About 250,000 gallons of animal fat spilled from the tank, with about 15,000 entering the Houston Ship Channel through a storm drain, the U.S. Coast Guard said.
The Coast Guard said the cause of the leak was being investigated.
About three-quarters of a mile of the channel, most of the northern portion, was closed.
The Coast Guard said the owner of the damaged tank, Jacob Sterns & Sons, has been notified and is working with the Coast Guard and the Texas General Land Office. A message left with Santa Barbara, Calif.-based Jacob Sterns & Sons, was not immediately returned Tuesday evening.
The Coast Guard said boats were putting a boom around the spill Tuesday evening and a company has been contracted for the cleanup.
No inbound or outbound was being delayed and no oil refineries had been impacted by the closure, the Coast Guard said.
The Coast Guard said the environmental impact was expected to be minimal.
