TEXAS CITY, Texas (AP) - Cleanup work continues two days after a barge struck by a ship in the Houston Ship Channel leaked thousands of gallons of heavy, tar-like oil.
The cleanup continues Monday after Coast Guard officials said up to 168,000 gallons were dumped from the barge’s ruptured tank just inside Galveston Bay. The oil was detected 12 miles offshore in the Gulf of Mexico as of Sunday afternoon.
The Coast Guard’s Houston-Galveston commander, Capt. Brian Penoyer, called it “a significant spill.”
But he said emptying the barge Sunday removed the remaining pollution risk.
More than 380 people and a fleet of oil-retrieving skimmers and other vessels deploying containment booms around environmentally sensitive areas worked against the damage. Penoyer said more has been summoned.
Officials said scattered wildlife damage was reported.
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