Galveston Bay Spill Could Hit 700,000 Gallons

Coast Guard officials said Friday a barge that collided with a tanker in the Houston Ship Channel may have spilled 700,000 gallons, or nearly all of its cargo, into Galveston Bay.

The Coast Guard had said earlier that 500,000 gallons of oil spewed into the bay after the accident. But officials considered adjusting that estimate after salvage crews found nothing in a once-submerged cargo tank they expected to contain about 200,000 gallons of oil.

“It looks like a lot of the oil may have escaped from it,” Coast Guard Capt. Thomas Greene said. He added that officials were rechecking ship manifests to determine exactly how much oil was aboard the vessel.

The state health department, meanwhile, announced that a ban on fishing in the bay, begun Thursday, would be partly lifted today in several areas apparently unaffected by the oil.

The accident occurred a week ago when the Greek tanker Shinouss collided with two barges in the Houston Ship Channel, causing one barge to nearly sink. Oil from both barges bubbled into the seafood-rich bay, threatening sensitive marshes, birds and other wildlife.

The oil has washed ashore on several beaches. The latest was at Houston Point, a marshy area north of the leading edge of the 12-mile oil slick, where oil was reported Friday morning.

Coast Guard officials say they are perplexed by what appeared to be relatively small amounts of oil spotted by air this week.

Although part of the oil may have evaporated, Greene said another possibility is that some sank just below the surface. Tests have shown no evidence that the oil has reached the bottom, he said.

Cleanup crews continued scooping oil off the surface Friday, while salvage team worked on the damaged barge.

Oil-eating microbes were poured into a small marsh near Pelican Island, adjacent to Galveston Island, on Thursday afternoon. There was no word Friday on whether the microbes were gobbling up the oil.