Skimming vessels are working to contain and recover oil from a 1.1 million-gallon spill in the Gulf of Mexico off the Louisiana coast. The spill was discovered near a 67-mile pipeline and is the latest in an area that has seen some of the worst offshore oil disasters in U.S. history, including the 2010 Deepwater Horizon drilling rig explosion and the Taylor Energy spill. The Coast Guard has named the Main Pass Oil Gathering as the suspected source of the latest spill, but the company has not yet been identified as the responsible party.
In 2010, 130 million gallons of crude poured into the Gulf of Mexico due to the Deepwater Horizon explosion. Six years before that, a hurricane caused crude to leak from several broken oil wells at Taylor Energy. Starting in 2004, the lesser-known Taylor Energy spill continued for nearly six years, with at least 30 million gallons entering the gulf. British Petroleum and Taylor Energy have paid billions in fines and damages for these disasters, but the consequences for the recent pipeline spill remain uncertain. Environmental groups fear the toll on ocean wildlife from this spill, which they say is a predictable consequence of offshore oil operations.
Officials from Main Pass Oil Gathering and its owner, Third Coast Infrastructure, have not responded to inquiries about the incident. Despite the Coast Guard’s decision to identify Main Pass as the suspected source of the spill, the company has reportedly fulfilled requests from the Coast Guard and state authorities. The investigation is ongoing, and the ocean wildlife affected by this spill could experience serious harm, according to environmentalists.
