This is breaking so I will add as information flows in.
The U.S. Coast Guard says their first priority is immediate response to any risk of fire or explosion from vapors and human health protection after an afternoon collision in the Houston Ship Channel.This MTBE is water soluble and not easy to get out of the shipping channel:Hazmat teams drove through the fog and rain to the Morgan's Point Area. Captain Brian Penoyer says just after 12:30pm Monday, two ships -- a Danish flagged Carla Maersk chemical tanker carrying 216,000 barrels of MTBE and a Liberian flagged Conti Paridot bulk carrier with steel on board -- moving at significant speeds collided. Methyl tert-butyl ether is a gasoline additive used as an oxygenate and to raise the octane number. It is a volatile, flammable, and colorless liquid that is sparingly soluble in water.
Air stripping is a process in which contaminated water is passed through a column filled with packing material while upward-flowing air removes chemicals from the water. In general, these vapors should not be released directly into the air and therefore, should be appropriately treated. MTBE does not readily separate from water into the vapor phase, often necessitating high air to water ratios.Activated oxidation technologies use appropriate combinations of ultraviolet light, chemical oxidants, and catalysts to transform contaminants. Oxidation technologies have been demonstrated to oxidize a wide range of organic chemicals, including MTBE.
9:39 PM PT: Apparently Texas has the news locked down on this. I'm finding little from independent sources. And not much from corporate ones.
9:43 PM PT:2 600-foot ships collided in a #Houston shipping channel, causing a leak of flammable liquid http://t.co/...pic.twitter.com/MDGHOOZMi9
— World News (@News_National) March 10, 2015