Gulf oil spill among nation’s largest
Coast Guard says Third Coast pipeline is suspected cause
An oil spill believed to be roughly one-tenth the size of the Exxon Valdez is affecting wildlife and oil production offshore Louisiana, officials said this week.
The U.S. Coast Guard said Monday a pipeline was shut down Nov. 16 after it likely discharged an estimated 1.1 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. The pipeline operated by Houston-based Third Coast Infrastructure is believed to be the source of the spill, which has forced Houston-area oil companies such as Oxy, Talos, W&T
Energy, Walter Oil and Gas and Arena Offshore to halt production, the Coast Guard said Friday. Around 61,165 barrels of daily oil production have been shut in until the source of the spill can be confirmed and addressed.
Third Coast could not be immediately reached Friday. While Third Coast’s Main Pass Oil Gathering is the suspected source of the spill, there are other pipelines in the area and officials said they had not confirmed it was the culprit.
Thanks to rough waters in the Gulf of Mexico, most of the oil appears to have been dissipated and evaporated, U.S. Coast Guard Capt. Kelly Denning said Tuesday during a press conference. “At this time there have been no reports of shoreline impacts.”
Still, early estimates rank the spill among the 10 largest to affect American waters in 40 years of tracking, said Matt Rota, senior policy director at the environmental group Healthy Gulf.
“It’s troubling that they have not identified where the leak has happened,” said Matt Rota, senior policy director at the environmental group Healthy Gulf. “Somebody needs to be held accountable for this.”
Fines lodged against operators that spill oil help incentivize companies to upgrade and monitor pipelines to prevent releases that hurt environment. Wildlife such as turtles, whales and dolphins come to the surface to breed, he said. If they surface into an oil slick, it could suffocate them or cause other long-term health effects.