It’s fascinating to see just how quickly cleanups can go when the oil companies’ profits are at stake; just a few days have passed since an oil barge and bulk carrier collided in the Houston Ship Channel, releasing nearly 200,000 gallons of the stickiest, heaviest fuel oil into Galveston Bay. The spill contaminated 19 miles of shoreline and shut down the ultra-busy Ship Channel, making it impossible for a number of major refineries to get their product to market. Had their bottom line not be so impacted, our cat sailing friends at Texas City Dike Yacht Club and the crew on the tall ship Elissa might be waiting for years for a real cleanup. Though if you are considering sailing in the Bay, given the nature of oil companies’ ‘cleanup efforts’, we’d recommend a very thick wetsuit for a decade or two. And even when it’s clean, maybe not.
The George Strait title shout proves we too can go country, from time to time.
