CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Oil that is possibly from the Christmas Eve spill near Flint Hills Ingleside has been found near North Beach, according to the Texas General Land Office and the U.S. Coast Guard.
Paraffin balls were spotted near North Beach on Thursday and officials have been looking for oil product that may have washed up on shore.
“Multiple teams out assessing different locations to see if the spill and if that product that they’re finding in these different areas are from the same spill,” said Coast Guard Petty Officer 3rd Class Alejandro Rivera.
Coast Guard officials said around 3,800 gallons of light crude oil spilled into the water from a cracked pipeline near the Flint Hills Ingleside facility. They also told 3NEWS that 1,400 gallons of pure product was cleaned up so far--less than 40 percent of the total 3,800 gallons.
Crews began working in North Beach yesterday, taking preventative measures to contain it.
"One thing we did last night is we put a boom around the Lex cause just in case it comes that way and we did the same thing around the aquarium," said Andy Saenz, Flint Hills Resources public affairs director. "Just to, again, make sure that those areas were protected just in case it goes this far."
Flint Hills reached out to Texas State Aquarium Thursday evening about the new booms.
“There’s fish swimming in the marsh and that’s always kind of the best sign," said TSA president Jesse Gilbert. "You know, the fish are in the marsh are healthy and so we’re going to continue to monitor that but we’re really appreciative of Flint Hills reaching out.”
Gilbert said the aquarium and Wildlife Rescue Center use Corpus Christi Bay water and monitor it 24/7. If necessary, the aquarium has protocols to shut down the water pulled from the bay, recycling clean water inside the facility instead.
“It’s the foundation of what we do and my kind of motto is if the water is not healthy the animals living in it probably can’t be, it just doesn’t, it doesn’t add up and so we watch water very, very closely,” Gilbert said.
Despite previous reports that the spill would be contained this week, the Coast Guard said Thursday there is no estimated timeline for the oil spill to be fully cleaned up. They said the spill is being monitored and evaluated daily.