Groups file suit over leaking wells
A number of environmental groups filed a lawsuit Thursday against Taylor Energy Co. LLC of New Orleans and claim the company’s wells have been leaking oil since at least 2006 in the Gulf of Mexico.
The wells are about 11 miles from the Louisiana coast and were damaged by an underwater mudslide in September 2004, according to the lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court in New Orleans.
The lawsuit is being filed under the Clean Water Act and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. The groups claim they filed suit because of “Taylor’s slow pace in stopping the flow of oil from its well(s),” according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit alleges that there are up to 28 wells in the area of a former platform in the Gulf of Mexico since at least 2006, and possibly as early as Sept. 15, 2004. A platform supporting these wells was destroyed and the 28 wells were buried, according to the lawsuit.
“But without details about Taylor’s response to this crisis, it is impossible for members of the public to assess the risk that similar events will cause … , including spills from higher-pressure wells in deeper water,” according to the lawsuit. “Because such spills may damage the Gulf’s eco-system on a scale comparable to or exceeding that of the BP spill, it is essential that the public learn from the more than 7-year Taylor response.”
Taylor Energy Co. didn’t return a phone call for comment.
The groups that filed the lawsuit are Apalachiocola Bay and River Keeper Inc.; Atchafalaya Basinkeeper Inc.; Galveston Baykeeper Inc.; Louisiana Bayoukeeper Inc.; Louisiana Environmental Action Network Inc.; Paul Orr, representing the Lower Mississippi Riverkeeper and the Waterkeeper Alliance Inc. They are being represented by the Tulane Environmental Law Clinic.
The Taylor Energy Co. wells case is outlined in a report released Thursday from several environmental groups, including Waterkeeper Alliance, that outlines the groups’ oil spill monitoring efforts in the Gulf of Mexico.
In the report “Gulf Monitoring Consortium Report on Activities from April 2011 to October 2011,” the Department of the Interior has directed the company to take action, and a rig was contracted to plug the damaged wells, according to the report.
“However, the rig has been onsite intermittently and has not been seen there since June 2011, even though oil slicks continue to be observed by the Gulf Monitoring Consortium,” according to the report. The consortium is made up of SkyTruth, SouthWinds and Waterkeeper Alliance and uses satellite images, mapping with aerial investigations and photography and on-the-water observation and sampling.
The lawsuit asks the court to declare that Taylor Energy is in violation of the Clean Water Act, that the leaking wells present a danger to the environment, tell the company to fix the leaking wells, and award civil penalties to the U.S. Treasury and court costs.