GALVESTON, Texas – A natural gas condensate leak that has been spilling into the Gulf of Mexico just off the coast of Galveston has finally been stopped after weeks of nonstop pollution.
The spill was first reported in July coming from a platform in the Gulf, approximately 12 miles off the coast of Crystal Beach on the Bolivar Peninsula.
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On Monday, crews with the Texas General Land Office (GLO), Texas Railroad Commission and the U.S. Coast Guard put a patch on the pipe that was spewing the liquid into the Gulf.
“Crews from the U.S. Coast Guard, Texas General Land Office, and the Texas Railroad Commission were on scene monitoring efforts to secure the source,” said the Texas General Land Office in a post on Facebook. “The Texas General Land Office and the U.S. Coast Guard will continue to monitor the platform area by boat and by air.”
How big was this spill?
Let’s be clear—this was no Deepwater Horizon. But in the same breath, this was no itsy-bitsy spill.
Aerial photos taken in mid-July show that the spill could be seen for miles.
The sheen was so large that satellites picked up on the spill, triggering a notification by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
At the time, the spill was tracked on satellite for miles and covered an area of 3.2 square miles.
What is the spill, and who’s responsible?
According to the TGLO, the leak was identified as natural gas condensate coming from a flowline riser.
According to ScienceDirect, “Natural-gas condensate is a low-density mixture of hydrocarbon liquids that are present as gaseous components in the raw natural gas produced from many natural gas fields.”
Both the TGLO and the Railroad Commission would not identify who the owner of the platform is.
KPRC 2′s Gage Goulding dug into hundreds of pages of state records filed with the TGLO to find the answer.
State records show that Gulf Coast Operations LLC is the last known leaseholder of the platform which appears to be in ragged shape, with metal stairs rusted away and the contents on the deck of the platform strewn about.
The rig was abandoned in 2017, per state filings.
Underneath the Gulf waters, the platform is connected to the Transco pipeline, which is owned by Houston-based Williams Companies. That pipeline was also abandoned in 2017, according to records.
For the first time on Thursday, the Texas General Land Office confirms the platform is owned by Gulf Coast Operations LLC.
KPRC 2 also asked Gulf Coast Operations LLC and Williams Companies for comment. Both organizations did not return our request.
Who’s going to pay?
That’s the big ticket question.
According to the Texas GLO, the taxpayers will not be paying for the patch.
A Texas GLO spokesperson told KPRC2′s Gage Goulding that Pillar Income Asset Management will foot the bill.
However, they did not specify who this organization is or what their involvement is with the platform.
According to the TGLO, they worked to make the repair alongside the Railroad Commission and U.S. Coast Guard.
All of those agencies are funded by tax dollars—a.k.a., you.
KPRC2 is waiting to learn if Pillar Income Asset Management will pay for state and federal resources used during the repair.
“The General Land Office Oil Spill program has statutory authority under the Oil Spill Prevention and Response Act (Chapter 40, Texas Natural Resources Code) to assess penalties and response costs to a responsible party for an unauthorized discharge of oil,” a Texas General Land Office spokesperson wrote. “Once our investigation is complete, the GLO will administer penalties to the designated responsible party according to our statute.”
While the patch is a temporary solution to the spill coming from the abandoned platform, the permanent solution would be for the owner to remove the structure that’s reportedly no longer in use.
Stay with KPRC 2 and Click2Houston.com for updates on this developing story.