Impacts of the Oil and Gas Impacts of the Oil and Gas Industry on LouisianaIndustry on Louisiana

Cynthia SarthouExecutive Director

The Oil and Gas Industry:

It’s Effects on Louisiana’s Environment

and Communities

1839

Louisiana’s Wetlands

BTNEP BTNEP

Wetlands Lost as of 1993

Estimated Loss by 2020

BTNEPBTNEP

Offshore Infrastructure

Pipelines That Cross

Louisiana’s Coastal Zone

(2002)

Direct Impacts

Navigation and pipeline canals

As much as 30% of wetlands loss

Canals allow salt water intrusion that destroys fresh water marshes

Indirect Effects

Discarded dredge spoils block natural water flow to remaining wetlands

Coastal Infrastructure

Pipelines and storage facilities

Supplying the Industry: Port Fourchon

Historically a land base for offshore oil support services

Over 95% of tonnage handled is oil and gas related.

Up to 1200 trucks per day travel in and out of Port Fourchon.

Greenpeaceusa.org

Between Baton Rouge and New Orleans and more in Lake Charles, LALA ranked second highest in discharges to surface waters, air releases, and amount of waste injected into the ground

150 Petro-chemical

Plants and Refineries

in 100 miles

Average Yearly Oil Spills in LouisianaThe Coast Guards National

Response Center receives on average 1,500 oil spill notifications for Louisiana each year

Average volume of oil spilled is 330,000 gallons per spill.

This is approximately 20% of U.S. oil spills each year

10 Year Spill & CountingTaylor Energy platform and

connected wells damaged in Hurricane Ivan - 2004

Containment System Installed to Collect the Oil Discharge

Yet, between 2004-2011 approx. 251,677 gallons released

Current Trend – Off Shore Fracking

No environmental impact study

Drilling fluids with frack chemicals discharged under the standard CWA MOU

No Information about chemicals used

Major safety violations over 10 years• Apache Corporation (18)• Forest Oil Corporation (11)• UNOCAL(now Chevron in 2005) (11)• BP (11)

Spills over 205 gallons over 10 years• BP (22)• Shell (21) • Chevron (17)

Oil Industry’s Pre-BP Safety Record

The Impacts of Hurricanes

115 Oil and Gas Platforms destroyed, another 52 damaged in hurricanes Katrina and Rita

457 Pipelines damaged and nearly 11 million gallons spilled

Offshore Oil Spills

Along the Mississippi River,

three dozen oil spills occurred

2010 BP Deepwater Horizon Drilling Disaster

SIGNS OF LONG-TERM IMPACT

Longest continuing UME Dolphins in Barataria Bay,

LA suffer from hydrocarbon exposure

Gulf killifish have gill damage, decreased

reproductive fitness, other sub-lethal impacts

Deep water corals have been damaged by the oil and dispersant.

Impact Continues 100s of Miles Away

Tar mat off Fort Pickens Florida -- 2014

Tar balls on beaches after storms

FAR TO LITTLE DONE TO INCREASE SAFETY

Some Oil Spill Commission recommendations that never made it into law or regulation:

Develop a rigorous, transparent, and meaningful oil spill DOI risk analysis and planning process for the development and implementation of better oil spill response.Establish clearer protocols for “Spills of National Significance”Require mandatory funding for oil spill response research and developmentEstablish a new industry-run safety organization