Chron The Texas Attorney General’s Office has dispatched investigators and staff from its Environmental Protection Division to the Galveston Bay oil spill site.
In response to the spill, Attorney General Greg Abbott on Monday said, in part: “The damage inflicted by this spill is a blow to small businesses, fishing, recreation, and the overall economy – but its ripple effects will be felt much wider. While emergency workers race to get the spill contained and cleaned, the attorney general’s office will assist with the coordinated state response and has opened a civil investigation into this disaster.
Safety zones set up
Due to Saturday’s oil spill, safety zones have been established in Galveston Bay and the ship channel that restrict vessel traffic, according to the city of Galveston.
City officials also said the Bolivar ferry remains closed with the exception of emergency transit. The public can contact the Ferry Office for status updates at (409) 795-2230. “The ferry is key and officials are working diligently to get it reopened as soon as possible,” according to a city news release issued Monday.
A claims number has been established for persons or businesses that may have questions. The number is (855) 276-1275.
For additional information, the joint information center can be contacted at (409) 978-2788
Spill underscores need for wider channels
Congressman Gene Green issued the following statement in response said the spill underlines the need “to understand the future challenges that must be met. Recently, there has been an economic resurgence at the Port of Houston and throughout the Houston Ship Channel driven by trade, namely exports. We need to guarantee that our infrastructure is capable of meeting the requirements of a revitalized and expanding American energy-industrial complex.
“Thus far, with the exception of this incident, the increased demands placed on the Port and Ship Channel have been handled admirably. However, continued expansion necessitates deeper, wider channels and additional resources to effectively manage-both economically and environmentally-traffic and development in the area.”
This story has more details about the “incident.”
http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Ship-Channel-could-open-to-some-traffic-today-5342986.php?cmpid=bna#photo-6066804
Boy this makes me so damned made I could get into trouble down there.
Yea, I best just shut the f up right now. 🙁
I am suprised they haven`t brought out the corexit crap like they did in the gulf.
Doesn’t work on this grade of oil.
(read the link I posted in my comment, above 😉 )
Yes those executives outta be down there getting their hands dirty.
I cannot believe that they have no backup plan for this kind of thing.
unbelievable !!!
All they care about is production. Keep the ships moving, the tourists flowing, and the $$$ coming in. They will do everything they can to downplay, whitewash, and cover up the damage. Their solution is to just make the Channel bigger. wider, and deeper so they can get More.
Kinda reminds me of the movie “Jaws” when they refused to close the beach.
I remember sitting on Galveston Beach in 1978, and seeing oil tankers lined-up end to end all the way out over the horizon. They were in line waiting their turn to pump out their oil… but all the inland refinery tanks were full. This waterway has always been a potential accident just waiting to happen.
So, what’s the fix for this situation, Angel? Build more Nuke Plants so we can reduce our dependency on oil? Release GMO oil-eating microbes? Drill a hole in the Gulf of Mexico and empty it? I think you already answered this question down below:
“They will do everything they can to downplay, whitewash, and cover up the damage.”
This is what they have always done, and will always do in any man-made disaster. Engineers could sit down for years trying to fix the problem, but they won’t produce any viable solutions. The only true solution would be to return to the Dark Ages… but we wouldn’t be able to post on FTTWR without our plastic keyboards, or drive to Galveston Beach without gasoline in our cars. Human duplicity at its best ! 😉