Port Manatee oil spill contained

Port Manatee oil spill contained Cleanup crews have been able to successfully contain an oil spill at the Florida Power & Light terminal at Port Manatee, recovering most of the fuel oil that spilled early Monday into the harbor adjacent to the terminal.
   There was no serious environmental damage from the incident.
   FPL spokesman Jim Davison said about 900 gallons of fuel oil had leaked from a pinhole leak in a transfer pipe that runs between the FPL terminal and holding tanks about one mile away. The leak was downstream from the terminal in a 'valve pit' located adjacent to the waterfront, allowing the oil to flow into the harbor.
   The leak was discovered at daybreak on Monday by a security guard and containment efforts started immediately. Davison said containment booms were put into the water around the spill and cleanup crews were able to recover 500 gallons Monday during the day, another 130 gallons overnight Monday, and an additional 150 gallons on Tuesday. The rest of the recoverable oil was recovered by midday Wednesday, he said.
   Earlier reports about the incident erroneously reported that some 500 gallons had been contained by a ditch system at the terminal. Davison said there is no ditch and all 900 gallons went into the water.
   The spill was contained for the most part to the harbor adjacent to the pipeline, Davison said. There was a slight oil sheen reported in Tampa Bay Tuesday, but there was not enough oil to cause environmental damage and there was too little oil in Tampa Bay to even to able to recover anything.
   Fuel oil offloaded at the FPL terminal at Port Manatee runs in a transfer pipe to holding tanks. From the holding tanks, the oil goes into a larger pipeline that feeds an FPL power plant 17 miles from the holding tanks.