Federal, State, and Local Agencies Protect Corpus Christi Bay Waters from Leaked Diesel Fuel

CORPUS CHRISTI, TX - Today at approximately 12:30 p.m., the Corpus Christi Fire Department (CCFD) and the Port of Corpus Christi responded to a vessel fire on a moored shrimp boat at the City's Municipal Marina at the Coopers Alley L-Head. Several agencies took incident command of the event, including the US Coast Guard and the Texas General Land Office.

Firefighters from CCFD and the Port of Corpus Christi quickly contained and extinguished the fire. Boom was immediately placed around the vessel. Subsequently, the vessel began to submerge, causing diesel fuel to leak into the bay waters. The vessel owner estimated that approximately 200 gallons of diesel fuel were onboard. However, it is unknown how much oil leaked into the bay at this time. EnviroServe, a company providing a 24-hour emergency environmental response, was contracted by the boat owner to deploy additional boom and provide cleanup services. This included vacuuming diesel fuel from on top of the water within and around the boomed areas. To improve the catchment, an additional boom was placed in the impacted area by the General Land Office.

Due to heavy winds from the southeast, some of the leaked diesel fuel migrated north along the marina bulkheads; however, it too was contained with booms and removed from the water.

Clean-up operations were finalized at approximately 9:00 PM. All remaining diesel fuel in the submerged vessel's fuel tank has been extracted. All diesel fuel observed in the area and contained within the booms was removed from the water. Environmental teams will return to the site tomorrow at 8:00 a.m. to determine if additional cleaning is needed.

The partially submerged vessel will be removed from the bay in the coming days.

For the safety and well-being of the community and the site workers, the section of the L-Head near the incident is closed to vehicular and pedestrian traffic.

Currently, there are no reports of impacts to marine animals or other wildlife. No injuries were reported.

A fire investigation by the Coast Guard and CCFD is underway.

The City of Corpus Christi will continue to provide updates on this event.