There was an oil spill on my 20 acres of land in rusk county texas . The spill occurred in july and i was notified by the insurance company 2 weeks ago asking if i wanted to close the claim. "Note" i knew nothing about the spill until 2 weeks ago. They said theyve run test on the land and everything is back to normal but i dont beleive them. What steps should i take to resolve this matter? help
Find a attorney that specializes in cleanup remediation… You got serious issues for future of land use issues…
thank you!
Tylerrose,
I would be concerned about groundwater contamination and a lot of other issues. Look at your pipeline easement agreement and see what it provides for in the way of notice and remediation. Also find out if they reported the spill to the RRC, the EPA, the DEQ, etc.
My attorney right now is working on an amine spill in Orange County, Texas and is a 5 time recipient of the Texas Super Lawyer award. This is a peer review award.
What people are going to learn is that the pipeline industry is going to be the China Syndrome of the oil industry, placing product in 60 year old lines. The infrastructure is just getting so old.
I used to be way in favor of pipelines. I never saw a pipeline run over a school bus full of kids. However, pipelines spill 3-4 times the amount that rail spills. AND it is only going to get worse.
Let me know if I can point you in the right direction.
Best
Buddy Cotten
wow yes this is extremely informative thank you so much. A reference to a great lawyer would be much appreciated !
I think Mr Cotten probably meant the TCEQ , not DEQ some states have a department of Environmental Quality. Here we have the "Texas commission on Environmental Quality" The regional office for your part of the state will be who you should contact. I would say you would also want to check with the local Groundwater conservation District but it appears that Orange county does not have a GCD.
Luminant's 30+ year old pipeline ruptured on my farm. The "tainted" water lay "ponded" for weeks before closure, and our well (drinking) water got contaminated. It was a nightmare full of "clueless" people who didn't know what to do, how to do it, and when to it it. It took Luminant two years to finally clean up their mess, and the ground hasn't been the same. Nothing can grow there.
Luminant did, or for all I know, still does not employ field Health, Safety, Environmental (HSE) practices in Robertson County, TX. And the Easement that my parents signed had very weak provisions for remediation. Like most easements that are signed by innocent, uninformed people, it was self-serving ... in this case, for Luminant.
Matthew Doss, a sharp and brilliant attorney in Bryan, TX, has been a great help to me. This is who I recommend for legal help.
Brad Monk, Environmental Investigator, helped from their end.
Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ)
ph: 254-751-0335 fax: 254-772-9241
I suggest you don't sign anything or believe anything someone tells you (like the insurance company) until you follow up and do your own investigating.
Pipeline spills/ruptures are bad. They devalue your land and if your sell, you will have to notify the buyer of the spill.
Good luck,
Pat
Slightly off topic to the original post, but Buddy is correct. A lot of the infrastructure of pipelines in this country has been in the ground for decades now. Spills and explosions are becoming more commonplace. It is very expensive to replace that infrastructure. I had to have Atmos Energy come out to my house this week (at my request) and replaced the gas shut off valve and the meter. It was so old (57 years) that the shut off at the meter was nearly impossible to turn (wrench with a 6 foot cheater took 5+ minutes for a quarter turn). If there was ever a fire or emergency, I would probably be dead before I could get it turned off.
wow way more information than i expected... this site is indeed a true blessing! I thank you all for your suggestions and recommendations i wouldve been lost without it. I will push full steam ahead thanks to this forum...thanks
looking over this again I noticed that you are in Rusk county ( not Orange) and there is a groundwater conservation district so you should contact them about this. they will probably have a list of nearby water wells that could be affected and they may be able to take well water samples and have tests run at a lab. they might want to do this. another agency that I forgot to mention in my original post is Texas parks and Wildlife department. usually they dont get involved with surface spills...unless something gets into the local waters, like creeks, rivers or lakes. if a spill gets into local waters and kills a bunch of fish then they will get involved. unlike TxRRC or TCEQ they levy hefty fines for infractions