http://truth-out.org/news/item/22695-migratory-birds-face-danger-from-oil-spill-long-after-shipping-channel-will-open
[Multiple images and links in on-line article]
Migratory Birds Face Danger From Oil Spill Long After Shipping Channel
Will Open
Tuesday, 25 March 2014 13:42 By Julie Dermansky, DeSmogBlog | Report
Heavy fuel oil that spilled from a Kirby Inland Marine oil barge after
it collided with a cargo ship on March 22, began washing up on Galveston
Bay's shoreline on Sunday. The Coast Guard received its first reports of
impacted birds by Sunday afternoon and the Houston Chronicle published a
photo of a duck on the beach covered in oil.
There are shorebird habitats on both sides of the shipping channel,
including the Bolivar Flats Shorebird Sanctuary.
Richard Gibbons, conservation director of the Houston Audubon Society,
told the Associated Press that the Bolivar Flats Shorebird Sanctuary
attracts 50,000 to 70,000 shorebirds to its shallow mud flats perfect
for foraging.
“The timing really couldn't be much worse since we're approaching the
peak shorebird migration season,” Gibbons said. He added that tens of
thousands of wintering birds remain in the area.
Officials report that so far fewer than 10 impacted birds were sighted
and recovered for transfer to a wildlife rehabilitation facility
established by the Unified Command. Wildlife Response Services, a
Texas-based wildlife rehabilitation service, was tapped to treat
affected birds and marine life. The Wildlife Center of Texas is on
standby to help. They cleaned birds in Louisiana following a spill on
the Mississippi River in 2008.
The oil spill continued to unfold on Monday, the 25th anniversary of the
Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska. The Valdez spilled close to 11 million
gallons of heavy black crude. Negative impacts from the spill are still
felt, with only 13 of the 32 monitored wildlife populations, habitats
and resource services injured in the spill listed as fully “recovered”
or “very likely recovered.”
The oil barge spill occurred the day before another somber anniversary —
that of the 2005 BP plant explosion in Texas City, which took place not
far from the accident in the shipping channel. Fifteen people died and
170 were injured in that disaster.
The barge was carrying close to a million gallons of oil, according to
the Coast Guard's joint command center. However, only one tanker
containing 168,000 gallons was punctured. Reports said the remaining oil
had been extracted from the sunken vessel by Sunday evening.
Though only a portion of the oil on the barge spilled, Coast Guard port
captain Brian Penoyer describes it as “a significant spill,” and notes
that oil residue has been spotted as far as 12 miles out into the Gulf
of Mexico.
Unified Command reports: “More than 69,000 feet of containment boom has
now been deployed on waters surrounding the incident site and along
sensitive shorelines in the area. An additional 141,000 feet of boom has
been staged for possible deployment.”
But booms deployed after an oil spill do nothing to assure birds'
safety. Oil can pass under booms and pool up in areas trapped between
the boom and the coast. A USA Today video shows the oil doing exactly that.
P.J. Hahn, director of coastal zone management for Plaquemines Parish,
La., rescued oiled birds during the BP oil spill and witnessed the
imminent death of many others. He continues to monitor the barrier
islands in Plaquemines that were soiled with oil. One of those islands
is Cat Island, a bird rookery. Before the spill, the island was about
seven acres and covered with nesting birds. Now the island is almost
completely underwater at high tide, only recognizable by the dead
branches of what remains of some mango trees.
Hahn told DeSmog Blog he doesn't know where the birds are nesting now
since so many of the other barrier islands impacted by the oil spill
have also eroded.
“The coast is dynamic, so just throwing a boom around an area is not the
answer,” Hahn told DeSmog Blog. “Protecting birds is difficult,
especially during this time of year. Nesting birds return from feeding
in the area and generally get some type of oiling. They then return to
their nests and transfer that oil to the chicks or eggs.”
The Associated Press reports that Jim Suydam, spokesman for the Texas
General Land Office, described the type of oil the barge was carrying as
“sticky, gooey, thick, tarry stuff.”
“That stuff is terrible to have to clean up,” Suydam said.
The shipping channel is closed while crews try to mount a response to
the spill. According to Reuters, the channel delivers crude to a tenth
of the nation's refining capacity. Closing the channel could affect
business for half a dozen refineries in Houston and Texas City. Cruise
ships were also trapped by the spill. Commerce, however, will return to
normal long before the life of the shorebirds does.
_______________________________________________
Sustainablelorgbiofuel mailing list
Sustainablelorgbiofuel@lists.sustainablelists.org
http://lists.eruditium.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/sustainablelorgbiofuel