Emergency management officials say odor traced to Port of Victoria chemical spill

Corpus Christi Caller-Times
Olivia Garrett, Corpus Christi Caller Times
January 5, 2024

Emergency management officials have identified the source of a chemical-like odor that residents across the Coastal Bend smelled Thursday as a chemical spill at the Port of Victoria.

The Victoria Office of Emergency Management shared a public notice late Thursday that the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality had confirmed the spill.

For much of the day Thursday, emergency management officials from across the Coastal Bend, including officials from Corpus Christi and San Patricio County, coordinated to identify the source of the smell, which has since dissipated in the Coastal Bend.

By midday Thursday, the Coastal Bend officials had touched base with local industry and confirmed that air monitoring devices had not detected any hazardous substances in the air locally.

"Air monitoring devices are not picking up any hazardous substances in the air at this point," San Patricio Emergency Management coordinator Sara Williams said Thursday. "So we don't have a large concern for public health-related issues at this time. "

According to a Friday news release from the city of Corpus Christi citing information shared by the Goliad County Emergency Management Office, the odor came from a "large spill in the Port of Victoria containing an unknown amount of crude oil mixed with diesel fuel and hydrogen sulfide."

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality is addressing the situation, according to the release.