PORT ISABEL — Responders were cleaning up thousands of gallons of diesel in the Navigation District waterway yesterday.
However, the 20,000 gallons of diesel that was spilled was not within the city limits.
The U.S. Coast Guard and the Texas General Land Office responded to an oil spill at mile marker 667 on the Intracoastal Waterway near Port Isabel.
“The responders are taking care of it,” said Jared Hockema, Port Isabel city administrator. “The city of Port Isabel was not notified for help.”
According to a news release, a barge struck a dock at the Subsea 7 facility in Port Isabel just before midnight on Tuesday releasing 20,000 gallons of low-sulfur diesel fuel.
The Coast Guard, Texas General Land Office and Kirby Inland Marine responded to the spill.
Miller Environmental, an oil spill response company, conducted air monitoring and oil recovery operations.
The Coast Guard had no reports of wildlife being impacted.
“We were immediately notified by the crew of Jim Green and responded quickly with our partners at the Texas General Land Office,” said Capt. Tony Hahn, commander, Sector Corpus Christi. “We will be assessing the impacted areas quickly and will ensure a robust and thorough cleanup.”
The Coast Guard flew over the spill to survey the damage yesterday.
Hockema said the accident is not going to affect people.
“The area that it happened at is not an area where there is a lot of recreational boating,” Hockema said. “Obviously it not good to have fuel spilled, but there is not a threat to the public.”
He said the Coast Guard and the GLO have the equipment to respond to the spill.
“We are monitoring it on behalf of the city,” Hockema said.
Diana Maldonado contributed to this report
