Americas News
Bunker Spill Closes Houston Ship Channel
The Houston Ship Channel has been closed following a bunker spill on Saturday afternoon, March 22, the US Coast Guard (USCG) has said.
USCG reports it was notified at 12:35 p.m. that the 585-foot bulk carrier Summer Wind had collided with a bunker barge containing 924,000 gallons of fuel oil, which was being towed by the m/v Miss Susan.
In its latest update on Sunday USCG said approximately 168,000 gallons of product - the entire contents of a breached tank - had been released.
24 response vessels are working to skim the oil, while some 69,000 feet of containment boom has been deployed on waters surrounding the incident site.
A further 141,000 feet of boom is ready to be deployed.
Clean up efforts are being hampered by changing currents, winds, and rainy weather conditions, which USCG spokesman Lieutenant Sam Danus described as "not ideal", adding that "visibility is not the greatest", Bloomberg reported
The response area has since been extended further into the Gulf of Mexico and south along Galveston Island.
Authorities were said to be trying to determine if the collision also caused leaks from other parts of the barge.
