Two recent accidents in the energy sector — an oil spill in Louisiana and a wind turbine failure in New England — have generated starkly different responses from the impacted communities and government agencies that regulate the industries.In Louisiana, the term “disaster” can be heard relatively frequently, but it is generally not used lightly. The term is often reserved for a hurricane that destroys part of the state or an environmental calamity such as the 2010 BP oil spill.
About a week after the wind turbine broke, federal regulators ordered the company to suspend all operations and shut down all its turbines indefinitely while they investigated the incident. Soon after the oil spill, Crescent Midstream had to turn off two pipelines at the request of federal regulators, though no official orders have been issued. On Friday, Smith said the company expects one will be turned back on in the coming days.
Last week, a 10-year old was selling customized T-shirts on the docks of Nantucket Harbor that stated “Vineyard Wind is ISIS,” according to aThe islands have some of the most expensive property in the country. The median listing price for homes in Martha’s Vineyard is $2.2 million. In Nantucket, it is $4.8 million, according to
The Town of Nantucket Select Board issued a statement, saying it was alarmed by the “catastrophe” that befell the island. The board said it’s committed to holding Vineyard Wind and General Electric accountable and to collecting “full restitution” for the costs of all damages and recovery efforts. The board further demanded that the companies implement “comprehensive measures to prevent such incidents from occurring in the future.
BREAKING: on this morning’s investor call, GE Vernova finally addresses the Vineyard Wind turbine blade failure and says it was due to a “manufacturing deviation” that is under investigation.The wind turbine blade failed because of a manufacturing deviation that wasn’t caught during quality control inspections, according to manufacturer GE Vernova. The manufacturer told theA separate environmental accident on Aug.
The impacted section of the bayou remains closed to boat traffic, and mitigation crews continue to skim oil from the water and banks. Wildlife rescue teams have managed to pull some live oil-covered animals from the water, including one alligator and two mallard ducks. The Lafourche Parish Council has not called for any emergency meetings, and area residents have not organized protests. And no one in the parish, where home prices list at a median of $239,000, is selling merchandise that likens Crescent Midstream to a terrorist organization.
“We question how long these facilities should be allowed to operate like this, without being re-engineered for our climate,” he said. “We have to rebuild our houses often, but why is an oil company allowed to operate a 1963 facility without some substantial upgrades during the 2017 sale?” … “At what point do we decommission this pipeline unless it is rebuilt?”
“First of all, let me say that LOGA is for all kinds of energy — oil, gas, wind, solar — we support all of it, and all are vital in driving Louisiana’s economy forward,” Moncla said in an emailed statement. “That being said, the idea that the wind industry is more heavily scrutinized than oil and gas is simply laughable. The media lives to tear down the oil and gas industry.”