Hasmukh Chand posted: " In September 2004, Hurricane Ivan made its way through the Gulf of Mexico. With wind gusts reaching 200 km/h, Ivan was classified as a Category 3 hurricane which caused an estimated $27 billion US in damages to coastal communities, their lives and li" Conservation, Environment, Climate Change and Sustainable Development
In September 2004, Hurricane Ivan made its way through the Gulf of Mexico. With wind gusts reaching 200 km/h, Ivan was classified as a Category 3 hurricane which caused an estimated $27 billion US in damages to coastal communities, their lives and livelihoods. While the destruction caused by hurricanes on land are most visible, the damage they cause offshore are often overlooked. In Ivan's case, the offshore impact went unnoticed for many years.
As Ivan tracked through the Gulf of Mexico, it caused an underwater mudslide that toppled an oil platform 15 km off the coast of Louisiana. As the oil rig collapsed, it damaged about 25 oil wells that had been tapped by rig owner Taylor Energy. With their connections the oil wells spewed their contents into the ocean.
Remarkably, according to the Washington Post, the spill continued for six years before it was discovered by accident by local environmental watchdog Healthy Gulf during the aerial monitoring of the oil spill caused by the Deepwater Horizon disaster in 2010. After the leak was discovered, Taylor Energy was tasked with cleaning up the site and plugging up the leaking wells. At times, the oil slick on the surface of the Gulf stretched for over 30km from the site. After spending millions to do so, the company halted its remediation activities in 2013. They claimed that nine wells had been plugged and the remaining sixteen were too 'risky' to address as they were buried under the steel debris of the collapsed oil platform and mud. Further, Taylor Energy told authorities that only 3 gallons (11 L) of oil was leaking per day after its efforts to close the wells. According to environmental law firm EarthJustice, the authorities believed Taylor's estimates and looked the other way.
However, local stakeholders were not convinced and they kept the pressure on the authorities and Taylor Energy. In 2018, the authorities found that the site was leaking an estimated 29,000 gallons or 100,000 L of oil per day. Frustrated by the lack of action and delay by Taylor Energy, the US Coast Guard 'federalised' the incident and took over response and remediation of the site. In 2019, the Coast Guard contracted a private company (Couvillion) which designed, engineered and installed a purpose built device to capture the oil leaking from the remaining wells at the Taylor Energy site. Since the device was installed, it has captured over half a million gallons of oil (2 million L) which the company recycles and sells.
Instead of continuing to remediate their site, Taylor decided to pursue the matter through the US judicial system. The company filed three cases, one of which sought compensation for the cost the company incurred to clean up their mess. Thankfully, in December 2021, Taylor dropped its lawsuits and transferred $430 million into a cleanup trust fund and paid an additional $43 million in fines.
Given that the cleanup continues to this day, this oil spill is considered to be the longest in America's history.
Sadly though, the Taylor Energy incident nor the devastating Deepwater Horizon disaster are isolated events for the Gulf of Mexico. It is estimated that some 41,000 km of oil and gas pipelines criss-cross the Gulf's seabed. There are also thousands of oil wells that have been sunk since the first offshore well was drilled in the Gulf in 1947. The infrastructure is old and poorly managed which raises concerns about future accidents in the Gulf. The Deepwater Horizon disaster in particular also exposed weaknesses in the overall management of coastal oil spills in America. Notably, much of the oil spill response and management as identified under the US Oil Pollution Act 1990 was based on the Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989. In other words, accidents from ships and not from deep water wells.
The situation is made worse by the number of strong hurricanes much like Ivan that track through the Gulf during storm season. The recent passing of the Inflation Reduction Act by the Biden Administration. Aside from directing a large amount of $369 billion over 10 years towards scaling renewable energy and climate programs, the Administration will relax regulation(s) for drilling in the Gulf and release new areas for oil and gas exploration and extraction. According to the Guardian, the latter were concessions won by Republican Senator Joe Manchin for his support of the Bill.
An oil leak that started in 2004 continues to this day making it the longest oil leak in the history of the United States. However, with the expected increase in the number of drilling platforms in the Gulf, together with the increase in the strength and frequency of hurricanes, it seems that another large-scale, environmental accident is more than likely in the Gulf of Mexico.
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