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Friday
November 20, 2009 Since 1922 |
Oil spill under investigation
By Jane Howard Lee
Contributor Published August 25, 2009 Local emergency responders spent about six hours working to contain an oil spill that a citizen spotted on Cedar Bayou late Monday.
The spill spread from an oil storage tank in the Mont Belvieu area, leaking into Smith Gully then on to Cedar Bayou. Mont Belvieu’s Emergency Management Chief Bruce Oliphant said best estimates put the spilled oil at 200 to 300 gallons but said a reason for the leak had not been determined by Tuesday afternoon.
“We’re not sure why it leaked,” Oliphant said. “We couldn’t see where it was coming from the tank and maybe it was coming from somewhere underground.”
Local responders stayed on the scene until about 2 a.m. Tuesday, then the clean up and investigation were taken over by workers with the Texas General Land Office, the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Coast Guard, according to Oliphant.
There is no threat to area drinking water or air quality, he added.
Contributor Published August 25, 2009 Local emergency responders spent about six hours working to contain an oil spill that a citizen spotted on Cedar Bayou late Monday.
The spill spread from an oil storage tank in the Mont Belvieu area, leaking into Smith Gully then on to Cedar Bayou. Mont Belvieu’s Emergency Management Chief Bruce Oliphant said best estimates put the spilled oil at 200 to 300 gallons but said a reason for the leak had not been determined by Tuesday afternoon.
“We’re not sure why it leaked,” Oliphant said. “We couldn’t see where it was coming from the tank and maybe it was coming from somewhere underground.”
Local responders stayed on the scene until about 2 a.m. Tuesday, then the clean up and investigation were taken over by workers with the Texas General Land Office, the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Coast Guard, according to Oliphant.
There is no threat to area drinking water or air quality, he added.