Builders Supply Company; Houston, Texas

Houston, Texas | 1986-Jun-10

Initial Notification: At 1800 on June 5, 1986, an oil sheen was observed in Green's Bayou, originating from the Builders Supply Company facility in Houston. The owner of the facility reported that the tank which was suspected of leaking the spilled material contained "waste diesel oil" which was used as a concrete form release agent. Doubts as to the correct identification of the spilled material arose on June 6 when cleanup personnel contracted by the U.S. Coast Guard noticed a heavy aromatic odor not consistent with a diesel product, and a pink, jelly-like substance intermingled with the oil slick on Green's Bayou. A sample was taken by the Houston Fire Department, and a separate sample was taken from the suspected source tank by the Texas Water Commission. The sample from Green's Bayou was sent to a commercial laboratory, SPECTRIX, for constituent analysis, and the sample from the tank was processed by a Texas Water Commission laboratory. USCG district 8.