By Shelley Kofler, KERA News
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kera/local-kera-914981.mp3
Corpus Christi, TX – Oil from the BP spill is still more than 100 miles off the Texas coast. But a special oil response team is still on the lookout. KERA's Shelley Kofler went on patrol with members of the team based in Corpus Christi to find out how Texas has prepared for oil spills here.
Several times a week Jay Veselka and Steve Buschang launch a 25-foot, flat-bottomed skiff and head out into Corpus Christi Bay.
Buschang: What we'll do is go into the inner harbor and we'll what kind of operations are going on.
As they motor between sand covered islands and hotel studded beaches, past ocean-going tankers and massive refineries, they look for oil: black, viscous pools in the water, thick films coating marsh grass, gooey tar balls on the beach.
Veselka: Well, these can be spills from any source. They can be spills from boats, it can be pipelines, ships, facilities, just a number of sources. Anything from one ounce to 10,000 barrels, we'll respond.
Veselka and Buschang are marine biologists working for the Texas's Oil Spill Prevention and Response team which is part of the General Land Office.
It's a program the legislature authorized in 1991 after the Exxon Valdez disaster. As a big oil producing state with coastal refineries Texas wanted the ability to prevent and respond to oil spills here. Lawmakers decided to pay for the program by charging oil companies 1.3 cents for each barrel of crude delivered to Texas ports.
Veselka and Buschang are now among 56 state employees based at five coastal locations between Nederland and Brownsville.
In addition to patrolling for spills, Veselka says they work to prevent spills and clean them up.
Veselka: If someone has a spill they have one hour to notify us by law. In turn we go out to the scene of the spill assess it and make sure gets cleaned up. If they can't clean it up, we can take over the spill and clean it up ourselves.
Shelley: They pay for it?
Veselka: They will pay for it.
In the past year Texas' team has responded to about a thousand spills, often working with the Coast guard and industry.
For some they simply used a shovel to remove tar balls from the shore. Others required the program's pre-positioned equipment: booms to surround and contain oil in the water; skimmers used to siphon it from the surface; chemical dispersants; they also have wildlife rehabilitation trailers where oil can be removed from contaminated birds and animals.
In January more than 500 state and Coast Guard responders sprang into action with booms and skimmers when a towing vessel plowed into a tanker near Port Arthur.
Almost a half million gallons of oil gushed into the water in the biggest spill on Texas' coast in 16 years. Crews quickly contained the oil and prevented damage to environmentally sensitive areas.
Veselka believes his agency's planning and experience made a difference.
Veselka: We have a cadre of personnel that has been together since 1991. Over half of us have been here for 15 years and we work with the local communities, with the coast guard, we develop an area of plan, and we practice in drills. We go to spills and clean them up on a daily basis, that's what we do.
Texas requires coastal industries and vessels to file emergency plans explaining how they'll handle a spill. The state has contracts with private companies trained to respond, and it's developed specific plans for protecting hundreds of sites.
Steve Buschang says many of the sites are important to the coastal environment.
Buschang: A lot of the things we're trying to protect are very similar to what's happening in the BP spill outside the state of Texas. We have bird rookery islands; we're going by one right now. Herons, egrets, turns, and brown pelicans are going to be nesting on these islands. We have a lot of marshes. It's a nursery ground for all the shrimp the invertebrates that are going to end up spending their lives in the open Gulf.
Buschang cuts the skiff's engines and heads towards a marsh that was covered by an oil spill several years ago. Booms were used to absorb it. Veslka seems pleased with what he sees.
Veslka: Water's clear, visually looking at it the marsh has grown back. I don't think it died off.
Shelley: So this was completely black?
Veslka: Yes.
Shelley: Covered?
Veslka: Solid.
The damage here doesn't begin to compare with damage caused by the BP spill. And the Texas team has never faced a test like the ongoing challenge to clean up the oil spewing from the Deepwater Horizon.
What they can say is that they've drilled, and prepared and stand ready to respond.
And when areas like this marsh recover, they know their training counts.
Buschang: These are very important things that we need to be protecting in our environment.
Oil Spill Prevention and Response Website: http://www.glo.state.tx.us/oilspill/