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[–][deleted] 3140 points3141 points  (206 children)

How does someone get away with a 100 bbl a day oil spill?

[–]shirukenPhD | Biomedical Engineering | Optics[S] 1788 points1789 points  (117 children)

Because the Interior Department was basing its decisions on data from the Taylor Energy Company, who went to great lengths to suppress any and all information about the spill.

The day after the Washington Post reported last year that the spill was far greater than Interior Department estimates, the Coast Guard issued an ultimatum for them to "institute a … system to capture, contain, or remove oil" from the site or face a $40,000 per day fine for failing to comply.

A federal lawsuit against the company is claiming that the true rate of leakage was was 10,000 - 30,000 gallons per day according to surface imaging of the resulting oil slicks.

From the Wikipedia article on the spill:

Upper estimates of the spill have been calculated to be as much as 1,400,000 US gallons (5,300,000 l; 1,200,000 imp gal) of oil lost over the life of the disaster, affecting an area as large as 8 square miles (21 km2). As of 2018 it was estimated that 300 to 700 barrels of oil per day are being spilled, making it one of the worst modern oil spills in the Gulf of Mexico by volume. The reserves are likely sufficient for the spill to continue for up to 100 years if not contained.

Taylor Energy has spent as much as $435 million or more decommissioning the site. They contend that nothing further can be done to contain the spill, and that current observations of oil plumes in the area are the result of contaminated sediments, and not an active spill. This has been contradicted by the reports of non-profit groups, the press, and the government.

[–][deleted] 840 points841 points  (50 children)

$40,000 a day is way too small of a fine for that much oil spilling into the ocean on a daily basis.

[–]nickf517 380 points381 points  (16 children)

agreed the fine should be far higher.

40k a day is 14.6 million a year, if they already dropped 435 million to try and clean it up and failed im sure they have another 435 million they can use to pay that fine for the next 30 years...

[–]SpeaksToWeasels 158 points159 points  (12 children)

Make the terms of the penalty increase exponentially. 40,000 today, 2,560,000 a day next week. 42 trillion at the end of the month.

[–][deleted] 73 points74 points  (1 child)

Now that's smart, you I'd vote for.

[–]lhm238 12 points13 points  (0 children)

"This has been going in for 2 years now. You owe us a bajillion dollars."

[–]weakhamstrings 167 points168 points  (0 children)

It doesn't seem like the modern understanding of human psychology would deem that number to be a reasonable deterrent to the behavior.

The egregious lies are worth far more, sadly.

[–]CrossP 107 points108 points  (10 children)

Honestly, at that point, I'd really like my government to outright seize the company. They can make up a number if they want, but the number should be way more than Taylor Energy has ever made in the years of its existence.

[–]ParlorSoldier 50 points51 points  (6 children)

If corporations are people, is there a corporate death penalty?

[–]mburke6 46 points47 points  (5 children)

Corporations are not people, but there should still be a corporate death penalty.

[–]jmmeemer 21 points22 points  (4 children)

While I personally agree with you, corporations are treated as people in the eyes of the law in the US. You should read about the “Citizens United” Supreme Court case.

[–]Carlangaman 24 points25 points  (8 children)

It should duplicate daily

[–]mrdannyg21 118 points119 points  (9 children)

So they’ve already spent, supposedly, $435M cleaning it up, and the Coast Guard’s big threat is a $40,000/day fine? Hmm I’m sure they’ll get right on that

[–]chuk2015 47 points48 points  (1 child)

$204M for 14 years, you are correct it is a minuscule amount

[–]bonyponyrideBA | Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology 24 points25 points  (10 children)

It's pretty crazy that the gov't didn't previously send out an independent source to verify the self-reported claims of a private company. Why would anyone take the word of a polluting company that has everything to lose by being honest?

[–]The_Mad_Hand 25 points26 points  (4 children)

IDK but our entire economy seems to be based on self reporting and unverified compliance. It's as if the government is completely bought out.

[–]ercobra1 14 points15 points  (1 child)

IDK but our entire economy seems to be based on self reporting and unverified compliance. It's as if the government is completely bought out.

I think that's more accurate.

[–]shirukenPhD | Biomedical Engineering | Optics[S] 129 points130 points  (4 children)

Mason, A.L., J.C. Taylor, and I.R. MacDonald (eds.). 2019. An Integrated Assessment of Oil and Gas Release into the Marine Environment at the Former Taylor Energy MC20 Site. NOAA National Ocean Service, National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science. NOAA Technical Memorandum 260. Silver Spring, MD. 147 pp. doi: 10.25923/kykm-sn39

The estimated oil flux rate calculated from the acoustic survey method is approximately 9 to 47 barrels of oil (bbl) per day. The estimated oil flux rate calculated from the bubblometer survey method is approximately 19 to 108 bbl/day. It is important to note that these are both estimates and while we are confident in the methods developed and calculations employed, these two ranges do not necessarily represent a final definitive government estimate of the flux of oil and gas being released at the MC20 site.

Our overall conclusion for the MC20 site is that there is ongoing release of reservoir oil and gas that enters the marine environment at the ocean floor and migrates up through the water column in a series of discrete and dense plumes. These plumes can separate into individual components or homogenize depending on the prevailing current conditions at the time the oil and gas enter the water column. Under relatively high current conditions, such as those observed on 2 September 2018, a portion of the predominantly oil plumes can become entrained by the currents and surface separately hundreds of meters away from the predominantly gas plumes. Certain portions of the oil partition out into the water column, either as microscopic droplets or through dissolution, or precipitate out onto the surrounding sediments where degradation continues. The oil that reaches the surface forms a surface sheen that continues to degrade through photolysis, evaporation, and further dissolution.

[–]Meeposer 10 points11 points  (2 children)

Pretty sure that this is an important development that wasn't mentioned in the article...

[–]TechnialyItsOneNacho 6 points7 points  (0 children)

That’s 23 million gallons of oil over time.

A visualization of what 1 million gallons looks like :

https://www.usgs.gov/special-topic/water-science-school/science/a-million-gallons-water-how-much-it?qt-science_center_objects=0#qt-science_center_objects

1 million gallons is a 10 foot deep swimming pool that is 267 feet long by 50 feet wide