MARCH 10, 2015
HOUSTON, TEXAS
A portion of the Houston Ship Channel could be closed for
several days as crews scramble to contain a highly flammable gasoline additive
that spilled from a ruptured tanker, authorities said Tuesday.
The U.S. Coast Guard on Tuesday expanded the closed area for
the cleanup and response from one mile to roughly eight miles, stretching from
near Morgan's Point to the Hartman Bridge.
"This is an extremely complex salvage operation,"
said Brian Penoyer, captain of the port for the Coast Guard. "It's not
going to happen in minutes or hours."
Twenty-eight ships are waiting to enter the area, and 24
vessels are waiting to leave, said Andy Kendrick, a Coast Guard spokesman.
It's unclear how much MTBE, a gasoline additive, spilled
into the waterway when two container ships collided Monday. The chemical
dissolves into water quickly, but when concentrated, its vapors can be highly
flammable.
National Transportation Safety Board inspectors arrived on
the scene at 11 a.m. Tuesday. At an afternoon briefing, agency officials
declined to speculate on the cause of the collision between the tanker Carla
Maersk and the Liberian bulk carrier Conti Peridot.
The vessels collided about 12:30 p.m. Monday near the
community of Morgan's Point on the shores of Galveston Bay.