http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125614318305099285.html?mod=...

Any local coverage on this? How bad? Will it close the beaches?

18,000 gallons is not much at all! plus its 40miles in the gulf! I am sure that more than this seeps into the gulf everyday.........aj

thats was like a year ago

I don't get the year ago comment... but AJ is right... that is a spill, but a small spill and should not really pose much problem for us.

I can remember when the rig in the Bay of Campeche blew and the entire coast of Texas was tar ball city.... now that was a serious leak.

well not a year but like a month

Tar balls would suck, but like aj said the rigs out there probably leak quite a bit every day.

Besides what about all the spills that go unnoticed. I used to live in Baytown and the amount of tankers that used to flush their tanks or pump out water ballast into Trinity Bay would amaze you. It was only when the fish kills got to be 30 feet out from shore around our bays that they decided to do something about the pollution. I used to swim in these bays with sandy bottoms and lots of shrimp, fish and crabs. Now if you push a stick to the bottom it will come up with a black tar like coating at least 6 inches to a foot covering the bay floor. Oh yea don't eat anything out of these bays if you catch anything a live.
Amazing how all those chemical and oil refineries get away with destroying the land with no consequences. My family home was destroyed by oil companies taking industrial water out of the ground causing huge areas to sink. We lived on a peninsula between two bays, that was 35 feet above the water level which is now 5 feet above the water. The US government stepped in and condemned a 4 mile wide by 5 mile long area of homes because the of subsidence the companies caused. That whole area is a day park now, with no signs of all the families and the good times we had.

Sorry about the rant, but it is a very sore subject with me and always will be. f-in oil and chemical companies.