials believe only one of the barge's tanks was breached, but that tank had a capacity of 168,000 gallons.
Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
