Pollution From Oil Wells and Industrial Sites Hit by Hurricane Laura Remains Unknown

More than 1,400 active oil wells sit in the path Hurricane Laura carved through Louisiana’s coastline, some of which are decades old and especially vulnerable due to the state’s receding coastline.

“I have a lump in my throat thinking about them,” Bob Bea, a specialist in catastrophic risk management and former well manager for Shell, told the New Orleans Advocate.

The environmental damage caused by leaking wells, as well as from pollution spread from other damaged industrial sites, may not be discovered for days as officials focus on search and rescue tasks in the wake of the storm.

The storm’s rapid intensification, fueled by exceptionally warm sea-surface temperatures, likely made matters worse but overconfidence from regulators and oil companies is also to blame, according to Bea.

“When it comes to how we manage our platforms, pipelines, and wells, we here in the U.S. are not world leaders in risk management,” he said.

“We’re not Canada or Norway. We’re not even a Third World country.”