{"id":8288,"date":"2025-04-24T19:02:16","date_gmt":"2025-04-24T19:02:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/krogragg.com\/?p=8288"},"modified":"2025-04-24T19:02:16","modified_gmt":"2025-04-24T19:02:16","slug":"highly-flammable-gas-leak-from-barge-shuts-houston-ship-channel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/krogragg.com\/?p=8288","title":{"rendered":"Highly-Flammable Gas Leak From Barge Shuts Houston Ship Channel"},"content":{"rendered":"

Highly-Flammable Gas Leak From Barge Shuts Houston Ship Channel
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Image for representation purposes only<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A gas leak from a barge docked at the Targa Resources facility in Galena Park led to community alerts and a temporary shutdown of the Houston Ship Channel on Tuesday afternoon.<\/p>\n

The leak occurred around 4 pm at 12510 American Petroleum Road, where a barge owned by Kirby Inland Marine was docked.<\/p>\n

The company informed local media that the leak happened due to a broken valve on the barge, which caused the release of butadiene gas into the air.<\/p>\n

Butadiene is a colorless, highly flammable gas used in the production of plastics and synthetic rubber, such as car tires.<\/p>\n

It is classified by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as a carcinogen and can irritate the lungs if inhaled.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, the gas breaks down quickly in the atmosphere, which helps reduce its long-term impact.<\/p>\n

Officials confirmed that the vapor release was stopped by 10 pm the same day.<\/p>\n

Emergency response teams, including a Port Houston EMS Fireboat, were deployed to the site to assist with containment.<\/p>\n

Air quality checks were carried out by Harris County Pollution Control, and authorities confirmed that there was no off-site impact and no threat to the surrounding community.<\/p>\n

There was no need for a shelter-in-place order, and no injuries were reported.<\/p>\n

The barge was later moved to a safe location for further evacuation, and the US Coast Guard reopened the Houston Ship Channel at around 3 am on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Targa Resources issued a statement during the incident, saying that nearby residents might notice some activity, but the company was working with local officials to resolve the situation as quickly as possible.<\/p>\n

The City of Galena Park also reported that air quality remained safe throughout the incident, and the docks where the leak occurred have since resumed normal operations.<\/p>\n

Investigations are underway to determine the full cause of the valve failure, and Kirby Island Marine is working with the Coast Guard to assess the situation.<\/p>\n

References: fox26houston, abc13<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Highly-Flammable Gas Leak From Barge Shuts Houston Ship Channel Image for representation purposes only A gas leak from a barge docked at the Targa Resources facility in Galena Park led to community alerts and a temporary shutdown of the Houston Ship Channel on Tuesday afternoon. The leak occurred around 4 pm at 12510 American Petroleum […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194,196],"tags":[197],"class_list":["post-8288","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-marine-insight","category-shipping-news","tag-marine-insight"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/krogragg.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8288"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/krogragg.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/krogragg.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/krogragg.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/krogragg.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8288"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/krogragg.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8288\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/krogragg.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8288"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/krogragg.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8288"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/krogragg.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8288"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}