When you hear people tell you that there’s nothing to worry about when it comes to expanding offshore drilling for oil along America’s coasts, you might want to look down to Port Arthur, Texas.
Nearly half a million gallons of oil laced with sulfide were spilled there today. An oil tanker rammed into two shipping barges and split open, spewing its toxic contents out onto the water.
The site of the spill is not far upstream from the Texas Point National Wildlife Refuge. Huge numbers of waterfowl overwinter on the refuge, perhaps 100,000 at this time of year. The refuge is also home to a substantial resident population of mottled ducks, which will be nesting there weeks from now.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service writes of the Texas Point National Wildlife Refuge, “For hundreds of years, many of the sights and sounds within this dynamic eco-system have gone untouched.” That may be about to change.
