Odor lingers as spilled crude oil, sludge are removed
Rig blowout dumped about 270,000 gallons of oil near the Fort Bend County Tollway
Workers with Haz Mat Special Services of La Porte remove soil Wednesday in Missouri City after an oil well blowout last week at the Panther #1 oil rig on FM 2234 near the Fort Bend Parkway Toll Road. Thousands of gallons of crude oil and sludge have been removed, but residents in nearby neighborhoods say the odor remains intense.
Hundreds of thousands of gallons of crude oil that spilled in Fort Bend County last week after an oil rig blowout should be cleaned up in the next few days, company officials said, a relief for residents who say the “burnt rubber” smell is giving them headaches, burning eyes and nausea.
About 240,000 gallons of crude and 30,000 gallons of sludge had been removed by midday Wednesday, one week after the rig near the Fort Bend County Tollway and FM 2234 in southwest Houston blew Dec. 6.
The well was capped the next day, and driller IWR Operating, LLC called in Haz Mat Special Services, an environmental cleanup company from La Porte, to manage the site. But the smell has continued to hover over neighborhoods in Fort Bend and Brazoria counties as the cleanup crews stir up the sludge while removing it.
Texas health officials say the smell poses no danger to human health or safety, but residents say they are feeling the effects.
“The smell is really, really intense,” said Tennille WarrenPhillips, who lives about six miles east of the drill site in the Shadow Creek Ranch development of Pearland. “You most definitely cannot go outside.” Cleanup underway
Warren-Phillips said she noticed the smell right away on Dec. 6 as the intense odor settled onto her neighborhood. Her neighborhood Facebook group has been busy with discussions about the smell.
“It’s been a popular topic: ‘What is that foul odor?’” she said.
The Texas Railroad Commission, which oversees drilling in Texas, is monitoring the cleanup.
“The well is under control and spilled fluids are contained,” said Ramona Nye, RRC spokeswoman. “Our inspectors have found no evidence of the spill impacting area waterways, homes or public land.”
Steven Childers, Haz Mat’s vice president of emergency response, said Wednesday the well blew after experiencing what he called “an unexpected pressure-up” — a “kick,” as it’s known in the industry. At 2,880 feet deep, it encountered a pocket of pressure that overpowered the amount of mud packed in to prevent the oil from shooting up.
“They had not weighted their mud for that kind of pressure,” Childers said. “It came up around, up through the casing on the outside of the drill stem, and it was over.”
A 30-mph wind that day created a “pretty heavy spray,” Childers said.
For the past week, workers have been mopping up oil and removing the oil-soaked dirt from the area; much of the oil will be recycled. So far, the equivalent of about 30 tanker trucks worth of crude and four tanker trucks full of sludge have been removed.
Texas Commission on Environmental Quality officials began investigating neighbors’ complaints Dec. 7 and “detected odors consistent” with hydrogen sulfide in the community and near the well site. ‘A very pungent odor’
Low concentrations of the gas can irritate a person’s eyes, nose and throat and may cause breathing difficulties for individuals with asthma. Prolonged exposure can cause headache, fatigue and eye inflammation, according to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
“When TCEQ staff have noted odors, low levels of hydrogen sulfide ... have been detected below levels that would be a health concern,” said Brian McGovern, TCEQ spokesman.
He noted that “persistent, strong odors have the potential to cause, indirect, odor-related health effects,” such as headache and nausea.
“It’s just sulfur,” Childers said – a byproduct of petroleum crude oil exploration.
“It’s not in every field, but in this field it’s prevalent,” he said. “There’s a vein of sulfur that’s in the salt dome they’re drilling into.”
What’s in the air, Childers said, “is the same sulfur people use in medications, that people use in their gardens, that people use for snake repellent. It’s just got a very pungent odor.”
If the weather cooperates, Childers said, the crew should finish scooping up the oil-saturated dirt by Saturday or Sunday. That means the smell should dissipate after the weekend.