Fina Oil & Chemical Co. and four contractors have agreed to spend more than $6 million to settle allegations that they damaged more than 37 acres of marine habitat while moving a drilling rig in the Laguna Madre near Corpus Christi, Tex.
The U.S. Justice Department sued the firms in 1992, alleging that they disturbed sediment that smothered the seagrass beds, in violation of federal laws prohibiting unpermitted filling of U.S. waters.
Under a consent decree filed in U.S. District Court, Houston, Fina and its contractors will pay $2.28 million in civil fines, the highest civil penalty ever imposed for unlawfully filling wetlands or other marine habitat.
The companies also will restore the damaged seagrass beds and create another 37 acres of new seagrass habitat in the bay, which is between Padre Island and the Texas mainland. Cost of that work is estimated at $4 million.
Justice said Laguna Madre is only one of three large hypersaline bodies of water in the world, created as a result of the limited amount of water flowing into the bay and its shallow depth. The other two are Laguna Madre Tamaulipas in Mexico and the Sivash in the Ukraine.
It said the seagrass is the foundation of the food chain in the laguna ecosystem and is the primary food source for the endangered Red-headed duck that winters there.
Justice said that in December 1990, the Army Corps of Engineers issued Fina a permit to drill in the laguna, provided it would use shallow-draft vessels when moving the drilling rig and not disturb the seagrass beds.
"Disregarding the conditions set by the corps, Fina and its contractors attempted to move the drilling rig in December 1990, a period of shallow water in the Laguna Madre, quickly grounding the rig on the laguna floor.
"Large towboats were then used to dislodge the rig, using their propellers to wash away enough of the bay bottom to free the rig. This 'propwashing' churned up sediments in the channels, smothering and destroying more than 37 acres of seagrass beds."
Justice said the contractors involved were Belaire Consulting Inc., Rockport, Tex., an environmental consultant; Grace Drilling Co., Houston.; Brown Water Marine Service Inc., Rockport, and Loyd W. Richardson Construction Corp., Aransas Pass, Tex., owners and operators of the tugboats.
Copyright 1997 Oil & Gas Journal. All Rights Reserved.
