An oil spill caused by the collision between a barge and ship that left 170,000 gallons of oil floating in the ocean is damaging the habitat of thousands of shorebirds. The Coast Guard temporarily closed the Houston Ship Channel's passageway into the Gulf of Mexico in order to limit the impact of the spill on the birds living in Galveston Bay, but some oil-covered birds have been spotted along the coast.
The collision occurred near a channel in Texas City, where shorebirds are known to winter. The impact so far has been small, with only 50 birds needing treatment due to injuries sustained from the oil spill, but environmentalists are now concerned that the oil could wash up as tar balls, float onto the coast, and further damage the natural habitat of several thousand more birds. The Coast Guard said it laid booms around environmentally sensitive areas to protect them from the oil. --Jordan Valinsky
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Political cartoons for November 16Cartoons Sunday's political cartoons include presidential pardons, the Lincoln penny, and more
-
The vast horizons of the Puna de AtacamaThe Week Recommends The ‘dramatic and surreal’ landscape features volcanoes, fumaroles and salt flats
-
Asylum hotels: everything you need to knowThe Explainer Using hotels to house asylum seekers has proved extremely unpopular. Why, and what can the government do about it?
-
Nobody seems surprised Wagner's Prigozhin died under suspicious circumstancesSpeed Read
-
Western mountain climbers allegedly left Pakistani porter to die on K2Speed Read
-
'Circular saw blades' divide controversial Rio Grande buoys installed by Texas governorSpeed Read
-
Los Angeles city workers stage 1-day walkout over labor conditionsSpeed Read
-
Mega Millions jackpot climbs to an estimated $1.55 billionSpeed Read
-
Bangladesh dealing with worst dengue fever outbreak on recordSpeed Read
-
Glacial outburst flooding in Juneau destroys homesSpeed Read
-
Scotland seeking 'monster hunters' to search for fabled Loch Ness creatureSpeed Read
