[texbirds] Re: Spill
- From: Stenmead@xxxxxxx
- To: josephkennedy36@xxxxxxxxx, brushfreeman@xxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 23 Mar 2014 19:01:17 -0400 (EDT)
Thanks for the excellent update Joe! Galveston County Office of Emergency
Management and General Land office websites show "No Incidents to Report"
even with the ferry not running and Houston Ship Channel closed!!
GCOEM, however, reported that incident updates could be found at
http://uscgnews.com. I checked it out and this site has a description with
diagram/aerial of spill and safety area and is helpful in visualizing the
area.
Hard to tell at this point in the response how much impact to birds and
wildlife this spill will have. There are always so many birds everywhere in
the
area.
The bad news is that this heavy bunker fuel can be so heavy that it sinks
and that the sheen/oil will continue to surface for a while.
Stennie Meadours
San Leon
In a message dated 3/23/2014 5:23:25 P.M. Central Daylight Time,
josephkennedy36@xxxxxxxxx writes:
The Houston ship channel runs to the southeast and Galveston Roads. The
channel from texas city runs east and then curves to the right to also go
out of the bay. The dike runs sort of parallel to the ship channel from
texas city for 5 miles. It aims at the bolivar peninsula and if extended
all the way would about hit the bolivar ferry landing. Lots of birds go
back and forth following ships and currents.
The barge was coming down the channel to go around the end of the dike and
go up the other side of the dike to texas city. The video on tv showed the
ship steaming right into its side. It was foggy but the pictures were from
more than a mile away and all Is supposed to be controlled by radar. The
east side of the dike has a beach and shallow sand flats extending out to
the ship channel and the barge is grounded out near the end on those flats.
So it is not under water entirely.
There is some oil on the jetty sand according to the Houston chronicle
pictures and large numbers of gulls and terns roost and rest on that spot.
They feed and follow boats and ships for stirred up killifish and so are
going out into the site of the oil leak where the boats are going.
The wind is northeast which with an outgoing tide will tend to push it
toward the Galveston side of the Roads but if the wind lasts enough the
wind/tide will take the oil out of the bay and it will seep through the
bolivar jetty to the flats at least out where there is water on the flats
side of the jetty. The huge avocet roost often feeds there and swims as
well as wading.
The chronicle is updating the article and adding pictures and it is at the
top of the page
http://www.chron.com/
The Galveston daily news also has coverage and says oil is starting to come
ashore at the east end of Galveston with a picture. Also at Sea Wolf park
and the back side of pelican island and the shorebird areas there which are
only accessible by boat will perhaps be the most affected.
http://www.galvestondailynews.com/
KTRK which is channel 13-abc in Houston has some shots from the air which
show a large area of bay covered and then lots of oil washing up on pelican
island from what looks like the west of south end of the lagoon there.
There is a long no comment video showing booms, oil and a glimpse of the
barge in relation to the dike. Coast guard says oil is out 12 miles into
the gulf and when the wind shifts it could come back almost anywhere in the
area. The boom only covers a bit of pelican island and is not being skimmed
so it goes around the end to the beach.
The ABC national news on tv tonight showed a good sized avocet flock taking
off from a few yards from a boom. No oil noticed in the area.
http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/
And the other stations may have stuff to other than pictures of the police
car keeping people from going out on the dike which is the major story
line.
Good news is that the oil in the other tanks on the barge has been removed
but the damaged tank is still leaking. And it is really thick oil; you have
to cook it before it can be used as fuel as it does not flow well and will
not evaporate much.
On Sun, Mar 23, 2014 at 2:17 PM, Brush Freeman
<brushfreeman@xxxxxxxxx>wrote:
> .
> I think I am pretty up on the layout there, but can't visualize this in
my
> head. Has the front hit there yet? Will these strong north winds help
or
> hinder?
> **********************************************************************
> Brush Freeman
> 503-551-5150 Cell
> 120 N. Red Bud Trail. Elgin, Tx. 78621
> http://texasnaturenotes.blogspot.com/
> Finca Alacranes., Utley,Texas
>
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--
Joseph C. Kennedy
on Buffalo Bayou in West Houston
Josephkennedy36@xxxxxxxxx
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