CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — The Coast Guard is responding to a gasoline spill near Port Isabel, Texas, Saturday.
A barge pushed by the ITV Albert reportedly allided with the ITV Paddy as it transited the Port Isabel Offshore Terminal, resulting in one of the ITV Paddy’s barges sustaining damage and releasing gasoline into the waterway.
It is currently estimated that five to 10 gallons of fuel per minute is leaking into the water. The damaged barge holds a maximum potential of 187,000 gallons of fuel.
The crew of ITV Paddy notified Coast Guard Sector/Air Station Corpus Christi watchstanders of the allision at approximately 10 a.m. The ITV Paddy crew also reported that they were pumping gasoline from the damaged compartment into an overflow tank and had placed containment boom around the impacted area.
Coast Guard watchstanders issued a safety marine information broadcast and dispatched a Sector/Air Station Corpus Christi HC-144 Ocean Sentry airplane crew, a Coast Guard Station South Padre Island 24-foot Special Purpose Craft-Shallow Water boat crew and Coast Guard Marine Safety Detachment Brownsville pollution teams to the scene.
As of 12:44 p.m., the Port Isabel Channel is closed to all vessel traffic.
Coast Guard crews, Port Isabel Fire Department crews and Texas General Land Office personnel are working in conjunction to coordinate cleanup operations and assess impacts.
