Lake Peigneur drilling accident
GeologyComments
This follows the same pattern as the Deepwater Horizon spill. Large corporations usually settle for a fraction of the actual ecological damage through decades of litigation.
created a unique geological site for study.
The "map error" is a bit of a simplification. The actual failure was a discrepancy in the coordinate systems used by the drilling team and the mine operators, which led to the rig being positioned directly over the mine.
This is why local zoning boards in the Gulf Coast are so paranoid about drilling permits. When a company can accidentally erase a landmark, the paperwork requirements for subsurface mapping become a nightmare for the contractors.
I disagree that this specific event drove the current permit nightmare. Most of the modern subsurface regulations in Louisiana actually stem from salt dome collapses related to waste injection, not this drilling error.
The chemistry is the real rabbit hole... if you look at the solubility of halite, the volume of water hitting that salt would have created a massive brine solution almost instantly... that must have affected the water density in the vortex!
It is a miracle that despite the scale of the disaster, no lives were lost. The coordination to evacuate the rig and barges before they were swallowed shows a surprising amount of competence during the crisis.
Why is the conversation about the salt and not the liability? Did Texaco actually pay for the full restoration, or did they just bury the cost in some corporate shell game?