Coast Guard orders Taylor Energy to stop 14-year oil spill in Gulf of Mexico

Taylor Energy Co. has been ordered by the Coast Guard to do something about its damaged oil platform that for the last 14 years has been leaking thousands of gallons a day into the Gulf of Mexico.

The order came on Oct. 23, following The Washington Post's report that the spill was larger than the Interior Department estimated. In 2004, Hurricane Ivan destroyed Taylor Energy's former platform 12 miles off the coast of Louisiana. A Justice Department analysis found that since then, 10,500 to 29,000 gallons of oil a day have leaked into the Gulf. Previously, the government went off of reports by contractors hired by Taylor Energy, which claimed anywhere from 42 to 2,300 gallons leaked per day.

The Coast Guard's order calls for Taylor Energy to "institute a ... system to capture, contain, and remove oil" from the site or pay a daily $40,000 fine for failing to comply, the Post reports. Taylor has plugged nine of the 28 wells at the platform, but argues that because the wells are buried under 100 feet of mud, they can't be the cause of the oil spill.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up