Louisiana Parish Hit by Third Oil Spill in Ten Days

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Louisiana Parish Hit by Third Oil Spill in Ten Days As Pressure Grows To Hold Oil and Gas Industry Accountable for Coastal Damage



Yesterday, an estimated 4,200 gallons of crude oil was discharged from a well owned by the Texas Petroleum Investment Company into the mouth of the Mississippi River, according to the U.S. Coast Guard. The Coast Guard and other state agencies are now responding to the third oil spill in two weeks.


Louisiana’s Plaquemines Parish coast was also hit with two oil spills last week. An estimated 4,200 gallons of crude oil attributed to oil and gas extraction company Hilcorp spilled in the marsh near Lake Grande Ecaille, part of Barataria Bay, on July 25. Three days later, 850 gallons were discharged by a Texas Petroleum Management flowline into marshland in the Southwest Pass.

The same week, Vermilion Parish added its name to the growing list of parishes that have filed lawsuits for damages done by oil and gas companies to the coast resulting in land loss. If successful, the money awarded in these suits will be earmarked for the restoration of Louisiana’s coast, which continues to erode at a rate of more than a football field an hour.

The parish lawsuits do not attempt to get the oil and gas companies to foot the entire bill needed to restore the coast. Instead, individual companies are being sued over their share of the damage.

Oil spills are one of many factors hastening coastal erosion. They can kill the roots of marsh grass and mangrove trees that hold marshland and barrier islands together. Once the roots die, land loss accelerates.

http://www.desmogblog.com/2016/08/03/louisiana-parish-hit-third-oil-spill-ten-days-pressure-grows-hold-oil-and-gas-industry-accountable-coastal-damage