Eagle Otome Oil Spill Port Authur Texas {Real Footage}

It was the largest spill in Texas in 16 years, but still well shy of one 20 years ago involving Norwegian tanker Mega Borg that leaked 4.3 million gallons of crude oil about 60 miles off Galveston.

Two sensitive wildlife areas nearby remain unaffected by the spill, which is mostly contained in a 2-mile stretch of the Sabine Neches Waterway near Port Arthur, about 90 miles east of Houston. Authorities have received one report of an oil-covered heron, and residents have been urged to report other affected animals.

The shipping channel is closed, and it remains unclear when it will reopen, Ranel said.


Julio Cortez / Houston Chronicle via AP
A sheen of oil covers the waterway in Port Arthur, Texas, on Saturday.
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About 500 responders on the water and in the command post worked overnight to contain the spill. Nearly 46,000 feet of plastic walls known as booms and 15 oil-sucking skimmer boats were in the water, Ranel said.

The Eagle Otome collided with a towing vessel pushing two barges on Saturday, leaving a 15-foot-by-8-foot hole in the tanker. The National Transportation Safety Board and the Coast Guard are investigating.

The Eagle Otome is owned by AET Tankers, a Malaysian company with offices in Houston.

"We have no insight right now into what caused it," said AET spokesman Darrell Wilson. "The Coast Guard has an investigation team in place ... and we are fully participating in that investigation process."

The company is working with the Coast Guard on cleanup, although it's unclear who will pay for it.

"It was our product that spilled and right now, we are the ones responsible for cleaning it up," Wilson said.

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Tags:

• Eagle
• Otome
• Oil
• Spill
• Port
• Authur
• Texas
• MAjor
• Event
• Wildlife

[Lingadil]

lol.. this ship is cursed..