The Port of Houston Dulce Hernandez

 The Port of Houston – Wetlands Ecosystem  Home of birds and fish. Birds such as; white pelicans, laughing seagulls, and shore birds.  Recent oil spill in the Port of Houston that dropped nearly 170,000 gallons of oil into the Port of Houston Introduction

Ecological Impacts  Birds such as the American White Pelicans, Laughing Seagulls, Rudy Turnstones, and some shore birds have not been able to obtain food from the port because of the spill.  Some birds have been so affected by this that they cannot even fly, they have to be taken to a rehab center to be washed and cleaned off so that they may recover.  Two crew members were hospitalized due to the exposure to hydrogen sulfide.

 At risk wildlife in the area of Houston are dolphins and sea turtles.  Fish in the water have also died due to the oil spill damages  If the sea turtles manage to make it back into the ocean without getting killed by the oil the oil will definitely be toxic to the eggs and later on the turtles will die. Ecological Impacts (Continued)

 Port of Houston is the busiest port in the US, it was closed for more than 3 days due to the oil spill causing all daily operations to stop.  The City of Houston has to spend money cleaning up this large oil spill  Almost 170,000 gallons of oil were spilled into the ocean, oil is about $3 a gallon. Therefore about $510,000 were lost in the oil spill. Economic Impacts

Economic Impacts (Continued)  Money not only had to be spent to clean up the oil but also for helping the birds get cleaned up. The rehab facility were the birds were being taken to so they could be washed and nourished back to health had to spend a lot of money in doing so as well.  The amount of time that the Houston ship channel was closed, a lot of business lost money.

Clean-Up  High risk areas with oil were closed off to tourists in Galveston Island due to the wind carrying it that far.  Workers had metal posts as hang lines of absorbent material to absorb the oil.  Crews scooped up oil from the sand.

 Hennesy-Fiske, Molly. "Texas Oil Spill Blocks Houston Ship Channel, Threatens Wildlife." Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times, 23 Mar Web. 29 June  "How Budget Cuts and Oil Spills Threaten ‘World’s Most Endangered Sea Turtle’." Texas RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 June  Neuhauser, Alan. "'Significant' Oil Spill Closes Houston Ship Channel, Fouls Wildlife." US News. U.S.News & World Report, 25 Mar Web. 29 June  Visser, Nick. "Houston Ship Channel Oil Spill Cleanup Continues In Texas As Officials Worry." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 25 Mar Web. 29 June Works Cited