Texas barge collision may have spilled up to 2,000 gallons of oil, says US Coast Guard

(16 May 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:

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ASSOCIATED PRESS
Galveston, Texas - 16 May 2024
1. SOUNDBITE (English) Rick Freed, vice president of Martin Marine:
"At approximately 10 a.m. on Wednesday, the barge MMLP-321 collided with the Pelican Island Bridge due to a break in the coupling. There were no reports of any injuries or people in the water. There were some reports that were talked about people in the water. There were no people on the water. We have since corrected that via the press release."
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2. SOUNDBITE (English) Rick Freed, vice president of Martin Marine:
"The collision caused one of the cargo tanks to be compromised and the vacuum gas oil spilled to the water. The amount is still being determined, but the source has been contained.
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3. SOUNDBITE (English) Capt. Keith Donohue, Coast Guard:
"We're pretty confident there was a much less oil introduced to the water than we initially estimated. We're estimating between 1,000, 2,000 gallons, but we will not have details on that until we get a final survey from the vessel. We have over 200 people actively working on this response right now. We have skimmers in the water and we have personnel in the command. We've recovered over 605 gallons of oily water mixture from the environment, as well as an additional 6,000, 5,640 gallons of oil product from the top of the barge that did not go into, into the water."
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4. SOUNDBITE (English) Capt. Keith Donohue, Coast Guard:
"Our initial priorities are protection of personnel and of citizens, protection of the environment, recovery of oil from the water, salvage of the barge and then restoring the safety of the bridge itself."
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5. SOUNDBITE (English) Rick Freed, vice president of Martin Marine:
"There were no high, high winds or weather was not a factor at all during the coupling issue."
(Reporter: inaudible)
"We're, it's under investigation right now and I really can't disclose anything further until investigation is thorough."
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6. SOUNDBITE (English) Rick Freed, vice president of Martin Marine:
"We're in the process of removing the concrete structure that is on top of the barge, and that will probably commence tomorrow morning. Because what we have to do is lift that up and remove the barge from that area. And then we will assess the barge to see if we can discharge it or lighter it to another barge safely."
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7. SOUNDBITE (English) Capt. Keith Donohue, Coast Guard:
"Until we, until we remove the boat of, the barge from the bridge, we cannot do a safe, a full safe survey of the bridge. So at this point, we deemed it's okay for pedestrian traffic at the time, but until we move the boat, the barge out of the area, we can't do a full dive assessment."
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STORYLINE:
Early estimates indicate up to 2,000 gallons of oil may have spilled into surrounding waters when a barge carrying fuel broke free from a tugboat and slammed into a bridge near Galveston, Texas, the U.S. Coast Guard said Thursday.

The barge crashed into a pillar supporting the Pelican Island Causeway span on Wednesday.

The impact caused the bridge to partially collapse and cut off the only road connecting Galveston to Pelican Island, the Coast Guard said.

Video shows splotches of oil had spilled from the barge into Galveston Bay.

State officials said early cleanup efforts have not identified any impacted wildlife.
AP video shot by Lekan Oyekanmi
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