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Behavior of Oil

15 March 2001, Evening Report

Cleanup of oil began shortly after the incident occurred on Wednesday 14 March.  As of
this morning 370 bbls of oily water mixture has been recovered and it is estimated that
10% is oil.  Cleanup continued throughout the day near the vessel where the majority of
oil has been contained.


The USCG and BP conducted an aerial overflight at 0920 CST and there was no evidence of
oil outside the Texas City Canal.  TNRCC, TGLO, TP&W, and NOAA conducted a SCAT survey by
boat and foot this afternoon.  The riprap/sheltered scrap on the south side of the canal
was impacted and can be characterized as a patchy (11-50%) cover/coat bathtub ring
measuring 2' wide by approximately 2000' long with trace pockets of pooled oil.  Sorbent
boom has been placed along the riprap to prevent remobilization of the oil and cleanup
crews will go in and manually remove the pockets of pooled oil.


The east and west side of the Gulf Coast Waste Water Containment Canal (GCWWCC), the mouth
of the canal is due south of the vessel, was oiled.  With the extreme high tide at the
time of the incident only the upper portion of the marsh grass is oiled and no oil was
observed on the sediment.  The cleanup recommendation for this area is natural recovery.
There is no evidence of shoreline impact west of the mouth of the GCWWCC in the Texas City
Canal.  There have been no reports of any oiled wildlife.


Several vessels and floating dry-docks in the area were oiled and the RP requested the use
of a surface washing agent.  The RRT was convened at 1500 CST and permission was granted
to use a surface washing agent that lifted and floated the oil in the event high pressure
or high pressure hot/warm water washing is not effective.  The surface washing agent is to
be applied with a backpack sprayer (low pressure) similar to ones used for pesticide and
garden use and then followed by high pressure washing.  The vessels and dry-docks will be
boomed and all oil removed is to be recovered.


Future Activities
0700 Incident Briefing
Finalize cleanup recommendations and develop cleanup endpoints

On Scene: 
LT. Steve Thumm, ASSC
(206) 321-1179
1-800-759-8888, PIN 3470989
Hotel Galvez, (409) 765-7721, Rm 529