Tuesday, July 21, 2015

Brownsville, Texas discovers a 600 gallon oil spill in a drainage ditch; no polluter has been identified yet

Posted: Tuesday, July 21, 2015 8:54 pm
 
Officials are still trying to determine what caused about 600 gallons of oil to leak into a drainage ditch near the Brownsville Public Works Headquarters on Jaime J. Zapata Avenue late Monday night.

Officials said the source of the spill has been secured and no more oil is leaking.
AssistantCity Manager Ruth Osuna told reporters in a press conference Tuesday afternoon that the city uses the ditch solely for storm water transport and the system has no connection to the public’s water supply.

“There is no danger to the public,” she said.

City spokeswoman Roxanna G. Rosas said in a statement that city employees noticed the spill at about 6:30 a.m. Tuesday. Staff informed officials with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, the Port Authority, the Public Utilities Board and Cameron County Drainage District No. 1.

City officials said Tuesday afternoon that the slick had made it less than a mile downstream.

Crews deployed bales of hay beneath the bridge at the intersection of South Padre Island Highway and Minnesota Avenue to limit water flow, though downstream a rust-colored film stretched across the water’s surface like ice.

The city also brought in a contracted chemical response and remediation team led by David Hanawa, who explained that oil’s tendency to sit on top of water sometimes allows clean water to flow beneath it. Hanawa also reported that it didn’t seem likely that the spill would affect wildlife within the man-made ravines.

“We haven’t seen any impacts to aquatic life,” he said.