Taylor Energy Site – Still Leaking In Gulf
If you’ve been wondering “have they cleaned up that chronic crude-oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico from the Taylor Energy site yet?” the answer, sadly, is no. We’re closing in on ten years of continual pollution into the Gulf from this location, with no end in sight. So…what’s the plan?
A Landsat-8 satellite image taken on June 21 shows a slick more than 12 miles long emanating from the site:
Landsat-8 satellite image taken June 21, 2014, shows slick emanating from chronic leak site in the northern Gulf of Mexico. Mississippi Delta (green) at upper left.
Detail from above. Slick (pale blue line) is at least 12 miles long.
Our friends from Florida State University visited the site on June 18 and collected photos and samples. To their eyes, it seemed as though the leakage from the site may have gotten worse since their previous expedition. Here are a few of their photos. As you can see, there is some thick, brownish-orange emulsified oil in this slick:
You can see more photos from this expedition, taken at sea level and from the air (flight courtesy On Wings of Care), on this video by FSU’s Dr. Oscar Garcia:
