Vol. 78/No. 15      April 21, 2014

Some 170,000 gallons of heavy fuel oil were released into the water near the port after an oil-carrying barge collided with a cargo ship in heavy fog. The disaster tied up more than 90 vessels at one of the busiest ports in the U.S.

“Those craft shouldn’t have been sailing in the fog. People could have been injured or killed,” said Jonathan Love, a worker at Boyd’s Seafood at the base of the Texas City Dike March 29.

“They need to widen the ship channel. I’m sure the pilots of these boats are qualified, but there needs to be more room for error,” said shrimp boat captain Donny Stanfield, who was at Boyd’s seafood dropping off a load of bait shrimp.

“A lot of people rely on the fish and crabs to feed their families,” said Margaret Taylor, a retired Texas City school bus driver who hasn’t fished at the dike since the spill. “I used to go to the dike two or three times a week.”

The port services the country’s largest petrochemical complex, which spews toxic emissions into the surrounding working-class communities.

“These companies should be held responsible for what they put out, but often they do it at night when it’s harder to notice,” said James Taylor, who was a construction worker at a refinery here. “Children are especially affected. We came here to work, not to be poisoned.”  
 
 
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